Searchlight Archive

Has any research you've done in the archive made it into print, journal papers or other publications? Do let us know! We want to celebrate the success of our users.

A piece in the Guardian by @n1ckism on Stieg Larsson’s work as an antifascist, noting his time as Searchlight’s Swedish correspondent. We have a few mentions of Stieg in the archive - including a brief telegram he sent discussing his theories about the murder of Olof Palme.

Join @BBCRadio4 in just a moment for Thinking Allowed - this week on Gender and Radicalisation with myself and the UK 🇬🇧, and Dr Kat Williams, who works on gender and the far right in Germany 🇩🇪 bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

Our Senior Curator will be delivering a talk about the life and career of sculptor Fred Kormis at one of his most significant public works this Sunday morning - the Memorial to Prisoners of War and Victims of Concentration Camps in Gladstone Park, Dollis Hill, in London

On 24 October we're delighted to be marking the award of this year's Fraenkel Prize, a prestigious annual competition for book-length academic manuscripts on the Holocaust This year's winner was Prof Anne Berg for her work, Empire of Rags and Bones bit.ly/4gaatEq

Today has been press and images day - tracking down images for publications, and images for the press. We are slowly building up our photo archive, and are happy to license out images for books etc where we can.

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Today’s find is the call for sponsors for the Anti Nazi League, a list of existing sponsors and a trendy ANL badge. Names on the list include Carter USM, Peter Tatchell, Lily Savage, Mark Steele, the Proclaimers, Paul Foot, John Peel and @MichaelRosenYes.

Should say, also stars Amir Khan, Jermaine Jackson, Linda Lusardi, @billybragg and many others. Including this chap called Gordon Brown MP. What ever happened to him? Fantastic focus in the film though also on local activists, those working in their communities to stop racism.

Going through some CDs from a recent accession - includes a @Searchlight_mag /@hopenothate film about the 2007 bus tour. Includes the Proclaimers, @LeeBarronMP (during a stop in Northampton), and the odd combination of the Bishop of Lincoln shortly after the Sugababes.

One of the archival surprises we have is a signed letter from Otto Frank to Searchlight's editor at the time, Maurice Ludmer, discussing Richard Harwood's 'Did Six Million Really Die', the possibility of blocking its publication, and the real identity of Richard Harwood (Verrall)

A busy and full day in the archive - we are in the University Archive reading room today as part of our effort to accommodate more users. UON students, external students and media - along with our amazing work experience student.

Well, we would agree (but you’d expect that!)

A really fascinating conference underway here at @UniNorthants from the @FASTresearchUON Centre for Historical Studies. Later the archivist will be exploring how cartoons and satire were used by John Tyndall’s Spearhead magazine from 1964-1975.

Yesterday, with the co-operation of our amazing colleagues in the University Archive, we managed to double our capacity. We are exploring the feasibility of this - if successful it will mean we can keep waiting lists down, after they spiked at over 3 months earlier this year.

As we enter the (in theory) warmer months, a reminder to archive users that our main reading room is also our store room and work room - so even in the heat of summer the room will be chilly. Do bring along something to wrap up warm with!

At 4.30pm today historians @UniNorthants are offering an A Level Masterclass in the Wars of the Roses - click here to sign up! mail.northampton.ac.uk/p/4H8M-WOJ/reg….

Today is Stephen Lawrence day - commemorating the day on which he was murdered in Eltham at just 18 years old. Stephen's murder gets mentioned in May 1993, with Searchlight linking it to a 180% increase in racist attacks in the area since the BNP moved its HQ to Welling.

Another bit of media which uses material from the Archive, 'Blue is the Colour' is a fantastic documentary by @XaymacaLDN, funded by @ChelseaFC and @CFCFoundation, which explores what it means to be Black and a Chelsea fan. Worth a watch. youtube.com/watch?v=9sKFUG…

We are honoured to have an oral history interview with his partner, Celia Stubbs, which (as well as research) is used in teaching by @HistoriansUON and @crimatuon to explore institutional violence, antifascism and antiracism in the last quarter of the 20th Century.

The continued campaign for justice from his friends and family led to the eventual report of the Cass Report in 2010, revealing the internal police investigation and its outcomes - allowing for identification of suspects. (Pictured, the Searchlight cover 20 years after his death)

With @RoganProduction documentary Defiance (channel4.com/programmes/def…) released this week, people are discussing the killing of Blair Peach at Southall in 1979. The 23rd will mark 45 years since his killing during protests against the National Front, with no-one ever prosecuted.