Charity & social welfare
Number of items in collection: 413
Short description:
Recordings in this collection can be played by anyone.
The bulk of this collection comes from Pioneers in Charity and Social Welfare, a National Life Stories project, which in 2005-2006 recorded the memories and experiences of key figures in welfare and charitable work. Interviewees include human rights lawyer Lord Joffe, leading social work academic Olive Stevenson, the founder of the Trussell Trust Chris Mould and the co-founders of Missing People Janet Newman and Mary Asprey.
The collection also includes interviews with intellectuals and campaigners from a range of social issues and causes.
Oral history recordings provide valuable first-hand testimony of the past. The views and opinions expressed in oral history interviews are those of the interviewees, who describe events from their own perspective. The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.
The collection includes a five-part interview with Revd Nick Stacey, which ranges across his long career in sport, the clergy and social services. As with all oral history recordings, the views expressed in the interview are solely those of the interviewee. In the case of this recording, there are some descriptions of the culture of social services in the 1970s and 1980s which people may find disturbing, and which the Library in no way condones. However, as first-hand testimony of a period in our recent past we believe that it is important for the interview to continue to be available to researchers.
Long description:
Recordings in this collection can be played by anyone.
The bulk of this collection comes from Pioneers in Charity and Social Welfare, a National Life Stories project, which in 2005-2006 recorded the memories and experiences of key figures in welfare and charitable work. Interviewees include human rights lawyer Lord Joffe, leading social work academic Olive Stevenson, the founder of the Trussell Trust Chris Mould and the co-founders of Missing People Janet Newman and Mary Asprey.
The collection also includes interviews with intellectuals and campaigners from a range of social issues and causes.
Oral history recordings provide valuable first-hand testimony of the past. The views and opinions expressed in oral history interviews are those of the interviewees, who describe events from their own perspective. The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.
The collection includes a five-part interview with Revd Nick Stacey, which ranges across his long career in sport, the clergy and social services. As with all oral history recordings, the views expressed in the interview are solely those of the interviewee. In the case of this recording, there are some descriptions of the culture of social services in the 1970s and 1980s which people may find disturbing, and which the Library in no way condones. However, as first-hand testimony of a period in our recent past we believe that it is important for the interview to continue to be available to researchers.
To explore the collection in detail, please search the Sound and Moving Image catalogue. The catalogue reference used for all the recordings in the project is C1155.
Funding for Pioneers in Charity and Social Welfare was partially provided by the J. Paul Getty Jr. Charitable Trust.
What the interviews tell us
One-to-one oral history interviews explore memories and narratives rarely found elsewhere. First-hand personal testimony fills knowledge gaps, provides new insights, challenges stereotypical views, and overturns orthodoxies. These recordings reveal collective memory, individual agency, gender, skill, influence and intentionality. Shifting family, work, health and educational trends and debates emerge alongside the impact of changing technologies, belief structures and political contexts. Oral history recordings provide valuable first-hand testimony of the past. The views and opinions expressed in oral history interviews are those of the interviewees, who describe events from their own perspective. The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.
Ethical use of oral history
The interviewees have been generous in sharing their memories - often traumatic, confidential and intimate - and listeners are asked to treat this material with respect and sensitivity. Recordings should be analysed and presented in context, so that the interviewee’s meaning is not misconstrued. Quotations and audio clips should be referenced as, for example: “Interview with Mary Barnes by Louise Brodie, 6 July 2006, Pioneers in Charity and Social Welfare, reference C1155/06 part 1, © The British Library”. Each interviewee whose recording appears on this site has assigned copyright to The British Library Board and given their consent for the recording to be used for educational study. We have made every effort to contact all the interviewees and inform them about this project. However should any participant wish to discuss their involvement they should contact the Lead Curator, Oral History at the British Library (oralhistory@bl.uk)Oral history at the British Library
The interviews on this site are a small selection from the many thousands held in the Oral History section of the British Library. These recordings go back over 100 years and cover many facets of life in Britain. Many interviews were gathered through National Life Stories, an externally-funded unit within the Library established in 1987 to “record first-hand experiences of as wide a cross-section of present-day society as possible”.All recordings on this site are governed by licence agreements.