Making A University. A Celebration of Warwick’s First 25 Years
Printed by William Caple & Co. Ltd. Leicester. Compiled by Michael Shattock (possible interviewee)
MRC reference UWA/B/12
Useful for 1960s, 70s & 80s Warwick. A compilation of photographs from the first 25 years of Warwick
Hannah has photocopies of some of the photos and captions from the ‘Academic Work’ section. Captions are useful in relation to staff and their departments.
Cath's notes on the same book, aso available in the library.
Shattock notes
P 13
Ling’s ideas – architectural and ‘viewed from living and communal perspective’, Chinn’s were about education. Walter Chinn a Quaker and a socialist – admired Tawney and Keele Uni. experiment. Warwick not designed to be for local people. Chinn’s ‘Memorandum on the Creation of a University’ to the Education Committtee on 17 Oct 1958. said, ‘a university is by its very nature non-local in character’ UWA PP 4/4
P 14 idea of university part of dev of city centre – alongside Belgrade, Herbert – bringing cultutal and intellectual life into Manufacturing city. C How does this relationship between the manufacturing and cultural play out in the architecture?
P 17 disc about the name. Bishop Bardsley (Bish of Cov) proposed University of Warwick. Some opposition following meeting – Richardson suggested ‘University of Arden’, Letts : ‘university of Coventry’CRO 1/1
P 18 desire for universities to turn out ‘balanced men’ rather than those with narrow/ necessary technical know-how. Chinn – progressive, supported comprehensives schools, wanted to see university which was comprehensive and covered wider spectrum of levels than trad university model
P 20 here suggests despite Oxbridge orientation of the Board, no desire to have colleagiate system, but C Hugh G H interview suggests otherwise – maybe this came later from Butterworth?
The Board saw university growing, ‘not be seeking to impose upon it at birth an artificial and romantic image of newness but by choice of staff with ideas on the development of their subjects; and by giving this limited staff the opportunity to create a university and its community’ (1963 UWA Com APB 1/1).
P 22 Uniqueness of Warwick that it was only new uni to be founded in a manufacturing centre, ‘and perhaps for this reason the community – at the political, industrial and educational levels – was more involved, and invested more intellectual and, ultimately, financial capital in the university idea than in any of the other New Universities. ‘
Context in Coventry of conflicts between local and national interests and ideas about the university and what it would be. ‘In a very real sense the University was brought into existence by the generous support of the local authorities and a leading group of industrialists. It could not have happened without the initial leadership of Coventry but it was the very broadly based support of the community, as a whole, as evidenced in the success of the Foundation Appeal, which realised a national policy for founding new universities in the creation of what has become a national institution’ – List of contributors to Foundation Appeal on p 124.
P 25 ‘More than any of the New Universities, Warwick’s physical aspect illustrates the subordination of the discipline of planning to academic and social demands. The University has had three Development Plans and has burst out of each of them ... ’
1960s YRM
1970s – filling in middles of Uni – Shepheard and Epstein and Renton Howard Wood
1980s – massive building programme
See pp 26 -27 for the different plans.
We already have many of the pics – I am only highlighting those we don’t, which look good –
Pic 6 p 29 ‘The Long Walk between the Library and the Rootes Social Building’ – highlights the distance between buildings in the 1960s which students complained about. We were missing p[ic like this when we did the Sheffield talk.
Pic 6 p 31, is 3B series no one by Bernard Schottlander 1968 one of first art works/ sculpture (red thing in rootes).
P 43 the new intake in 1965 – can we locate:
- Helen Hunt (grad Phil and Politics; now Blackmore, special needs teacher)
- Michal Jones ( French and European Lit , now Gen Adminsitrator at Wylfa Nuclear Power station on Angelsea
- Pamela Boulton-Jones (History, now radiograopher)
- Martin Foulser (left at end of first year)
P 44 pic 3 – Hannah a picture here of the ‘founding professors’
P 3 – Nita Benn (nee Bowles) signing building agreement on behalf of union in 1974
P 59 ‘The fundamental task of a University is academic work: teaching, learning and research. Jack Butterworth use to say in his address to new students that the distinguishing feature of University teaching, particularly at Warwick where research flourished, was that it should take students “to the edge of knowledge in their discipline”.’ C interesting spatial metaphor. And important link research and teaching. What did Butterworth mean? Cath has p/copy of pages 60 -74 labelled, as much more explicitly about teaching and learning (spaces). Perhaps area where v little change – as Shattock notes, ‘Also a section with pictures relating to community teaching encompasses lecturing, laboratory classes, small group work, seminars, tutorials and projects. It may vary according to discipline and year; it may include off-campus reading weekends, day visits to places which relate to a course, or a term in Venice; above all it is informal, critical and intellectually testing’ (p 59). Though ‘academic study remains an individual, not to say solitary, endeavour … ’ – has this changed with onset of social learning? Heroic image of lone scholar?
Pp 95-110 by Bob Burgess – also a possible interviewee.
He notes parallel between ‘not only physical territory that was ripe for development but also academic territory’. P 95.
They inherited so little, and had so much to create. – C
Notes that Asa Briggs, commenting on Sussex, said they were ‘redrawing the map of learning’.
‘ Jack Butterworth … enunciated his views to staff and students when he claimed that his fundamental philosophy was to establish a university based on research, teaching and service to the community. His position involved giving the founding fathers and their staff the opportunity to create the academic landscape: an opportunity that persuaded several people to come to Warwick …’ P 95
Professor Phillips-Griffiths (Griff) – founding prof of Maths – ‘When I discovered it was all wide open I agreed to come (to Warwick)’. (cited p 95 – from interview with Bob Burgess in 1990)
Butterworth, ‘Teaching and research in a university are complimentary, for in the best university experience ther is an intimiate connection between rsearch and teaching. Our students are taught by teachers who have regard to research, that is to say by techers who are acquainted with the frontiers of their subject and teach with the attitude of a research worker, 96 ( VC’s report to court 1969-1970 p 6)
- Bit more to go on this, but I have p/copy ….
CL