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The latest AIL event, Gunpowder, treason and plot! Political subversion in the library, was held in Bath's Queen Square - 'the finest Georgian square in Bath' - at the home of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. Down through history, political authority and libraries have come into conflict because of the people involved in the foundation and running of libraries and the material made available on library shelves. And, as Gunpowder, treason and plot! was to illustrate, AIL libraries have not entirely escaped this conflict.
The event was held, appropriately enough, on Friday-Saturday, 4-5 November 2005. The cellars of the BRLSI's Greek Revival home were checked for gunpowder before proceedings began but were found to contain only those wonderful museum and literary collections reassembled following the institution's relaunch in 1993 after long possession of its premises by the admiralty.
Gunpowder, treason and plot! opened on Friday evening with a talk by Dr Keith Manley of the Institute of Historical Research who gave a wide ranging account of subscription libraries across western Europe in the period 1790 to 1850. He looked particularly at how the enthusiasm of their subscribers was not always matched by that of local and national governments who saw a threat in the availability of certain collections and of particular books. A reception followed Keith's talk.
The twenty-six delegates reconvened on Saturday morning. The first talk of the day was by Martyn Everett of the Saffron Walden Town Library Society who gave an account of Ervin Szabo, the director of the Budapest Metropolitan Library, who, as well as developing the Hungarian public library system was a leading Marxist scholar and an anarchist opposed to invovement in the First World War.
Martyn was followed by Geoffrey Forster of the Leeds Library who looked at the participation in libraries - including the Leeds Library and the Birmingham and Midland Institute (then the Birmingham Library) - of the scientist, theologian and political thinker, Joseph Priestley, and how his participation and disputes at the Birmingham Library helped to lead to the infamous Priestley Riots in Birmingham in 1791.
A fine lunch was followed by the day's third speaker, John Gray of the Linen Hall Library in Belfast. John looked at political controversy ancient and modern in the subscription library beginning with the Linen Hall's ill-fated librarian, Thomas Russell, a United Irishman, who was executed for involvement in Emmet's rebellion in 1803. John then described the unique and important Northern Ireland Political Collection - a crucial record and resource from all sides of the continuing conflict whose continued existence is threatened potentially by proposed anti-terror legislation.
Ironically, the use made by political subversives of the British Library's round reading room passed totally unnoticed in former times. This was the subject of the day's final talk given by Marjorie Caygill of the British Museum. Marjorie drew attention to the many colourful characters ? including Karl Marx, Lenin and Trotsky - who successfully obtained British Museum readers' passes and then studied quietly before unleashing their revolutionary views on the outside world.
The event ended with a chance to examine John Pinch the Younger's fine building of 1830 and to see the refitting of the top two floors after the departure of a longstanding tenant. A service lift and a personnel lift are two of the essential improvements made possible by a local authority grant. The tasteful redecorating and repartitioning of the accommodation will provide desirable spaces for subsequent reletting.
The successful partnership of the AIL and BRLSI bodes well for 2009 when it is planned that they will together stage the second international conference of mechanics' institutes, athenaeums and literary institutions (the first conference was in Melbourne, Australia, last year). In the meantime, the proceedings from the Gunpowder, treason and plot event should appear early next year.