International Dimension: Exploring the Indian Connection with Textiles
Example 1
Collect oral histories (rapidly disappearing) from people who worked in the Lancashire industry
Make notes or take recordings of what they knew or thought of the industry’s Indian links
Quite a few Indian words were in use in textile mills - can any of these be recalled or discovered?
Eg ‘dhotis and sarees’ were types of fabric woven at specific Lancashire mills, but were there others too?
Collections of oral histories:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester local studies, Central Reference Library
Lancashire Archives at Preston (the North West Sound Archive Collection)
Discuss and plan with your group how to bring your findings together
Example 2
This sounds simple but it is real detective work when you get going.
Compiling lists of original primary resources relating to the Indian link.
These might be photographs; press cuttings / news items; newsreel or pathe news clips; local books and pamphlets; projects done by other people in the past
These could be anywhere - in libraries, archives museums, schools, colleges, factories, and commercial archives eg the Co-operative Society
It involves looking at things that are familiar, with fresh eyes
For example, wooden printing blocks in museums collections might have been imported from India - it could be that nobody has examined them for traces of Urdu writing
Are there recollections of playground ditties that reflect on links to india
Local or personal family photos are worth a fresh look - many mill workers had their photo taken with Gandhi when he visited in the 1930s
Discuss with your group how best to present your discoveries to a wider audience
Collect oral histories (rapidly disappearing) from people who worked in the Lancashire industry
Make notes or take recordings of what they knew or thought of the industry’s Indian links
Quite a few Indian words were in use in textile mills - can any of these be recalled or discovered?
Eg ‘dhotis and sarees’ were types of fabric woven at specific Lancashire mills, but were there others too?
Collections of oral histories:
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester local studies, Central Reference Library
Lancashire Archives at Preston (the North West Sound Archive Collection)
Discuss and plan with your group how to bring your findings together
Example 2
This sounds simple but it is real detective work when you get going.
Compiling lists of original primary resources relating to the Indian link.
These might be photographs; press cuttings / news items; newsreel or pathe news clips; local books and pamphlets; projects done by other people in the past
These could be anywhere - in libraries, archives museums, schools, colleges, factories, and commercial archives eg the Co-operative Society
It involves looking at things that are familiar, with fresh eyes
For example, wooden printing blocks in museums collections might have been imported from India - it could be that nobody has examined them for traces of Urdu writing
Are there recollections of playground ditties that reflect on links to india
Local or personal family photos are worth a fresh look - many mill workers had their photo taken with Gandhi when he visited in the 1930s
Discuss with your group how best to present your discoveries to a wider audience