Women’s Broadcasting Histories Conference
We braved record-breaking June temperatures and advice not to travel by train unless absolutely necessary, due to the heat, to attend the inaugural conference of the International Women’s Broadcasting Histories Network (IWBHN). The Network is a group of scholars from Australia, India, Singapore, the Netherlands, UK and Ireland, almost all women, but with one man. I was amongst the founder members in 2021 and have witnessed the group grow in both numbers and ambition. The Network has instigated several special journal collections, some in-person workshops, but the conference at University of East Anglia (UEA) was its first. Delegates came from as far as the US, Canada, Qatar, India, Australia and Brazil, in addition to those joining online from across the globe.
The dominant themes were around finding women’s broadcasting histories when they are so often missing from the institutional archives of broadcasters. We heard about fragmented archives, the under-representation of women both on-air and behind the camera/microphone, and the continued gendered nature of many broadcasting roles. The importance of women’s voices being heard in the histories of broadcasting around world came through strongly.
Industry roundtable
The story, from the roundtable of illustrious women still working in television, including Helen Serafinowicz (Motherland, Amandaland), Ruth Wrigley (Big Brother, The Big Breakfast, TOWIE), Hannah Springham (Pineapple Studios), Nina Nannar (Arts Editor for ITV News), was of a contemporary industry where there have been improvements in the opportunities open to women, which is now facing new challenges with the growth of the streamers and the consequent impact, particularly on unscripted TV.
Vicky Ball delivers her keynote
Vicky Ball’s (De Montfort University) keynote launched the conference and spoke of the need to revalue women’s histories in television drama, examining the evolution of British female ensemble drama and its cultural significance. Vicky is co-chair of the IWBHN.
Chris Ehrick delivers her keynote
Chris Ehrick’s (University of Louisville) keynote examined the importance of women’s voices on radio in Argentina and Uruguay in relation to dictatorship, exploring the research behind her book, Radio and the Gendered Soundscape: Women and Broadcasting in Argentine and Uruguay, 1930-50.
My own paper focused on how personal collections can provide a rich alternative source to institutional archives and oral histories for finding women’s broadcasting histories. It explored the joys and challenges of working with personal collections, through the case study of my work on Joyce Hawkin’s personal collection. I have been privileged to work with Joyce, a retired BBC Costume Designer, in documenting and scanning her personal collection. Joyce, sadly died recently, aged 95. Her career at the BBC spanned thirty years, 1958-1988. She was an inveterate collector, devoting a room in her house to the artefacts relating to her long career. She had kept the original job advert she applied for in 1958, the letter offering her an interview, the letter offering her the job and even the envelope and accounting slip for her first pay packet. The collection is particularly valuable in detailing what working in television costume entailed. Designing costumes was a small part of the job, which also included ordering costumes from costumiers, liaising with artists, scheduling staff, devising wardrobe plots and managing continuity. The collection is particularly rich in bringing all the phases of costume work together.
Joyce Hawkins’s collection
Personal collections, however, present practical and ethical challenges. Questions of preservation, categorisation, selection and dissemination impact on the researcher’s role. Ethical considerations arise with collection owners, requiring care by researchers of both the individuals and artefacts. It is a tremendous privilege to be able to work with a personal collection and the person who has assembled it, or their family. Such collections can provide fresh insights into the lived experiences of the collector and what they valued about their life and chose to keep.
It looks likely that the BBC Special Collections will accession Joyce’s collection, which signals its significance in filling some gaps in the institutional archive, especially those relating to the careers of women.
Book series details
The IWBH Network’s book series was launched at the conference: ‘Women’s Broadcasting Histories’, with University of Exeter Press (EUP). The blurb states that the series ‘opens up new directions in the history of gendered work and representation in radio, television and related media.’ The series editors are Jeannine Baker, University of Newcastle, NSW; Helen Warner, UEA; Alec Badenoch, Utrecht University, Netherlands, supported by an editorial board of several others of us. The plan is that the inaugural book in the series will be an edited collection derived from the conference papers. If you’ve an idea for a book which might fit the series, please contact the Commissioning Editor at EUP, Becky Taylor: b.taylor@exeterpress.co.uk.