HIST 489 Research Project Student Guide 2017

SCHOOL OF HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS/TE KURA ARO WHAKAMURI, RAPUNGA WHAKAARO, MATAI TŌRANGAPŪ ME TE AO

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Contents

Overview.............................................................................................................. 4

Key Dates ............................................................................................................. 4

Honours Coordinator 2017 ...................................................................... 5

Workshops.......................................................................................................... 7

HIST 489 Research Essay Proposal..................................................... 8

Proposal Guidelines ...................................................................................... 9

Supervision..................................................................................................... 10

Progress Report........................................................................................... 11

HIST 489 Seminar ...................................................................................... 12

The First Draft .............................................................................................. 13

The Final Essay ............................................................................................ 14

Assessment..................................................................................................... 15

Appendix A: Sample HIST 489 Research Essay Proposal .. 17

Appendix B: Sample HIST 489 Research Essay Proposal .. 23

Appendix C: Sample HIST 489 Research Progress Report 30

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Overview The HIST 489 Research Project gives students the chance to pursue their own research topic with guidance and support from a faculty member as supervisor. Students gain experience with high-level historical research, managing an independent project, and producing an extended piece of written work. Supervisors help students with historiography, research methods, essay structure, and managing the project as a whole. Whether students pursue historical research at the advanced postgraduate level or embark on professional careers outside academia, the History Programme believes that the skills they acquire writing their 489 essays will remain relevant throughout their professional careers.

HIST 489 is a compulsory research essay undertaken in the

completion of a BA (Hons) degree. The topic is devised

principally by the student under the guidance of the History

programme staff member

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Key Dates

27 February HIST 489 orientation and proposal guidance 6 March HIST 489 proposals due to History Reception (OK 405) by 2pm

and by email to the Honours Coordinator. Please use the History cover sheet for email and hard-copy submissions.

10 March Response to proposals by history research committee Students receive feedback on proposals and are officially designated a supervisor.

9 June HIST 489 research essay progress report due to the Honours Coordinator and your supervisor.

28-29 July HIST 489 seminar presentations Timetable announced closer to the time.

11 September HIST 489 research essay draft due 2pm To your supervisor; email and hard-copy.

13 October HIST 489 research essay final version due 2pm Submit two hard copies to History Reception and two e-copies, to your supervisor and the Honours Coordinator.

Students undertaking a HIST 489 Research Essay should be

able to — Undertake a self-directed piece of research of

10,000 words and, ideally, to the standard of a quality,

peer-reviewed article; Base their research on a wide

reading of primary and/or secondary sources; and develop

a solid and historically informed topic based on their

research and advance a historically defensible argument

about that research as it relates to existing historiography

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Honours Coordinator 2017

ARINI LOADER IS THE HONOURS COORDINATOR FOR 2017

Feel free to email, phone, drop by or make a time to come and see her if you have any questions or queries e: arini.loader@vuw.ac.nz p: +64 4 463 5564 o: OK 420

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Workshops

Workshops for 489 students will take place weekly in the first semester 2017 on Fridays 2:10-4pm in OK406.

Further information about the HIST 489 Workshop schedule will be posted and circulated in February 2017.

A first meeting for History Honours students in 2017 will be held on Monday 27 February, from 2.10-4pm in Wood Seminar Room, OK 406. This meeting will provide a last round of advice on preparing your HIST 489 proposal and general organisational

information regarding Honours (access to Honours rooms, facilities etc).

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HIST 489 Research Essay Proposal

A HIST 489 proposal should demonstrate to the History Programme that the student has a viable topic for 10,000-word research essay, has identified appropriate and accessible sources and has thought about the questions to be asked and the research

method to be adopted for a project to be completed between March and October.

Students are strongly advised to consider their research topics as soon as they enrol for BA (Honours). Students should select a subject of research interest, locating relevant primary and secondary sources on their own initiative, or working from the list of suggested topics in the History Honours 2017 booklet (available at the History office)

After students have developed an idea, they should consult with a History Programme staff member, who may make further suggestions as to scope, sources, time limits and relevant secondary literature. Some students find it useful to discuss potential topics at the end of their third year, or over the summer break with staff members whose areas of research and courses they have previously encountered. The goal is to give your topic a good focus. Subjects that are too ambitious, or too general, do not work well as HIST 489 projects, so avoid broad topics such as ‘New Zealand Rugby in the Twentieth Century’ or ‘German Racism since 1800’. A list of recently completed HIST 489 Research

Essays is available in the History Office.

Students who want to conduct interviews, surveys or questionnaires must obtain human ethics approval by Victoria University’s Human Ethics Committee (HEC). HEC approval may take up to three weeks. For further information and the relevant forms, see: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/postgradlife/pages/pages_current_pg/ethics.html

Research proposals are due Monday 6 March at 2pm (hand in print copy at History office OK 405 and email a copy to the Honours Coordinators). Students will learn whether their topic has been approved by Friday 10 March. If the History Research Committee believes that a proposed topic is not viable, students will be asked to submit a second proposal. Typically, proposals are either accepted or rejected: resubmissions are allowed only in exceptional circumstances.

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Proposal Guidelines

PROPOSALS SHOULD CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING:

1. A working title for the essay. For now, pick something short and informative, rather than catchy: you will be able to change it later on.

2. A statement about the issue or question which the essay intend to explore. Students should relate their topic to work that has already been published, explaining why the question is of historical interest.

3. A bibliography listing the main primary sources and the relevant secondary sources, both works the student has already read and material the student considers important for conducting future research.

History does not specify a precise format or word length for 489 Research Proposals. Most vary between 5 and 15 double-spaced pages. Some students write an outline with bullet points; others write formal mini-essays complete with footnotes or endnotes. For sample proposals see Appendix A and Appendix B (at the end of this booklet).

HIST 489 Research Essays are mostly based upon primary

source material as opposed to the secondary source

material used in most undergraduate essays. Some HIST

489 Essays, though, may be advanced historiographical

essays

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Supervision

Each HIST 489 essay will be supervised by at least one History staff member. Students meet regularly with their supervisor over the course of the year. Students should approach members of staff with relevant expertise, but the History Programme decides the final allocation of 489 supervisors. Students should maintain regular contact with their supervisor throughout the year. Initially, the Programme recommends fortnightly meetings. Meetings enable the supervisor to monitor the student’s progress and resolve any difficulties in a timely manner. Students may discuss problems with sources, essay structure, and argument with their supervisor. Students who have problems with their essay, or with the supervision process, may also contact the Honours coordinators. Students usually find it more difficult to confine their topic to manageable proportions than to select a topic the first place. Students may get carried away while conducting primary source research and gather far more material than they can use in the HIST 489. Supervisors can provide perspective on research material, helping students focus on the main themes of their argument. Finally, students may find that their focus shifts or evolves as their research progresses. Thesis topics routinely shift, and students should not feel obligated to stick rigidly with their first suggestion. Students should, however, discuss all new developments with their supervisor to ensure that their thesis does not lose focus.

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Progress Report

On 9 June students must submit a progress report to their supervisor demonstrating that they have made progress researching and/or writing their 489 thesis. Students may submit a draft of their thesis introduction, if available.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING A PROGRESS REPORT The Progress Report should be about 10 pages (double-spaced typed, pages numbered) and contain the following:

1. A statement of progress about the student’s research to date, particularly discussing any changes to the student’s research focus.

2. A timeline for the student’s research and writing for the period until the seminar presentations in July.

3. An updated bibliography. History does not specify a precise format for progress reports. Students should consult with their supervisor about the content and format of their reports. A sample progress report, based on the 489 thesis proposal given in Appendix B is available in Appendix C (at the end of this booklet).

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HIST 489 Seminar

On 28-29 July honours students present their research in seminar format (dates and times will be confirmed closer to the time). Students give a twenty-minute talk about their work in progress to staff and other history honours students. The format of the seminar resembles that of a formal academic conference. Students often find that the giving a summary of their research helps them write their 489 research essay by providing an opportunity for them to concentrate on their main argument. The seminar also provides students with feedback from their peers. Finally, it gives students experience in public speaking. The presentation should communicate the purpose of the student’s research. Students should highlight main research themes and describe their most important sources. Students should not attempt to present all of their primary source data in detail, they should instead summarize provisional findings. Students may also discuss any difficulties or surprises that arose in the course of their research. Students may speak extemporaneously, but many prepare hand-outs and most use PowerPoint. The 489 workshop will give further guidance about academic presentation styles.

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The First Draft

Students are required present a first draft of their 489 thesis to their supervisor. Supervisors and students negotiate the date between themselves. The draft must be completed no later than 11 September and may be submitted earlier: students and supervisors should discuss a mutually-agreeable time. Students should provide both an electronic and paper copy. The supervisor will make comments on the draft and meet with the student as appropriate. The first draft is not marked, but students should present as full a draft as possible. The process of drafting and revision is central to a major research project. Organising material, sharpening the argument, checking and making consistent citations in footnotes and bibliography and polishing expression is all part of the stages of producing a completed piece of research.

HIST 489 Research Essays should be around 10,000 words,

approximately 40 pages of double-spaced typing, excluding

footnotes and bibliography

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The Final Essay

On 13 October students must present both two paper copies and an electronic file of their final 489 research papers to their supervisor and the Honours coordinator by 2pm. One paper copy will be retained for History’s library, the other will be returned to the student in November. Students will be notified by email when the examined copies are ready for collection. Research essays count for 25% of the honours degree, i.e. the equivalent of one full paper. All 489 essays will be examined by the student’s supervisor and a second history staff member. Some Research Essays will also be sent to faculty at another university for external assessment.

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Assessment

THE CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING THE HIST 489 RESEARCH ESSAY ARE:

1. The ability to develop and sustain an original piece of research over two trimesters;

2. The ability to undertake relevant bibliographical research and demonstrate an understanding of relevant secondary works, including books, articles, internet sources, etc;

3. The ability to formulate and address an historical question, to identify and i nterpret sufficient relevant evidence, and to generate clear conclusions; 4. The capacity to place any primary sources in a historiographical context; 5. The ability to present the results of historical research essay in clear prose, and

6. The ability to apply the conventions of historical scholarship accurately and consistently. Specifically, students must properly attribute quotations; citations, data, figures, or images; and construct a bibliography.

Please note that there is no strict mathematical correlation between these criteria and 489 final marks: essays will be assessed as a coherent whole, not by assigning weighted marks to individual criteria.

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APPENDIX A SAMPLE HIST 489 RESEARCH ESSAY PROPOSAL (1)

Working Title

“British Maritime law as argued at the High Court of Admiralty.”

Background

I am entering my sixth year at Victoria University, having studied both an LLB and BA. I have

previously completed work as a research assistant for Dr Steve Behrendt on his Marsden

Grant project, 'Liverpool as a Trading Port, 1700-1850'. Among other aspects, my work

involved reading and transcribing 18th century shipping cases involving various questions of

law, including the law relating to prize.

Following a discussion of my 489 topic with Dr Behrendt on 14 February 2012, I have

decided that my legal background combined with the knowledge of 18th century shipping

law I gained working on the Marsden project, lend themselves well to the topic of joint

capture. I have adapted the topic included in the History programme's 'suggested 489

research topics' hand out, entitled 'Maritime Law in the Atlantic World, 1756-1815',

narrowing its scope to the more specific area of legal history concerning ‘joint capture’.

Topic

The law of prize was a major aspect of the maritime world in the 18th and early 19th

centuries. Significant wars were fought during this time including the Seven Years' War and

the Napoleonic Wars. Naval warfare played a large role in the outcome of these wars. The

practice of taking enemy ships as 'prizes' became an effective way for warring nations to

eliminate their enemy as efficiently as possible, at the same time expanding their naval or

privateer forces with captured vessels and selling the enemy vessels' cargo for profit.

Taking prizes was not a free-for-all. Because most nations (excluding neutral nations)

engaged in prize warfare, they were forced to have regard to the existing laws of nations. It

was the prize divisions of Vice-Admiralty and Admiralty Courts that enforced these laws.

There survives a wealth of written submissions, affidavits and judgments from these courts

that shed light on the state of the law at the time.

Many of these cases dealt largely with claims of 'joint capture'. It was clear that vessels

could lay claim to a share in a prize captured by connected vessels. Yet sources show that it

was often unclear to what extent the vessels must be connected. Some secondary sources

indicate that any vessel in the vicinity of the primary captor and in sight of the prize might be

entitled to a share in the prize. Others indicate that shares were only granted where both

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vessels were endorsed by the Crown to share in prizes, or where the secondary vessel was

actively involved in the capture of the prize. In completing this 489 essay, I intend to use

primary source materials, and in particular, case law, to shed light on the law of joint capture

and its application to a variety of prize war situations.

Proposal

I intend to use the wealth of primary source material available to me to develop this topic

into a thoroughly researched and well-informed thesis. The most important and relevant

sources I have available are the High Court of Admiralty (HCA) cases preserved in

handwritten and often typed form at the National Archives in Kew, London. Dr Behrendt has

taken photographs of several hundred cases in the HCA45 series concerning Liverpool

vessels, slaving ships, and privateers. Few scholars have examined cases in the important

HCA45 series.

I also have discovered a large volume of case summaries entitled Reports of Prize Cases

Determined in the High Court of Admiralty ... From 1745-1859, published in 1905. Many of

the summaries in this volume relate to the doctrine of joint capture. I will focus on

Admiralty court cases, as they played a large role in developing the law of nations and naval

warfare.

I intend to utilise primary and secondary sources to develop a framework of the law

surrounding joint capture between 1756 and 1815 and to test whether the law of ‘joint

capture’ evolved over the period from the onset of the Seven Years ’ War (1756) to the

ending of the Napoleonic Wars (1815). Some mention of the specific topic of joint capture

can be found in secondary source books discussing prize law. Other secondary sources on

the topic, some of which have cited the HCA45 series, can be found through various

databases, namely JSTOR and ProQuest. I have included examples of these articles in the

bibliography that follows. My essay will question the validity of current thought on joint

capture, shedding light on an aspect of prize law that has, as yet, been little explored by

historians.

Main issues for inclusion

The context in which the law of prize arose as a major part to naval warfare

The importance of the prize court in the 18th century and its impact on the law of

nations

Explanation of the doctrine of joint capture – what could one gain from bringing a

joint capture claim in the Admiralty courts?

Assessment of the law as interpreted in secondary sources

Critical analysis of the primary source case law and assessment of judges' application

of the law in differing joint capture situations (for example, did different rules apply

where the secondary captor was a privateer assisting a navy vessel? What rules were

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applicable where troops on land claimed the right to share in a prize, the capture of

which they sighted?)

Overall conclusion of what the cases show about the law in relation to joint capture.

Why were there different rules for different situations? Did the law change over

time? In what ways did Admiralty judges efficiently enforce the law of nations?

Structure

I intend to divide the thesis into several parts, largely for ease of reading and, for myself,

clarity of thought. The first part will provide an overview of the historical context in which

the practice of joint capture arose. The second part will discuss the law as provided for in

secondary source materials I have accessed, developing an overall picture of the major

aspects of the law of joint capture and how courts decided whether to divide prizes between

joint captors. The third (and largest) part will apply the law, as evidenced in case law, to the

secondary source assertions. Excerpts from cases will prove whether these assertions are

correct or incorrect and will add substantially to contemporary knowledge of the law of joint

capture and its application in differing circumstances.

Timetable

I will adhere to the recommended timetable for handing in my progress report, draft and

completed thesis. I will continue to research the topic for possibly the first month of the

academic year to ensure I have all the relevant material available to me. This may require

liaising with the library to interloan books or articles. However, because the majority of my

thesis will be based on material I already have, this should not take a lot of time. I envisage

that at least monthly meetings with my supervisor will be sufficient to ensure I am on the

right track. However, I'm sure that Dr. Behrendt will not be opposed to answering any

questions I have by email between those meetings.

Preliminary Bibliography

Primary Sources

Cases

Approximately 11 cases on the topic of joint capture, contained in High Court of

Admiralty documents supplied by Dr. Behrendt, in HCA 45/1-17 and HCA 45/18-54

(series and fat ledger with cases).

The majority of these cases include arguments submitted by the parties, affidavits

and evidence as to the law of joint capture. Some have hand-written judgments

included.

Approximately 20 case summaries on the topic of joint capture, contained in Roscoe,

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E.S., Reports of Prize Cases Determined in the High Court of Admiralty (London:

Stevens and Sons Limited, 1905), Vols. 1 and 2.

All judgments contained in these volumes have been paraphrased by the editor, with

headnotes added stating the main principle of law.

Books

Goldsmith, Lewis, An Exposition of the Conduct of France towards America: Illustrated by

cases decided in the Council of Prizes in Paris, 2nd edition, (London: Mercier and Chervet,

1810).

Grotius, Hugo, Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty, ed. Martine Julia van Ittersum

(Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2006, first published 1603).

Kingston, William H.G., How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves: Updated to 1900 (Bremen:

Salzswasser-Verlag, 2010, first published 1851).

Lushington, Sir Godfrey, A Manual of Naval Prize Law (London: Butterworths, 1866).

Martens, Georg Friedrich, Summary of the Law of Nations, founded on the Treaties and

Customs (Philadelphia: Thomas Bradford, Bookseller and Stationer, 1795).

Paget, J.W., An Analytical Digest of the Cases Published in the Law Journal: and in all the

reports of decisions in the courts of common law and equity, … from Michaelmas term, 1822,

to Trinity term, 1828, inclusive, (London: James Holmes, 1831).

Upton, Francis H., The Law of Nations Affecting Commerce During War: With a Review of the

Jurisdiction, Practice and Proceedings of Prize Courts (New York: John S. Voorhies, Law

Bookseller and Publisher, 1861).

Wheaton, Henry, A Digest of the Law of Maritime Captures and Prizes (New York: R.

McDermut & D.D. Arden, 1815).

Articles

Office of the Law Times, 'Prizes and Submarines', in The Law Times, Vol. 138, 1815, p. 299.

Stratford, J., 'Particulars of the Capture of the British Ship of War, Boxer', in New Universal

Magazine, Vol. 20, no. 119, 1813, p. 338.

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Secondary Sources

Books

Baker, Sir G. Sherston (ed.), Halleck's International Law, or Rules Regulating the Intercourse

of States in Peace and War (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd, 1908).

Kulsrud, Carl J., Maritime Neutrality to 1780 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1936).

Lavery, Brian, Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men, and Organisation, 1793-1815 (Naval Institute

Press, 1989).

Petrie, Donald A., The Prize Game: Lawful Looting on the High Seas in the Days of Fighting

Sail (New York: Berkley Books, 1999).

Rodger, N.A.M., The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815 (New

York: W.W. Norton, 2005).

Roscoe, E.S., A History of the English Prize Court (London: Lloyd’s, 1924).

Roscoe, E.S., Studies in the History of the Admiralty and Prize Courts (London: Stevens &

Sons Limited, 1932).

Tiverton, Viscount, The Principles and Practice of Prize Law (London: Butterworth & Co.,

1914).

Articles

Anderson, Gary M., and Gifford, Adam Jr., 'Privateering and the Private Production of Naval

Power', in Cato Journal, Vol. 11, no. 1, Spring/Summer 1991, pp. 99-122.

Baldwin, Gordon, ‘Book Review and Note: The Prize Game: Lawful Looting on the High Seas

in the days of Fighting Sail’, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 94, July 2000, pp.

608-610.

Bederman, David J., ‘Review Essay: The Feigned Demise of Prize’, Emory International Law

Review, Vol. 9, Spring 1995, pp.29-69.

Binney, Charles Chauncey, 'The Latest Chapter of the American Law of Prize and Capture', in

The American Law Register, Vols. 46-55, 1898-1907, pp. 537-549.

Chambers, William and Chambers, Robert (eds.), 'Prize-Money' in Chambers's Journal, Vol. 2,

no. 26, July 1854, p. 12.

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Chambers, William and Chambers, Robert (eds.), 'Prize or no Prize', in Chambers's Journal,

no. 231, June 1858, p. 360.

Cooperstein, Theodore M., ‘Letters of Marque and Reprisal: The Constitutional Law and

Practice of Privateering’, Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce, Vol. 40, no. 2, April 2009,

pp. 221-259.

Harrington, Matthew P., ‘The Legacy of the Colonial Vice-Admiralty Courts’, Journal of

Maritime Law and Commerce, Vol. 27, April 1996, pp. 323-351.

Kraska, James, ‘Grasping “The Influence of Law on Sea Power”’, Naval War College Review,

Vol. 62, no. 3, Summer 2009, pp. 113-135.

Morgan, Kenneth, ‘Remittance Procedures in the Eighteenth-Century British Slave Trade’,

The Business History Review, Vol. 79, no. 4, Winter 2005

Scammel, G.V., ‘Shipowning in the Economy and Politics of Early Modern England’, The

Historical Journal, Vol. 15, no. 3, September 1972, pp. 385-407.

Steckley, George F., ‘Collisions, Prohibitions, and the Admiralty Court in Seventeenth Century

London’, Law and History Review, Vol. 21, no. 1, Spring 2003, pp. 41-68.

Tabarrok, Alexander, ‘The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Privateers’, The Independent Review,

Vol. 11, no. 4, Spring 2007, pp. 565577.

Truxes, Thomas M., ‘Transnational Trade in the Wartime North Atlantic: The Voyage of the

Snow Recovery’, The Business History Review, Vol. 79, no. 4, Winter 2005, p. 751.

Further databases – accessible through Victoria University Library

British Library: 17th-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers

British Periodicals

JSTOR

Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, 1490-2007

State Papers Online Database

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APPENDIX B SAMPLE HIST 489 RESEARCH ESSAY PROPOSAL (2)

HIST489 Research Proposal:

“New Zealand and the Festival of Britain, 1951”

Introduction and Historiography

The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition which opened in London in May 1951. The principal exhibition site was on the south bank of the River Thames, where an area of bomb-damaged industrial buildings and railway sidings was reconstructed into 29 acres of exhibitions exploring Britain’s landscape, the British character, and British industry and science.1 Various other celebratory exhibits were held around London, as well as those which toured the United Kingdom by land and sea. The Festival was an attempt to give Britons a feeling of recovery, illustrate progress towards reconstruction, and to advance ideas of better quality design in the rebuilding of towns and cities following the war. After many challenges to its world power status after the second world war, the Festival was a public opportunity for Great Britain to reaffirm its strength and standing to itself, across its remaining Empire, and in the wider world.

Through a glorified history of Britain’s cultural, scientific, and political achievements, the Festival was an official representation of what it meant to be ‘British’ in 1951. By celebrating a centenary of progress since London’s Great Exhibition in 1851, the Festival of

Britain was to be ‘a tonic for the nation’, a cure for British post-war pessimism that grew out of never-ending austerity, rationing, and the prospect of another war in Korea.2

Running for five months, the Festival broke attendance records. Over eight million people visited the main attractions in London; with the regional and travell ing exhibits

spreading the Festival spirit around the country.3 Grand and modern imaginings of the future were a dominant theme in the Festival.

The event offered a platform for Festival architects to embark on an impressive series of constructions showcasing British modernity. One of the Festival’s chief features was the

Skylon, a futuristic structure resembling a ball-point pen suspended in mid-air. The Dome of Discovery, which housed the main exhibits on the South Bank site, had the largest

unsupported roof in the world, and was reported to be the biggest dome ever constructed.4 Several secondary works have been completed by British authors on the exhibition

event itself. Most British historiography has regarded the Festival of Britain as a defini ng event in national reconstruction, and accordingly, a high point of post-war British unity.5

Many works feature the Festival as a turning point in British recovery from the Second World War, and a marker for the end of rationing and economic austerity. Several authors

also offer a comparison between the public reception of the Festival of Britain, the Great

1 F. M. Leventhal, ‘‘A Tonic to the Nation’: The Festival of Britain, 1951’, Albion: A Quarterly Journal

Concerned with British Studies, vol. 27, no. 3, Autumn 1995, p.447. 2 Mark Garnett and Richard Weight, The A-Z Guide to Modern British History, London, 2003, p.236; Charles

More, Britain in the Twentieth Century, Harlow, 2007, p.242. 3 Leventhal, p. 450. 4 Kenneth O. Morgan, The Peoples Peace: British History 1945-1989, Oxford, 1990, p.208. 5 David Childs, Britain Since 1939: Progress and Decline, London, 1995; Paul Addison, Now the War is Over:

A Social History of Britain 1945-51, London, 1985.

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Exhibition in 1851, and the building of the Millennium Dome for celebrations in the year 2000.6

Although considerable work has been undertaken discussing the place of the Festival in British social history, an examination of the participation in the event by New Zealand and the former Dominions – who held close relationships with Britain, and where much of the population was considered, and considered itself ‘British’ – has not yet been undertaken. The relationship between New Zealand and Great Britain has tended to have been placed and discussed within the context of the economic, political, and constitutional changes that occurred between 1945 and 1956, rather than through the experience of shared cultural events.

My early research has illustrated that New Zealand participated in the Festival of Britain in

several ways: i) Submitting displays and exhibits to be shown in the ‘Dome of Discovery’ ii) Attendance of New Zealanders at the festival event iii) Providing historical information about the role Britain played in developing New

Zealand infrastructure and natural resources (railways, mining) iv) Displays and promotion of New Zealand’s progress and development at the New

Zealand High Commission in London Even though the Festival of Britain was signalled from the very beginning as a purely national celebration within the United Kingdom, my research has indicated that there was space for exhibits from New Zealand and elsewhere. Many New Zealanders were excited by the prospect of New Zealand representation, and expected the country to participate in the proudly British spectacle. This raises questions surrounding the boundaries of ‘national’, and the continued application of the term ‘British’ to encompass aspects of the Empire and Commonwealth.

Coming so soon after the end of the Second World War, the absence of a strong separate Commonwealth influence in the Festival of Britain is an interesting indicator of the post-war relationship between New Zealand and Britain. The interaction between festival attendees and family and friends in New Zealand is also an intriguing aspect of this topic.

From my preliminary research, I have found that approximately 2 000 tickets to the Festival were secured by the New Zealand High Commission in London to enable New Zealanders

visiting the United Kingdom to attend. 7 How these people experienced the event, and the success of the Festival in diffusing its modern and progressive ideals in New Zealand, is yet

to be explored.

Proposal My research essay aims to focus on the 1951 Festival of Britain in order to explore

New Zealand’s evolving relationship with Britain, after the Second World War. I believe this event both signifies a continuation of the ‘old’, and the extension of ‘new’ ways in which

New Zealand interacted with Britain. This division is illustrated by a split in attitudes between those who are excited about the event and expect New Zealand’s participation

(including members of the public, and the Prime Minister), and those who are much more ambivalent towards the Festival, especially the costly expenditures required for any New

Zealand participation (such as government officials from the Department of Internal Affairs).

6 Garnett and Weight; Addison; Childs; More; Michael Frayn, ‘Festival’ in Michael Sissions and Philip French

(eds.), The Age of Austerity: 1945-1951, London, 1963. 7 Telegram, New Zealand High Commission, London to External Affairs, 28/2/51, no. 274, Economic Affairs -

International Exhibitions - Festival of Britain, 1946-1952, EA 1 980* 104/18/6 1, Archives New Zealand

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Many ‘old’ ways in which New Zealand linked itself with Britain are evident in the Festival event. These stress the shared history (through early explorers, migration, family in Britain), and the continued exchanges of people and ideas. However, several ‘new’ interactions, which asserted New Zealand’s uniqueness and its own contribution to civilisation, can be seen though the Festival. New Zealand’s Festival exhibits emphasise the history of ‘New Zealanders’ and Maori, and New Zealand’s own explorers and innovators.

By using the Festival of Britain event as a marker of post-war relations between New Zealand and Britain, I aim to explore the extent to which the Festival represents a turning point, or how New Zealand’s Festival experience is part of a gradual shift from the ‘old’ to the ‘new’ that has begun to occur well before 1951. The division in feelings towards New

Zealand’s participation signifies that many still equated and identified New Zealand’s history, and its cultural, scientific, and political achievements, with those of Britain. By

focusing on what New Zealand contributed to the Festival of Britain, why we chose to do so, and who made these decisions, I aim to explore the degree to which the New Zealand’s experiences in the Festival can fit into a continually altering and evolving relationship with Britain after the Second World War.

Some comparison with the experiences of other nations will also be part of my research. I believe placing New Zealand’s experiences at the Festival of Britain in context with other countries will help me better understand what was expected of New Zealand participation in the Festival. Countries which I may be able to draw on are mostly others in the Commonwealth, especially Australia. Some work has taken a look at how the Festival aimed to appeal to American audiences, and I aim to consider how this resembled Commonwealth experiences.

My topic will be constrained by the availability of primary evidence which can be directly related to New Zealand, and because of this, my research project will be shaped and adapted to the primary evidence available. Likewise, many secondary works that I will consult in this research project will be heavily focussed towards Britain, and British national history, which I will have to take into account.

While the actual Festival event will provide the focus for the essay, other factors such as New Zealand’s involvement with international exhibitions before 1951, will also be

briefly considered as part of the context of the Festival of Britain. These will be useful in discussing what types of exhibits were usually donated to exhibitions, and especially the

presentation of Maori. This research essay aims to expand knowledge into a little discussed area of New

Zealand history. Though the economic and constitutional changes in the relationship between New Zealand and Britain during this period have commanded the attention of

historians to date, this essay will provide an indicator of the cultural relations between New Zealand and Britain in the post-war period. This essay will also shed light on the contrasting

ideas of everyday New Zealanders, and government officials charged with the actual realities of continuing a close British relationship on the other side of the world.

Research Questions

To what extent does the Festival of Britain, held in 1951, represent or demonstrate a turning point in relationships between New Zealand and Britain?

Specific focus:

- Did the Festival of Britain represent a turning point in the relationship between New Zealand and Britain? If not, why not?

- What did New Zealand contribute to the Festival of Britain, 1951? Is this comparable to what other Commonwealth nations contributed?

26

- How can New Zealand’s involvement in the Festival of Britain be linked with the economic/political/constitutional changes occurring between New Zealand and Britain during the same time period?

- How were stories of New Zealand and the Commonwealth part of the ‘tonic to the nation’?

- Is there any difference between how New Zealand chose to involve itsel f (and present itself) in other festivals and exhibitions pre-1951, and the Festival of Britain?

- How did people who attended the Festival relay their experiences to New Zealand?

- What role did the government play in defining how New Zealand contributed to the Festival?

- How did public opinions on New Zealand’s involvement in the Festival diverge? Chapter Plan Section One: Introduction

- The Festival event, 1951 - Relevant British historiography - New Zealand and Exhibitions pre-1951

Section Two: Government Involvement in the Festival of Britain - Getting to the Festival of Britain via the New Zealand High Commission via

External Affairs via Internal Affairs - The journey of the Maori carvings - The New Zealand High Commission in London - Post Festival offers of exhibits

Section Three: Attendance and Impressions - Attendance by New Zealanders - Attendance by those living in Britain - Reports of the Festival in New Zealand, newspapers, advertising

- Design and Architecture, Sir Basil Spence and the Beehive - Talks, and visits by Festival designers to New Zealand

Section Four: Conclusion

Methodology Initial visits to Archives New Zealand have revealed several government documents and

correspondence relating to New Zealand’s role in the Festival of Britain. New Zealand seems to have sent several items to be exhibited at the Festival, with varying amounts of

enthusiasm for the event. These documents also contain interesting correspondence from members of the public to the government, discussing New Zealand’s participation.

Newspaper reports and magazine features about the Festival will also be an

important source of primary information on how the Festival was relayed and received in New Zealand, and perhaps attitudes towards it.

Primary records of those who visited will be useful, such as groups touring Britain

during 1951. The New Zealand contingent to a scout jamboree held in Europe took a deviation to the Festival of Britain event. This experience has been edited recently into a

book by Howard Clements and Bob Stothart and will be a very useful insight into how these boys relayed their experiences home.

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Other secondary sources will also be used to place the project in its historical context and to provide relevant historiography. Most of the secondary work done on this topic is based in the British historiography, so placing the New Zealand experience in context will be important. Bibliography (preliminary) Primary Sources Archives New Zealand (NA) Miscellaneous - Exhibition - Festival of Britain 1951 - Loan of Maori Carvings, IA 1 3031

158/664, NA Economic Affairs - International Exhibitions - Festival of Britain, 1946-1952, EA 1 980*

104/18/6 1, NA Exhibitions – England Great Britain United Kingdom 1921-1949, IC 1 1434 38/62 1, NA Exhibitions – England Great Britain United Kingdom 1950-1953, IC 1 1435 38/62 2, NA Government Exhibits for Shows etc. 25 March 1937 – 29 November 1951, 1937 – 1951, MD

1 1630* 15/216 1, NA Economic – Exhibitions and Fairs – Books [08/1951 – 04/1973] 1951-1973, ABHS 6956

W5330 21 TKY46/18/5 1, NA Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL) Catalogue of the Festival of Britain Exhibition displayed in the Main Library, 1951: with

introductory note and 16 facsimiles Manchester: John Rylands Library, 1951, G 017 JOH 1953, ATL

City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Exhibition of English tapestries 11 July to 26 August 1951, Festival of Britain in Birmingham, B-131-02-052, ATL

Miss Festival of Britain, Miss Festival of Britain Miss Judy Breen, Miss Festival of Britain, photographed circa 27 August 1951 by an Evening Post staff photographer ca 27 Aug 1951, Evening Post PA-Group-00287114/343/12-G ATL

Papers – Festival of Britain, MS-Papers-1009-1/1/94, ATL Publications, 1944, 1951, MS-Papers-9554-5, ATL

National Library (NL) Festival of Britain, 1951: Catalogue of Exhibits, South Bank Exhibition, London: H.M.

Stationery Office, 1951, STORE 606 FES 1951, NL Poems 1951: The prize-winning entries for the Festival of Britain competition, England:

Penguin, 1951, 821.08 POE 1951, NL The Festival Exhibition, 1951, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham: The Land

Travelling Exhibition, London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1951, STORE 606 FES 1951, NL

Council of Industrial Design and the Scottish Committee of the Council of Industrial Design, Design in the Festival Illustrating a Selection of Well-Designed British Goods in

Production in the Festival Year 1951, London: H. M. Stationary Office, 1951, STORE

745.4 DES 1951, NL Cox, Ian, The South Bank Exhibition: a Guide to the Story it Tells, London: H.M. Stationery

Office, 1951, STORE 606 FES 1951, NL Taylor, Basil, The Festival of Britain, London, H. M. Stationery Office 1951, STORE 606 FES

1951, NL

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Newspapers and Weeklies The Dominion The Evening Post New Zealand Listener Films Harvey, Maurice and Brunius, Jacques, Brief city: the story of London’s Festival Buildings,

London: Massingham Production Limited with assistance from The Observer, 1952, Auckland University, Architecture Library, Video 276.

Panamint Cinema, London in Festival Year 1951, West Lothian, Scotland: Panamint Cinema,

2006, DVD release of short films originally produced in 1951 and 1959, Auckland University of Technology, City Campus DVD, NB 394.269421 LON.

Secondary Books Addison, Paul, Now the War is Over: A Social History of Britain 1945-51, London, 1985. Banham, Mary, and Hillier, Bevis (eds.), A Tonic to the Nation: The Festival of Britain 1951,

London, 1976. Burstow, R., Symbols for ’51, the Royal Festival Hall, Skylon and Sculptures for the Festival of

Britain, London, 1996. Childs, David, Britain Since 1939: Progress and Decline, London, 1995. Clements, Howard, and Stothart, Bob (eds.), The Journey Begins: The Story of the 1951 New

Zealand Scout Contingent to the 7th World Jamboree, Austria and the Festival of Britain Camp, London, Paraparaumu, New Zealand, 2009.

Conekin, Becky, Mort, Frank, and Waters, Chris (eds.), Moments of Modernity: Reconstructing Britain, 1945-1964, London and New York: Rivers Oram Press, 1999.

Gatley, Julia (ed.), Long Live the Modern: New Zealand's New Architecture, 1904-84, Auckland, 2008.

Garnett, Mark and Weight, Richard, The A-Z Guide to Modern British History, London, 2003. Gaskell, S. Martin, Model Housing: From the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain,

London and New York, 1986. Harwood, Elain, and Powers, Alan (eds.), Festival of Britain, London, 2001.

McCarthy, Conal, Exhibiting Maori: A History of Colonial Cultures of Display, Oxford and New York, 2007.

McGibbon, Ian (ed.), Undiplomatic Dialogue: Letters between Carl Berendsen and Alister McIntosh, 1943-52, Auckland, 1993.

McIntyre, W. David, British Decolonization, 1946-1997: When, Why, and How Did the British Empire Fall?, New York, 1998.

McKinnon, Malcolm, Independence and Foreign Policy: New Zealand in the World since 1935, Auckland, 1993.

Montgomery, John, The Fifties, London 1965. More, Charles, Britain in the Twentieth Century, Harlow, 2007.

Morgan, Kenneth O., The Peoples Peace: British History 1945-1989, Oxford, 1990. Rennie, Paul, Festival of Britain 1951, Woodbridge, 2007.

Renwick, William (ed.), Spirit of the Nation: New Zealand’s Centennial, Wellington, 2004.

Weight, Richard, Patriots: National Identity in Britain 1940-2000, London, 2002. Wilson, John (ed.), Zeal and Crusade: The Modern Movement in Wellington, Christchurch,

1996.

29

Journal Articles; Articles in Edited Collections Briggs, Asa, ‘Exhibiting the Nation’, History Today, January 2000, pp.16-25. The Burlington Magazine, ‘The Arts in the Festival of Britain’, The Burlington Magazine, vol.

93, no. 581, August 1951, p.249. Capie, David, ‘New Zealand and the World: Imperial, International and Global Relations’, in

Giselle Byrnes (ed.), The New Oxford History of New Zealand, South Melbourne, 2009, pp.573-578.

Cavendish, Richard, ‘The First Miss World Contest’, History Today, April 2001, pp.61-2. Daley, Caroline, ‘Modernity, Consumption and Leisure’ in Giselle Byrnes (ed.), The New

Oxford History of New Zealand, South Melbourne, 2009, pp.423-445.

Frayn, Michael, ‘Festival’ in Michael Sissions and Philip French (eds.), The Age of Austerity: 1945-1951, London, 1963, pp.317-338.

Grant, Mariel, ‘‘Working for the Yankee Dollar’: Tourism and the Festival of Britain as Stimuli for Recovery’, Journal of British Studies, vol.45, July 2006, pp.581–601.

Leventhal, F. M., ‘‘A Tonic to the Nation’: The Festival of Britain, 1951’, Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, vol. 27, no. 3, Autumn 1995, pp.445-453.

Marwick, Arthur, ‘Britain 1951’, History Today, April 1991, pp. 5-11. McCarthy, Conal, ‘‘Our Works of Ancient Times’: History, Colonisation and Agency at the

1906-7 New Zealand International Exhibition’, Museum History Journal vol. 2, no. 2, 2009, pp.119-42.

McCarthy, Conal, ‘Objects of Empire? Displaying Maori at International Exhibitions, 1873-1924’, Journal of New Zealand Literature vol. 23, no. 1, 2005, pp. 52-70.

McIntyre, W. David, ‘Imperialism and Nationalism’, in Geoffrey W. Rice (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd edition, Auckland, 1992, pp. 337-350.

Porter, Peter, ‘An Anglo-Australian Watershed’, Meanjin, vol. 63, issue 3, 2004, pp.187-190. Skinner, Robin, ‘Home Away: A State House in London’ in Barbara Brookes (ed.), At Home in

New Zealand: History, Houses, People, Wellington, 2000, pp.154-165.

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APPENDIX C SAMPLE HIST 489 PROGRESS REPORT

Topic: ‘The place that was almost absent’? New Zealand and the Festival of Britain, 1951

Abstract

The Festival of Britain was an inward-looking national exhibition held across the United Kingdom during the European summer of 1951. Designed as a morale-boosting display of Britain’s recovery from the second world war, the Festival combined Commonwealth stories into the narrative story of ‘Britain’. New Zealand’s involvement in the Festival of Britain provides a key insight into the cultural and political relationships between the United Kingdom and New Zealand in 1951, and illustrates how the land and homes of those overseas still fit into their sense of progress and identity. Although few Festival authors mention individual Commonwealth countries, and regard the Commonwealth’s presence as ‘almost absent’, an actual cataloguing of New Zealand’s contributions illustrates a continuing symbolic relationship between New Zealand and the United Kingdom. By using New Zealand government archives, and contemporary New Zealand newspaper reports, this study explores New Zealand’s physical contributions towards exhibitions, and the images its displays presented to Festival of Britain visitors. --------------------------------- Report Content

‘Our sons and daughters have left Britain and set up their own homes overseas; our adopted

children are coming into their own estates.’8

The 1951 Festival of Britain has reappeared and has been reconsidered through many different academic studies. As a genuinely popular public event, held on a national

scale across the 1951 Northern Hemisphere summer, the Festival of Britain has been variously used to examine the end of economic austerity, Labour’s election defeat in 1951,

and modernist design forms.9 What has been rarely discussed however is the Festival’s combination of Commonwealth stories into the narrative of ‘Britain’. New Zealand’s

involvement in the Festival of Britain provides a key insight into the cultural and political relationships between the United Kingdom and New Zealand in 1951, and illustrates how

the land and homes of Britain’s sons and daughters overseas still fit into a British sense of progress and identity. Although few Festival authors mention individual Commonwealth

countries, and regard the Commonwealth’s presence as ‘almost absent’, an actual cataloguing of New Zealand’s contributions, illustrates that this is not entirely the case. This

study explores New Zealand’s physical contributions towards exhibitions, and the images its

displays presented to Festival of Britain visitors – Commonwealth and British alike. New Zealand’s experience at the Festival of Britain can be examined through two discussion

8 Ian Cox, The South Bank Exhibition: A Guide to the Story it Tells, H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1951, p.

43. Ian Cox was the Festival’s Director of Science and Technology, devised the theme of the Exhibition, and

wrote the accompanying Guide Books. 9 Paul Addison, Now the War is Over: A Social History of Britain, 1945-51, London, 1985, pp. 206-7; Mark

Garnett and Richard Weight, The A-Z Guide to Modern British History, London, 2003, p. 236; Paul Rennie,

Festival of Britain 1951, Design, Woodbridge, 2007, p. 20.

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points: as an illustration of New Zealand’s part in the ‘British family’, and additionally, as an exploration of the growing independence of New Zealand nation-state.

The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition which opened in London on 3 May 1951 and ran for five months over the Northern Hemisphere summer. The principal exhibition site was on the south bank of the River Thames, where an area of bomb-damaged industrial buildings and railway sidings was reconstructed into 29 acres of exhibitions exploring a narrative story of Britain’s landscape, the British character, and British industry and science.10 To spread the festival spirit around the country, nine official government funded exhibitions were produced for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as 23 designated arts festivals, and a ‘Pleasure Garden’ in Battersea. 11 On the local

level, close to 2 000 cities, towns and villages across the United Kingdom organised and funded their own Festival event. 12 Over eight and a half million people visited the South

Bank alone, with another ten million visiting the touring regional and travelling exhibitions around the country.13 Even if it was possible to avoid the festivities outside, the Festival was also brought to your television set, with the BBC airing 2 700 Festival -related broadcasts over the duration of the event.14

The Festival was conceived in the immediate post-war period, a period characterised by housing shortages and the continuation of wartime restrictions and rationing, as well as the initial stages of the dissolution of the British Empire. At a cost of £11 million, the Festival was an expensive attempt to give Britons a feeling of recovery, illustrate progress towards reconstruction, and to advance ideas of better quality design in the rebuilding of towns and cities following the war.15 Through a glorified history of Britain’s cultural, scientific, and political achievements, the Festival was an official representation of what it meant to be ‘British’ in 1951. After many challenges to its world power status after the second world war, the Festival was a public opportunity for Great Britain to reaffirm its strength and standing to itself, across its remaining Empire, and in the wider world.

Grand and modern imaginings of the future were a dominant theme in the Festival. The event offered a platform for Festival architects to embark on an impressive series of constructions showcasing British modernity. One of the Festival’s chief features was the Skylon, a futuristic structure resembling a ball-point pen suspended in mid-air. The Dome of

Discovery, which housed the main exhibits on the South Bank site, had the largest unsupported roof in the world, and was reported to be the biggest dome ever

constructed.16 Several secondary works have been completed by British authors on the exhibition

event itself.17 Most British historiography has regarded the Festival of Britain as a defining event in national reconstruction, and accordingly, a high point of post-war British unity.18

10 F. M. Leventhal, ‘ “A Tonic to the Nation’: The Festival of Britain, 1951’, Albion: A Quarterly Journal

Concerned with British Studies, vol. 27, no. 3, Autumn 1995, p. 447. 11 Becky Conekin, ‘The Autobiography of a Nation’: The 1951 Festival of Britain, Manchester, 2003, p. 4. 12 Conekin, ‘The Autobiography of a Nation,’ p.4. 13 Leventhal, p. 450. 14 Conekin, p. 4. 15 Garnett and Weight, p. 236. 16 Kenneth O. Morgan, The Peoples Peace: British History 1945-1989, Oxford, 1990, p.208. 17 Conekin, ‘The Autobiography of a Nation’: The 1951 Festival of Britain; Becky Conekin, ‘‘Here is the

Modern World Itself’: The Festival of Britain’s Representations of the Future’, in Becky Conekin, Frank Mort,

and Chris Waters, (eds.), Moments of Modernity: Reconstructing Britain, 1945-1964, London and New York,

1999, pp. 228-246; Elain Harwood and Alan Powers (eds.), Festival of Britain, London, 2001; Michael Frayn,

‘Festival’ in Michael Sissions and Philip French (eds.), The Age of Austerity: 1945-1951, London, 1963, pp.

317-338; Bevis Hiller, ‘Introduction’ in A Tonic to the Nation: The Festival of Britain 1951 , London, 1976, pp.

10-17; Leventhal. 18 David Childs, Britain Since 1939: Progress and Decline, London, 1995; Paul Addison, Now the War is Over:

A Social History of Britain 1945-51, London, 1985.

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Many works feature the Festival as a turning point in British recovery from the second world war, and a marker for the end of rationing and economic austerity. Several authors also offer a comparison between the public reception of the Festival of Britain, the Great Exhibition in 1851, and the building of the Millennium Dome for celebrations in the year 2000.19

While considerable work has been undertaken to discuss the place of the Festival in British social history, an examination of the participation in the event by New Zealand and the former Dominions – who held close relationships with Britain, and where much of the population was considered, and considered itself ‘British’ – has not yet been undertaken. The relationship between New Zealand and Great Britain has tended to be placed and

discussed within the context of the economic, political, and constitutional changes that occurred between 1945 and 1956, rather than through the experience of shared cultural

events. This research essay aims to expand knowledge into this little discussed area of New Zealand history. This essay will also provide an indicator of the cultural relations between New Zealand and Britain in the post-war period, and shed light on the contrasting ideas of everyday New Zealanders, and government officials charged with the actual realities of continuing a close British relationship on the other side of the world.

Although Conekin suggests that there were very few representations of the Empire or Commonwealth at the Festival of Britain, my research using New Zealand primary sources suggests that this is not entirely the case.20 Although the 1951 Festival did not have the graphic connection with empire of, for example, the 1851 Great Exhibition or the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, ‘the British story’ of the Festival of Britain did much to incorporate notions of Empire and Commonwealth, where it was felt they contributed to an understanding of progress and modernity. Although ‘the subject matter of this exhibition is the story of the British people and their environment’, New Zealand’s environment still effectively slipped into this picture.21 New Zealand justified no independent representation at the exhibition, but a selection of exhibits and images were contributed by members of the public and the New Zealand government to reflect key attributes of our relationship: our discovery by British explorers, the progress of Maori, modern technology and design, and our link to natural resources.

This essay will be broken down into two chapters which will discuss two important themes. The first chapter will examine the ideas around ‘Our sons and daughters’: New

Zealand as part of the British family. Even though the Festival of Britain was signalled and established as a purely national celebration within the United Kingdom, the Festival

organisers identified exhibits from New Zealand which fit into the ‘British’ narrative. The second chapter will address New Zealand as both in and out of the British family, and

question whether the New Zealand government’s ambivalence to the Festival of Britain can be seen as an indication of a move away from British dependence.

This essay draws on a variety of sources to illustrate the role of New Zealand in the Festival. The predominant primary source of information for this essay is archives from the

New Zealand government, which hold records from the former Departments of External and Internal Affairs, and the Department of Industries and Commerce, all of which were

responsible for organising and administering New Zealand’s representation in overseas trade exhibitions. Some personal papers survive from New Zealanders attending the

Festival, which mostly consist of catalogues and guide books. These are useful for two

purposes. Firstly, they tell us that New Zealanders attended the event, and were interested enough to keep hold their record of attendance. Secondly, the guide books themselves

19 Addison; Childs; Frayn; Garnett and Weight; Charles More, Britain in the Twentieth Century, Harlow, 2007. 20 Conekin, ‘The Autobiography of a Nation’: The 1951 Festival of Britain, p. 183. 21 Cox, p.6

33

inform us about the official language used to describe the Festival and the reasons for its exhibits. A couple of New Zealanders’ published recollections of attending the event also exist, and provide further information as to the way the Festival was received.

In addition, contemporary New Zealand newspaper reports of the pre-Festival organisation, and the opening of the Festival event allow us to look at how New Zealanders regarded the event. To a large extent these newspapers regarded the event in the same ways as the Festival organisers, and illustrates that many still equated and identified New Zealand’s history, and its cultural, scientific, and political achievements, with those of Britain. Newspaper advertisements for travel to Britain, and the Festival event itself also illustrate how visiting the Festival was perceived to be just like taking a break to visit our

English family.

Section Two: ‘Our Sons and Daughters’: New Zealand in the British Family

The beginning of this chapter will outline how I discuss and apply terms such as British, Empire, empire, Commonwealth, Great Britain and United Kingdom, to avoid confusion further in the essay. This topic raises questions surrounding the boundaries of ‘national’, and the continued application of the term ‘British’ to encompass aspects of the Empire and Commonwealth.

This section will discuss the most immediate way in which New Zealand representation can be illustrated at the Festival: official government involvement in exhibiting. Even though the Festival of Britain was signalled from the very beginning as a purely national celebration within the United Kingdom, my research has indicated that there was space for exhibits from New Zealand and elsewhere. New Zealand submitted displays and exhibits to be shown in the ‘Dome of Discovery’, and provided historical information about the role Britain played in developing New Zealand infrastructure and natural resources (such as railways, and mining). The New Zealand High Commission in London also participated in presenting New Zealand at the Festival, displaying and promoting New Zealand material in their offices. New Zealand is not the only Commonwealth nation represented at the Festival, but interestingly, the New Zealand exhibits are one of the few

sourced from outside the United Kingdom. Within this example, this essay will discuss what stories are told by the New Zealand

and Commonwealth exhibits. Festival organisers regarded the Commonwealth (especially the ‘white’ Commonwealth) as part of the British family. The British stories that were told

by the Festival were New Zealand, Australia, and Canada’s stories too. The second way in which we can view New Zealand at the Festival event is through

attendance by New Zealanders. While approximately 2 000 tickets to the Festival were secured by the New Zealand High Commission in London to enable New Zealanders visiting

the United Kingdom to attend, many other New Zealanders secured their trip to Britain as over six months before the event, as illustrated by a number of New Zealand newspaper

advertisements.22 Back in New Zealand, reports of the Festival event, and local New Zealanders

attending, filled newspapers from the opening of the event fostered informal attendance of New Zealanders at the event. The language used to praise the Festival, is interesting and

will be discussed.

The modern and progressive ideals of the Festival were spread to New Zealand, especially through design and architecture, and talks and visits by Festival designers to New

22 Telegram, New Zealand High Commission, London to External Affairs, 28/2/51, no. 274, Economic Affairs -

International Exhibitions - Festival of Britain, 1946-1952, EA 1 980* 104/18/6 1, Archives New Zealand

34

Zealand. A notable example of this is Wellington’s Beehive, designed by Sir Basil Spence, a key Festival architect, in 1964. Section Three: In and Out: New Zealand in the World?

This section will illustrate New Zealand as both in and out of the British family, and question whether the New Zealand government’s ambivalence to the Festival of Britain can be seen as an indication of a move away from British dependence.

Getting to the Festival of Britain was a convoluted and bureaucratic process, involving several large government departments and government-administered

organisations, such as the Dominion Museum. To illustrate this process, the journey of the Maori carvings is used, from it first floated as an idea in August 1950 to its arrival in London

for the Festival in January of the next year. The ability to organise such a large event on the other side of the world, often proved problematic for the New Zealand government, and hindered its ability to get enthused about the idea.

The government’s ambiguity towards the Festival is also illustrated by two further examples. The New Zealand High Commission in London planned early for the event, and had imagined a grand display of New Zealand progress to attach to the theme of the Festival. This idea was not greeted with terribly much enthusiasm in New Zealand, and the High Commission had to make do with a small pictorial display on a much smaller scale than they originally envisaged. Post-Festival, the New Zealand government was offered exhibits, which it turned down on cost factors. While the Festival Committee suggests that this is a privilege for New Zealand, there is a feeling from the New Zealand correspondence that the exhibits are a bit token, and on inspection most proved slightly damaged.

This chapter will also discuss how New Zealand exhibited itself overseas pre-1951, especially in relation to Maori, in order to compare and contrast New Zealand’s involvement in the Festival. Conal McCarthy’s work will be especially important in this. In comparison to other international exhibitions, the Festival is notable as it is not a New Zealand government-sponsored exhibition, and the themes of exhibits were not chosen by New Zealand representatives.

Other New Zealand-related external events will also be discussed in this section, and will illustrate how they shed light on the decisions made in regards to the Festival.

Section Four: Conclusion

This section will bring together the threads from the other sections, and draw

conclusions about the evolving relationship between Britain and New Zealand from the end of the second world war.

Importantly, a focus on the Festival of Britain suggests the New Zealand’s experiences in the Festival can fit into a continually altering and evolving relationship with

Britain after the second world war. The Festival spoke of the relationship between Britain and her Commonwealth, as not developed in isolation, but as a symbolic passing of British

knowledge and skills. The Festival illustrates Britain’s former colonies mature adults, but ones which continue to be part of the family, making valuable contributions to progress. In

the Guide Catalogue, the point id stressed, that even though we live on the other side of the

world we able to speak to each other. This event both signifies a continuation of the ‘old’, and the extension of ‘new’ ways

in which New Zealand interacted with Britain. This division is illustrated by a split in attitudes between those who are excited about the event and expect New Zealand’s

participation (including members of the public, and the Prime Minister), and those who are

35

much more ambivalent towards the Festival, especially the costly expenditures required for any New Zealand participation (such as government officials from the Department of Internal Affairs). The division in feelings towards New Zealand’s participation signifies that many still equated and identified New Zealand’s history, and its cultural, scientific, and political achievements, with those of Britain.

New Zealand’s presence, although small, should not be confused with other – entirely New Zealand-funded – exhibitions. Unlike the established, export-driven, exhibitions displayed by the New Zealand Courts at the British Industries Fairs, the Festival of Britain presented a continuous ‘British’ narrative story.

Research Report and Writing Timetable: On the whole, my research has been quite useful. I have completed enough

research to begin writing my essay, but will consult further works if I encounter gaps in my research.

The primary sources I have identified and consulted have proved of use. The government documents at Archives New Zealand have proved particularly helpful for what was contributed by New Zealand (and tracking the process from idea to the actual arrival of the object in London), key newspaper clippings, and correspondence from members of the public to the New Zealand government expressing their opinions about the Festival. The Festival-related documents are based from the Departments of Internal and External Affairs, while I have found several items relating to general New Zealand trade exhibitions overseas from the Department of Industries and Commerce.

I have been lucky to find original published sources from the Festival of Britain at the National Library. These include guide books, and catalogues to the exhibits displayed, listing where the exhibits were sources from. These are also useful to gain an official British view of the aims behind the Festival, and justifications for some of the displays. As the Festival aimed to tell a national story, guide books and catalogues are useful to explicitly tell the narrative for the researcher.

Some personal documents are kept by the Alexander Turnbull library from private New Zealand donors to the Festival. These give some idea about who attended Festival

events, and how Festival organisers tried to use items for exhibits that were based in United Kingdom, rather than going through national governments. Unfortunately, I have not been

able to find many personal recollections of the Festival, probably due to the recent the event was held, comparatively. In addition, newspaper reports and magazine features

about the Festival have also been an important source of primary information on how the Festival was relayed and received in New Zealand.

My look at the secondary literature has been useful, and will be on-going as I spot gaps in my research. As I identified in my research proposal, most of the secondary work on

the Festival is British, but I have had no trouble obtaining most works in New Zealand. In the New Zealand literature, I have found works on exhibiting Maori useful, and general

histories of the New Zealand political, economic and social situation around 1951. I have consulted almost all the works listed on my preliminary bibliography, and most have been

useful in their specialist area.

Timetable Between 7 June and the seminar presentations on 16 and 17 July I will be refining my

introduction and will begin to write a draft of the body of my essay. As I begin to write, I will consult further secondary works where necessary.

36

(New Page): Bibliography (updated from original proposal) Primary Sources Archives New Zealand (NA) Miscellaneous - Exhibition - Festival of Britain 1951 - Loan of Maori Carvings, IA 1 3031

158/664, NA Economic Affairs - International Exhibitions - Festival of Britain, 1946-1952, EA 1 980*

104/18/6 1, NA Exhibitions – England Great Britain United Kingdom 1921-1949, IC 1 1434 38/62 1, NA Exhibitions – England Great Britain United Kingdom 1950-1953, IC 1 1435 38/62 2, NA

Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL) Miss Festival of Britain, Miss Festival of Britain Miss Judy Breen, Miss Festival of Britain,

photographed circa 27 August 1951 by an Evening Post staff photographer ca 27 Aug 1951, Evening Post PA-Group-00287114/343/12-G ATL.

Papers – Festival of Britain, MS-Papers-1009-1/1/94, ATL Publications, 1944, 1951, MS-Papers-9554-5, ATL National Library (NL) Festival of Britain, 1951: Catalogue of Exhibits, South Bank Exhibition, London: H.M.

Stationery Office, 1951, STORE 606 FES 1951, NL. Festival of Britain: Exhibition of Industrial Power, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, London: H.M.

Stationery Office, 1951, STORE 606 FES 1951, NL. Poems 1951: The prize-winning entries for the Festival of Britain competition, England:

Penguin, 1951, 821.08 POE 1951, NL The Festival Exhibition, 1951, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham: The Land

Travelling Exhibition, London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1951, STORE 606 FES 1951, NL.

Council of Industrial Design and the Scottish Committee of the Council of Industrial Design, Design in the Festival Illustrating a Selection of Well-Designed British Goods in

Production in the Festival Year 1951, London: H. M. Stationary Office, 1951, STORE 745.4 DES 1951, NL.

Cox, Ian, The South Bank Exhibition: A Guide to the Story it Tells, London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1951, STORE 606 FES 1951, NL.

Gibbs-Smith C.H. (ed.), The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Commemorative Album, London: H. M. Stationary Office, 1950, STORE 606 GIB 1950, NL.

Taylor, Basil, The Festival of Britain, London: H. M. Stationery Office 1951, STORE 606 FES 1951, NL.

Newspapers and Weeklies The Dominion

The Evening Post

The New Zealand Herald New Zealand Listener

‘Come to Britain: A Survey by The Times’, The Times, London, January 1951.

37

Australian Newspaper Articles – Sydney Morning Herald, Canberra Times, The Sunday Herald (Sydney)

Films Harvey, Maurice and Brunius, Jacques, Brief city: the story of London’s Festival Buildings,

London: Massingham Production Limited with assistance from The Observer, 1952, Auckland University, Architecture Library, Video 276.

Panamint Cinema, London in Festival Year 1951, West Lothian, Scotland: Panamint Cinema, 2006, DVD release of short films originally produced in 1951 and 1959, Auckland University of Technology, City Campus DVD, NB 394.269421 LON.

Other

‘The Wars in New Zealand’, Auckland City Art Gallery, 1961. ‘Epstein’, Auckland Art Gallery, 1961. Secondary Books Addison, Paul, Now the War is Over: A Social History of Britain 1945-51, London, 1985. Ball, Graeme, New Zealand and the World: The Search for Security in the Twentieth Century,

Takapuna, 2003. Bullock, Nicholas, Building the Post-War World: Modern Architecture and Reconstruction in

Britain, London, 2002. Burstow, R., Symbols for ’51, the Royal Festival Hall, Skylon and Sculptures for the Festival of

Britain, London, 1996. Childs, David, Britain Since 1939: Progress and Decline, London, 1995. Clements, Howard, and Stothart, Bob (eds.), The Journey Begins: The Story of the 1951 New

Zealand Scout Contingent to the 7th World Jamboree, Austria and the Festival of Britain Camp, London, Paraparaumu, New Zealand, 2009.

Colls, Robert, Identity of England, Oxford, 2003. Conekin, Becky. E., ‘The Autobiography of a Nation’: The 1951 Festival of Britain,

Manchester, 2003. Gatley, Julia (ed.), Long Live the Modern: New Zealand's New Architecture, 1904-84,

Auckland, 2008. Garnett, Mark and Weight, Richard, The A-Z Guide to Modern British History, London, 2003.

Gaskell, S. Martin, Model Housing: From the Great Exhibition to the Festival of Britain, London and New York, 1986.

Harrison, Brian, Seeking a Role: The United Kingdom 1951-1970, Oxford, 2009. Harwood, Elain, and Powers, Alan (eds.), Festival of Britain, London, 2001.

McCarthy, Conal, Exhibiting Maori: A History of Colonial Cultures of Display, Oxford and New York, 2007.

McGibbon, Ian (ed.), Undiplomatic Dialogue: Letters between Carl Berendsen and Alistair McIntosh, 1943-52, Auckland, 1993.

McIntyre, W. David, British Decolonization, 1946-1997: When, Why, and How Did the British Empire Fall?, New York, 1998.

McKinnon, Malcolm, Independence and Foreign Policy: New Zealand in the World since

1935, Auckland, 1993. Montgomery, John, The Fifties, London 1965. More, Charles, Britain in the Twentieth Century, Harlow, 2007.

Morgan, Kenneth O., The Peoples Peace: British History 1945-1989, Oxford, 1990. Rennie, Paul, Festival of Britain Design 1951, Woodbridge, 2007.

Renwick, William (ed.), Spirit of the Nation: New Zealand’s Centennial, Wellington, 2004.

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Weight, Richard, Patriots: National Identity in Britain 1940-2000, London, 2002. Wilson, John (ed.), Zeal and Crusade: The Modern Movement in Wellington, Christchurch,

1996. Journal Articles; Articles in Edited Collections Beattie, Keith, ‘An Ambiguous National Iconography: Humphrey Jennings' Family Portrait’,

Studies in Documentary Film, vol. 3, issue 2, November 2009, pp. 147-158. Briggs, Asa, ‘Exhibiting the Nation’, History Today, January 2000, pp. 16-25. The Burlington Magazine, ‘The Arts in the Festival of Britain’, The Burlington Magazine, vol.

93, no. 581, August 1951, p. 249.

Capie, David, ‘New Zealand and the World: Imperial, International and Global Relations’, in Giselle Byrnes (ed.), The New Oxford History of New Zealand, South Melbourne,

2009, pp. 573-578. Cavendish, Richard, ‘The First Miss World Contest’, History Today, April 2001, pp. 61-2. Conekin, Becky, ‘‘Here is the Modern World Itself’: The Festival of Britain’s Representations

of the Future’, in Becky Conekin, Frank Mort, and Chris Waters, (eds.), Moments of Modernity: Reconstructing Britain, 1945-1964, London and New York: Rivers Oram Press, 1999, pp. 228-246.

Conekin, Becky, Mort, Frank, and Waters, Chris, ‘Introduction’ in Becky Conekin, Frank Mort, and Chris Waters, (eds.), Moments of Modernity: Reconstructing Britain, 1945-1964, London and New York: Rivers Oram Press, 1999, pp. 1-21.

Daley, Caroline, ‘Modernity, Consumption and Leisure’ in Giselle Byrnes (ed.), The New Oxford History of New Zealand, South Melbourne, 2009, pp. 423-445.

Forgan Sophie, ‘Festivals of Science and the Two Cultures: Science, Design and Display in the Festival of Britain, 1951’, The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 31, No. 2, Science and the Visual (June 1998), pp. 217-240.

Frayn, Michael, ‘Festival’ in Michael Sissions and Philip French (eds.), The Age of Austerity: 1945-1951, London, 1963, pp. 317-338.

Grant, Mariel, ‘‘Working for the Yankee Dollar’: Tourism and the Festival of Britain as Stimuli for Recovery’, Journal of British Studies, vol.45, July 2006, pp. 581–601.

Hiller, Bevis, ‘Introduction’ in A Tonic to the Nation: The Festival of Britain 1951, London, 1976, pp. 10-17.

Hendon, Paul, ‘The Festival of Britain and the Voice of the People’, Critical Quarterly, vol. 41, issue 4, 2009, pp. 15-27.

Leventhal, F. M., ‘‘A Tonic to the Nation’: The Festival of Britain, 1951’, Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, vol. 27, no. 3, Autumn 1995, pp. 445-453.

Liscombe, Rhodri Windsor, ‘Refabricating the Imperial Image on the Isle of Dogs: Modernist Design, British State Exhibitions and Colonial Policy 1924-1951’, Architectural

History, Vol. 49 (2006), pp. 317-348. Marwick, Arthur, ‘Britain 1951’, History Today, April 1991, pp. 5-11.

McCarthy, Conal, ‘‘Our Works of Ancient Times’: History, Colonisation and Agency at the 1906-7 New Zealand International Exhibition’, Museum History Journal vol. 2, no. 2,

2009, pp. 119-42. McCarthy, Conal, ‘Objects of Empire? Displaying Maori at International Exhibitions, 1873-

1924’, Journal of New Zealand Literature vol. 23, no. 1, 2005, pp. 52-70.

McIntyre, W. David, ‘From Dual Dependency to Nuclear Free’ in Geoffrey W. Rice (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd edition, Auckland, 1992, pp. 520-538.

McIntyre, W. David, ‘Imperialism and Nationalism’, in Geoffrey W. Rice (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd edition, Auckland, 1992, pp. 337-350.

39

Oliver, W. H., ‘The Awakening Imagination, 1940-1980’ in Geoffrey W. Rice (ed.), The Oxford History of New Zealand, 2nd edition, Auckland, 1992, pp. 539-

Plouviez, Charles, ‘Charles Plouviez discusses a title by Becky E. Conekin on the Festival of Britain in the 'undervalued' 1950s’, available from http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=19441&amid=19441; History Today, 2003, last accessed 30 May 2010.

Porter, Peter, ‘An Anglo-Australian Watershed’, Meanjin, vol. 63, issue 3, 2004, pp. 187-190. Skinner, Robin, ‘Home Away: A State House in London’ in Barbara Brookes (ed.), At Home in

New Zealand: History, Houses, People, Wellington, 2000, pp. 154-165. Strong, Roy, ‘Prologue: Utopia Limited’ in Mary Banham and Bevis Hiller, A Tonic to the

Nation: The Festival of Britain 1951, London, 1976, pp. 6-9. Tomlinson, Jim, ‘Reconstructing Britain: Labour in Power 1945-1951’ in Nick Tiratsoo (ed.),

From Blitz to Blair: A New History of Britain Since 1939, Phoenix, 1997, pp. 77-101.

History Honours coordinator 2017

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