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Biography & True StoriesFebruary 2025Unburied
The true story of Hannah Beswick, the Manchester Mummy
by Hannah Priest
The macabre tale of an eighteenth-century woman immortalised in folklore as the 'Manchester Mummy'. In 1835, the Manchester Natural History Society opened the doors of its museum. Taking pride of place in its collection were three mummies: one was Egyptian, one was Peruvian and one was a woman from Cheetham Hill. This is the first time the true story of Hannah Beswick, the so-called 'Manchester Mummy', has been told. Over the years, explanations for the Manchester Mummy have ranged from the chilling - Hannah's fear of being buried alive - to the downright bizarre - the legend of her buried gold - but the truth is more complex. Exploring this fascinating episode from museum history, Unburied sheds light on the Victorian turn to the macabre and changing attitudes to the display of human remains. It debunks the legends and asks what Hannah Beswick can tell us about death and dying, mummies and museums.
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Lifestyle, Sport & LeisureAugust 2016Culture in Manchester
Institutions and urban change since 1850
by Janet Wolff, Mike Savage
This book brings together studies of cultural institutions in Manchester from 1850 to the present day, giving an unprecedented account of the city's cultural evolution. These bring to light the remarkable range of Manchester's contribution to modern cultural life, including the role of art education, popular theatre, religion, pleasure gardens, clubs and societies. The chapters show the resilience and creativity of Manchester's cultural institutions since 1850, challenging any simple narrative of urban decline following the erosion of Lancashire's industrial base, at the same time illustrating the range of activities across the social classes. This book will appeal to everyone interested in the cultural life of the city of Manchester, including cultural historians, sociologists and urban geographers, as well as general readers with interests in the city. It is written by leading international authorities, including Viv Gardner, Stephen Milner, Mike Savage, Bill Williams and Janet Wolff.
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Humanities & Social SciencesSeptember 2024Manchester minds
A university history of ideas
by Stuart Jones
A bicentennial celebration of brilliant thinkers from The University of Manchester's history. The year 2024 marks two centuries since the establishment of The University of Manchester in its earliest form. The first of England's civic universities, Manchester has been home and host to a huge number of influential thinkers and generated world-changing ideas. This book presents a rich account of the remarkable contribution that people associated with The University of Manchester have made to human knowledge. A who's who of Manchester greats, it presents fascinating snapshots of pioneering artists, scholars and scientists, from the poet and activist Eva Gore-Booth to the economist Arthur Lewis, the computer scientist Alan Turing and the physicist Brian Cox.
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Lifestyle, Sport & LeisureSeptember 2024The Simons of Manchester
How one family shaped a city and a nation
by Martin Dodge, John Ayshford, Diana Leitch, Stuart Jones, Janet Wolff
The Simons of Manchester revives the history of one of Manchester's most influential families, the Simons. The book investigates the lives and public work of Henry and Emily Simon, and Ernest and Shena Simon. Through philanthropy and work in social reform, the two generations of the Simons greatly enriched Manchester's cultural and civic institutions, worked to improve the lives of its citizens, and helped to spearhead profound national reforms in health, housing, planning and education. While many people in Manchester are familiar with the Simon name through Shena Simon College, Simonsway, and the Simon Building at the University of Manchester, there is scant public knowledge of who the Simons were and their legacy. As such, this edited volume of collected essays aims to illuminate their fascinating lives and public service to rehabilitate the Simons and examine their local and national significance.
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The ArtsSeptember 2024The renewal of post-war Manchester
Planning, architecture and the state
by Richard Brook
A compelling account of the project to transform post-war Manchester, revealing the clash between utopian vision and compromised reality. Urban renewal in Britain was thrilling in its vision, yet partial and incomplete in its implementation. For the first time, this deep study of a renewal city reveals the complex networks of actors behind physical change and stagnation in post-war Britain. Using the nested scales of region, city and case-study sites, the book explores the relationships between Whitehall legislation, its interpretation by local government planning officers and the on-the-ground impact through urban architectural projects. Each chapter highlights the connections between policy goals, global narratives and the design and construction of cities. The Cold War, decolonialisation, rising consumerism and the oil crisis all feature in a richly illustrated account of architecture and planning in post-war Manchester.
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Humanities & Social SciencesMarch 2023Golden Mummies of Egypt
Interpreting identities from the Graeco-Roman period
by Campbell Price, Julia Thorne
Golden Mummies of Egypt presents new insights and a rich perspective on beliefs about the afterlife during an era when Egypt was part of the Greek and Roman worlds (c. 300 BCE-200 CE). This beautifully illustrated book, featuring photography by Julia Thorne, accompanies Manchester Museum's first-ever international touring exhibition. Golden Mummies of Egypt is a visually spectacular exhibition that offers visitors unparalleled access to the museum's outstanding collection of Egyptian and Sudanese objects - one of the largest in the UK.
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Photography & photographsMarch 2014Citizen Manchester
by Dan Dubowitz, Alan Ward
In 2008, Manchester decided to embark on a counter-cyclical project, much as the city fathers had done in the last great recession, and invest significantly in two civic buildings, two buildings that were cornerstones of the making of the first modern industrialised city: Manchester Town Hall Extension and Manchester Central Library. Early on in this major redevelopment project, artists Dan Dubowitz and Alan Ward were given privileged and open access to witness this transformational period in the life of these two iconic buildings. Through large-format photographs and interviews taken and conducted over a period of eighteen months, they captured the moment when the city's citizens and workers had been locked out and the spaces were being stripped bare; revealing both a glimpse of what they had been and what they might become. The artwork provides insights on the reciprocal relationship between people and place, and reveals how the refurbishment of a building can go far beyond physical refurbishment, questioning the relationships between a city, its citizens and place.
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2013Culture in Manchester
Institutions and urban change since 1850
by Janet Wolff
This book brings together studies of cultural institutions in Manchester from 1850 to the present day, giving an unprecedented account of the city's cultural evolution. These bring to light the remarkable range of Manchester's contribution to modern cultural life, including the role of art education, popular theatre, religion, pleasure gardens, clubs and societies. The chapters show the resilience and creativity of Manchester's cultural institutions since 1850, challenging any simple narrative of urban decline following the erosion of Lancashire's industrial base, at the same time illustrating the range of activities across the social classes. This book will appeal to everyone interested in the cultural life of the city of Manchester, including cultural historians, sociologists and urban geographers, as well as general readers with interests in the city. It is written by leading international authorities, including Viv Gardner, Stephen Milner, Mike Savage, Bill Williams and Janet Wolff. ;
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2013The regeneration of east Manchester
A political analysis
by Georgina Blakeley, Brendan Evans
East Manchester has been the site of one of the most substantial regeneration projects internationally. The initiative in east Manchester confirmed the tag that the city is the 'regeneration capital' of the United Kingdom. While the book focuses on a single project, it has wider relevance to national and international regeneration initiatives. The book assesses the outcomes of the regeneration, although it demonstrates the difficulties in producing a definitive evaluation. It has a political focus and illuminates and challenges many assumptions underpinning three major current academic debates: governance, participatory democracy and ideology. The book is relevant to students of politics, geography, sociology, public administration and recent history but will also interest practitioners, academics and general readers interested in urban regeneration. Mancunians will also be fascinated by the rapidly changing face and character of their city as will those with an interest in Manchester's football, the Commonwealth Games and Sportcity. ;
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The ArtsSeptember 2009Nature and culture
Objects, disciplines and the Manchester Museum
by Samuel J. M. M. Alberti
This is a vital new work; the first to take the University of Manchester's Museum as its subject. By setting the museum in its cultural and intellectual contexts, Nature and culture explores twentieth-century collecting and display, and the status of the object in the modern world. Beginning with the origins of the Manchester Museum, accounting for its development as an internationally renowned university museum, and concluding at its major expansion at the turn of the millennium, this book casts new light on the history of museums. How did objects become knowledge? Who encountered museum objects on their way to museums? What happened to collections within the museum? How did visitors use and respond to objects? In answering these questions, Nature and culture illuminates not only the history of one institution, but also contributes to wider discussions in the history of science, cultural history and museology. ;
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Humanities & Social SciencesAugust 2016The regeneration of east Manchester
by Georgina Blakeley, Brendan Evans
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2018The Irish in Manchester c.1750–1921
Resistance, adaptation and identity
by Mervyn Busteed
This book examines the development of the Irish community in Manchester, one of the most dynamic cities of nineteenth-century Britain. Based on research into a wide variety of local sources, it examines the process by which the Irish came to be blamed for all the ills of the Industrial Revolution and the ways in which they attempted to cope with a sometimes actively hostile environment. It discusses the nature and degree of residential segregation in one notable Irish district and the role of the Catholic Church as a source of spiritual comfort and the base for a dense network of mutual aid and social and cultural organisations. It also examines how the Irish community allied itself with local campaign groups and political parties and organised celebrations and processions that simultaneously expressed its evolving sense of Irishness but fitted in with local traditions and customs.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJuly 2018A History of the University of Manchester, 1973–90
by Brian Pullan, Michele Abendstern
Frank and entertaining account of the University of Manchester's struggle to meet the Government's demands for the rapid expansion of higher education in the 1950s and the 1960s. Looks at the University's ambitious building program: the controversial attempts to reform its constitution and improve its communications amid demands for greater democracy in the workplace, the struggle to retain its old pre-eminence in a competitive world where new 'green field' universities were rivalling older civic institutions. Tells the story, not just from the point of view of administrators and academics, but also from those of students and support staff (such as secretaries, technicians and engineers). Uses, not only official records, but also student newspapers, political pamphlets, and reminisences collected through interviews conducted by an experienced oral historian. The only book on the University of Manchester as a whole.
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Humanities & Social SciencesMay 2023Devolution in Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region
by Georgina Blakeley, Brendan Evans
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Humanities & Social SciencesDecember 2024Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 100/2
Higher Learning and Civic Cultures of Knowledge: Manchester 1824–2024
by Stuart Jones
The John Rylands Library houses one of the finest collections of rare books, manuscripts and archives in the world. The collections span five millennia, have a global reach and cover a wide range of subjects, including art and archaeology; economic, social, political, religious and military history; literature, drama and music; science and medicine; theology and philosophy; travel and exploration. For over a century, the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library has published research that complements the Library's special collections.
