May 14 2007
Next Seminar: Tuesday 12 June
Toynbee Hall and its archives
Followed by a voluntary action history walking tour of the East End
Kate Bradley
Centre for Contemporary British History, University of London
Date: Tuesday 12 June 2007
Time: Talk will begin at 5.30pm; Walk will leave from Toynbee Hall at 6.30pm
Venue: Barnett Research Centre, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street,
London E1 6LS
Abstract:
Toynbee Hall was the first of the ‘university settlements’, organisations that brought graduates to areas such as the East End of London from the 1880s to live as well as undertake voluntary work with the local community. The aim was to encourage the leaders of the future to develop an awareness and understanding of the needs of the less fortunate. The settlement movement spread across London and major British towns and cities, as well as the North Americas, Europe, India and Japan, making major contributions to the development of social policy and public welfare around the world.This talk will draw upon Kate Bradley’s work in progress, an examination of the settlements and other charities in London in the period 1918 to 1979, their relationships with their local communities and the development of the welfare state. She will explore the development of Toynbee Hall and its place in the East End, with case studies of how particular archival documents have provided fresh light on narratives about the history of the settlement movement after 1918.
