Crafts

Long description:

Recordings in this collection can be played by anyone.

This collection documents the lives of peple working with British crafts, that is studio crafts such as pottery, glass, metalwork, jewellery, textiles and book arts.

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  The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.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 interviews were carried out for the National Life Stories project Crafts' Lives Crafts' Lives, which began in 1999 and continues today. As well as an individual's life story, the history of the crafts is also recorded. There are many accounts that overlap; in the collection it is possible to find clusters of interviewees who were tutors, students and technicians at the same establishment at the same time, helping to build a vivid picture of craft education at paces such as the Royal College of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts. In addition, a large number of craftspeople active in the 1960s and 1970s were intimately involved in the formation of the Crafts Council. Interviewees also map the crafts world by giving themselves lineage with past masters, as well as aligning themselves with contemporary schools.

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 The interviews are historical documents and their language, tone and content might in some cases reflect attitudes that could cause offence in today’s society.

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 Gerda Flockinger by Tanya Harrod, 1999, Crafts Lives, reference C960/01 track xx, © 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 Curator for Oral History at the British Library Sound Archive (oralhistory@bl.uk)

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.