Why I'm in the North East to investigate elite schooling and young men's enculturation in the Long Nineteenth Century

For some years now, I've wanted to be the kind of academic who spends their time in archives. For the most part though (I'll write about the exceptions at some point), the kind of research I do on ancient Greek mythology, religion and culture does not involve archive work. 

Right now, however, I am beginning a project that will involve me consulting materials in the collections of the Palace Green Library at the University of Durham. 

I'll be based in the Palace Green for a month as a Barker Fellow, working on a project called 'Elite schooling and young men's enculturation in the Long Nineteenth Century: a case study of the Headlam Family'.

This project might look like a departure from my usual research which includes:

1. Seeking to diversifying Classics by developing a distinctive research and practice in relation to Classics to social justice, diversification and inclusivity including with a focus on autistic young people
2. Investigating Classics in young people’s culture, as part of a now-completed ERC-funded project: Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges (2016- 2022).

It does, however, grow out of my interests in who Classics is considered to be 'for'.

What I'll be doing is investigating the collections of family papers held in the library's Special Collections, particularly the Headlam and Headlam-Morley Papers. I'll be consulting these to investigate the place of Classics in the lived experience of privileged young men during the Long Nineteenth Century. 

Via a case study of the materials of this particular family, I will examine the role of Classics in 

1. Underpinning elite schooling and young men’s enculturation
2. Bolstering the British class system
3. Moulding a curriculum which continues to shape debates in the 21st century.

As far as I've been able to gauge so far, the Headlam Papers look to offer a valuable resource for undertaking this examination, including as they do, correspondence of/between successive generations of sons of the family – spanning the late 18th to the early 20th centuries – setting out their experiences learning Classics.

This morning I was going to launch a blog about the project over on another platform after spending quite a bit of time setting that up. And this current posting was going to say more about the project and the collection. 

But... the platform I was going to use is not compatible, it appears, with the browser on the pretty old laptop I'm using while here. And so, after trying various things, I'm back in my comfort zone, using the platform I've used since I started my autism and classical myth blog (link above) in 2009. I'm just a bit frustrated. Still, it feels good to have got started.

Before I close, a few more things about where I'm at. I'm writing this in Newcastle upon Tyne where I'll be living during my month as a Library Fellow. I gasped on Sunday evening as I drove over the Tyne. Then, yesterday (Monday), I walked down to the quayside on a beautiful late winter's day which I tried to capture with photos, including these:

I anticipate regular walks along and across the Tyne. What I experienced yesterday moved me.

Once I make this post go live, I'll get ready to leave for Durham to do three things. One is to get a sense of my bearings. Another, more specific, thing is meet the Principal of the College that I'll be a member of. The third is actually to visit this library I've been preparing to spend time in for months.

Here goes! More soon...