- Centre for Worktown Studies
University of Bolton
Deane Rd.
Bolton
BL3 5AB - 01204 903609
Robert Snape
University of Bolton, Centre for Worktown Studies, Faculty Member
- Bob's principal research interests are in the social and cultural history of leisure in Great Britain between 1850 an... moreBob's principal research interests are in the social and cultural history of leisure in Great Britain between 1850 and 1914. Much of his work has focused on public libraries and museums between 1850 and 1914.
He has a particular interest in the National Home Reading Union and its role in the development of reading circles. He has published four papers on this organisation which cover its relationship with the Chautauqua Assembly in North America, its subsequent development in Britain, its contribution to the emergence of the Co-operative Holidays Association and its operations in the colonies and dominions of the British Empire.
In 2009 he established the University's Centre for Worktown Studies in partnership with Bolton Museum. This exists to promote research around the Humphrey Spender Mass Observation 'Worktown' Collection held by the Museum. This documentary photographic archive is of international historical significance as an ethnographic record of everyday life in the late nineteen-thirties. It provides the inspiration for the University's annual 'Recording Leisure Lives' conferences on leisure in twentieth century Britain and the publication of reviewed papers.
Details of the Recording Leisure Lives conference are available at:
www.bolton.ac.uk/conferences/leisurelivesedit
In the final decades of the nineteenth century modernizing interpretations of leisure became of interest to social policy makers and cultural critics, producing a discourse of leisure and voluntarism that flourished until the Second World... more
In the final decades of the nineteenth century modernizing interpretations of leisure became of interest to social policy makers and cultural critics, producing a discourse of leisure and voluntarism that flourished until the Second World War. The free time of British citizens was increasingly seen as a sphere of social citizenship and community-building. Through major social thinkers, including William Morris, Thomas Hill Green, Bernard Bosanquet and John Hobson, leisure and voluntarism were theorized in terms of the good society. In post-First World War social reconstruction these writers remained influential as leisure became a field of social service, directed towards a new society and working through voluntary association in civic societies, settlements, new estate community-centres, village halls and church-based communities.This volume documents the parallel cultural shift from charitable philanthropy to social service and from rational recreation to leisure, teasing out intellectual influences which included social idealism, liberalism and socialism. Leisure, Robert Snape claims, has been a central and under-recognized organizing force in British communities.
Introduction
1.1 Historicizing Leisure, Voluntary Action and Social Change
1.2 Leisure and Community
1.3 Leisure, Voluntary Action and Civil Society
1.4 Overview of Content
2. Associational Leisure and the Formation of Community in the Mid- Nineteenth Century
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Industrialization, Urbanization and Community
2.3 Leisure in Mutual Association
2.4 Temperance, Leisure and Community
2.5 Working-Men's Clubs
2.6 Conclusion
3. Evangelicalism and the Inner Mission: Religion, Leisure and Social Service
3.1 Religion, the Social Mission and Leisure
3.2 Towards Social Service: John Brown Paton, Leisure and the Inner Mission
3.3 Conclusion
4. Leisure, Community and the Settlement Movement
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Barnetts and Toynbee Hall
4.3 Oxford House and the Public School Mission
4.4 The Liverpool University Settlement
4.5 The Settlement Movement, Social Work and Leisure
5. Utopian and Radical Leisure Communities
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Clarion Movement
5.3. The Co-operative Movement
6. Leisure in Inter-War Britain
7. Theorizations of Leisure and Voluntarism in post -First World War Social Reconstruction
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Leisure in the New Society
7.3 New Leisure Makes New Men
7.4 Leisure, Modernity and Social Change
7.5 Conclusion
8. Social Service, Reconstruction and Leisure
8.1 Introduction
8.2 The National Council of Social Service – Leisure and Community Well-Being
8.3 Re-constructing the Rural Community: Leisure, Village Halls and Folk Dance
8.4 The New Estates and Community Centres
9. Young People, Youth Organizations and Leisure
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Leisure, Young People and Industrial Welfare in the First World War
9.3 Educating the Young Citizen
9.4 Cultural Rebels and Radical Leisure Association
10. Leisure, Unemployment and Social Service
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Unemployment, Leisure and Social Capital
11. Work-Based Leisure Communities
11.1 Work, Leisure and Community in Inter-War Britain
11.2 The Workplace as a Social Community
11.3 Model Industrial Villages and Leisure
11.4 Leisure and Industrial Welfare in Inter-war Britain
11.5 Co-operative and Collective Alternatives to Welfare
11.6 Conclusion
Conclusions
Select Bibliography
Index
Published April 2018 by Bloomsbury
isbn 9781350003019
Introduction
1.1 Historicizing Leisure, Voluntary Action and Social Change
1.2 Leisure and Community
1.3 Leisure, Voluntary Action and Civil Society
1.4 Overview of Content
2. Associational Leisure and the Formation of Community in the Mid- Nineteenth Century
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Industrialization, Urbanization and Community
2.3 Leisure in Mutual Association
2.4 Temperance, Leisure and Community
2.5 Working-Men's Clubs
2.6 Conclusion
3. Evangelicalism and the Inner Mission: Religion, Leisure and Social Service
3.1 Religion, the Social Mission and Leisure
3.2 Towards Social Service: John Brown Paton, Leisure and the Inner Mission
3.3 Conclusion
4. Leisure, Community and the Settlement Movement
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Barnetts and Toynbee Hall
4.3 Oxford House and the Public School Mission
4.4 The Liverpool University Settlement
4.5 The Settlement Movement, Social Work and Leisure
5. Utopian and Radical Leisure Communities
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Clarion Movement
5.3. The Co-operative Movement
6. Leisure in Inter-War Britain
7. Theorizations of Leisure and Voluntarism in post -First World War Social Reconstruction
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Leisure in the New Society
7.3 New Leisure Makes New Men
7.4 Leisure, Modernity and Social Change
7.5 Conclusion
8. Social Service, Reconstruction and Leisure
8.1 Introduction
8.2 The National Council of Social Service – Leisure and Community Well-Being
8.3 Re-constructing the Rural Community: Leisure, Village Halls and Folk Dance
8.4 The New Estates and Community Centres
9. Young People, Youth Organizations and Leisure
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Leisure, Young People and Industrial Welfare in the First World War
9.3 Educating the Young Citizen
9.4 Cultural Rebels and Radical Leisure Association
10. Leisure, Unemployment and Social Service
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Unemployment, Leisure and Social Capital
11. Work-Based Leisure Communities
11.1 Work, Leisure and Community in Inter-War Britain
11.2 The Workplace as a Social Community
11.3 Model Industrial Villages and Leisure
11.4 Leisure and Industrial Welfare in Inter-war Britain
11.5 Co-operative and Collective Alternatives to Welfare
11.6 Conclusion
Conclusions
Select Bibliography
Index
Published April 2018 by Bloomsbury
isbn 9781350003019
Research Interests:
Edited papers from the conference 'Recording Leisure Lives: Histories, Archives and memories of Leisure in 20th Century Britain.
Reviewed post-conference papers from the Recording Leisure Lives conference of 2011.
Brighton: Leisure Studies Association isbn:978 1 905369 29 4
Brighton: Leisure Studies Association isbn:978 1 905369 29 4
Edited papers from the conference 'Recording Leisure Lives: Holidays and Tourism in 20th Century Britain.
Edited papers from the conference 'Recording Leisure Lives: Games, Sports and Pastimes in 20th Century Britain.
Leisure is a major sphere of both private and public life. It is thus of concern that the identity and profile of Leisure Studies in the Higher Education curricula of the United Kingdom have declined in prominence over the past decade.... more
Leisure is a major sphere of both private and public life. It is thus of concern that the identity and profile of Leisure Studies in the Higher Education curricula of the United Kingdom have declined in prominence over the past decade. This trend is not peculiar to Leisure Studies; the social sciences as a whole are threatened by a neoliberal economic discourse which increasingly informs Higher Education strategic management. The aim of this article is to investigate the impacts of the declining status of Leisure Studies as experienced by lecturers and researchers in the subject field. It is based upon a project commissioned by the Higher Education Academy in 2015. It was found that Leisure Studies faces two principal challenges. The first is to re-establish its status as a subject field within the social sciences, the second is to ensure it retains a relevance to leisure practice, particularly in terms of the management of its provision. The article proposes greater academic engagement in ideational ‘border crossings’ to advance thinking on leisure in the social sciences and to explore opportunities for collaboration within them. We conclude that Leisure Studies arguably suffers from a crisis of representation, as opposed to a crisis of relevance.
Research Interests:
In post-World War I social reconstruction, leisure acquired a new meaning as a social good with the capacity to contribute to the building of a new post-war society. A discourse of citizenship and leisure emerged which drew from... more
In post-World War I social reconstruction, leisure acquired a new meaning as a social
good with the capacity to contribute to the building of a new post-war society. A discourse
of citizenship and leisure emerged which drew from Christian socialism and the works of
John Ruskin, William Morris, and the social idealist thinking of T. H. Green and J. A.
Hobson. The classical Athenian model of leisure was re-worked by Ernest Barker and Cecil
Delisle Burns who argued that the function of a leisure class could become that of the
whole community through a democratic redistribution of leisure. Although efforts to
realize idealist visions were rarely successful they were nevertheless important to
twentieth-century understandings of leisure and citizenship and brought leisure within
the framework of social policy.
Keywords: Leisure; Citizenship; Idealism; Reconstruction; Social Work
good with the capacity to contribute to the building of a new post-war society. A discourse
of citizenship and leisure emerged which drew from Christian socialism and the works of
John Ruskin, William Morris, and the social idealist thinking of T. H. Green and J. A.
Hobson. The classical Athenian model of leisure was re-worked by Ernest Barker and Cecil
Delisle Burns who argued that the function of a leisure class could become that of the
whole community through a democratic redistribution of leisure. Although efforts to
realize idealist visions were rarely successful they were nevertheless important to
twentieth-century understandings of leisure and citizenship and brought leisure within
the framework of social policy.
Keywords: Leisure; Citizenship; Idealism; Reconstruction; Social Work
Research Interests:
The National Conference on the Leisure of the People in 1919 marked the emergence of a public discourse on the nature and purpose of leisure in inter-war Britain. One strand of this discourse saw leisure to be problematic as new forms of... more
The National Conference on the Leisure of the People in 1919 marked the emergence of a public discourse on the nature and purpose of leisure in inter-war Britain. One strand of this discourse saw leisure to be problematic as new forms of mass and passive entertainment, the ‘enforced leisure’ of unemployment and the right use of leisure became areas of social concern. Perceptive critics, however, conceptualised leisure as a social sphere in which a new and better post-war society could be built through a democratic ‘new’ leisure and the use of leisure as a vehicle for education in citizenship. Leisure was widely documented in contemporary social surveys and became valued by local councils of social service in developing social life and community identity on new housing estates. This paper argues that a new ontology of leisure was forged between the wars as the Victorian emphasis on rational recreation and private morality was superseded by an understanding of leisure as a social product of late modernity.
Research Interests:
This paper presents a history of the National Home Reading Union from its formation in 1889 to the closing of its operation in Great Bbritain in 1930. The NHru was founded by John Brown Paton as a means of encouraging systematic reading,... more
This paper presents a history of the National Home Reading Union from its formation in 1889 to the closing of its operation in Great Bbritain in 1930. The NHru was founded by John Brown Paton as a means of encouraging systematic reading, particulalrly though not exclusively amongs young adults who had recently left school.
The National Home Reading Union was founded in Great Britain in 1889 and quickly spread to colonies and dominions of the British Empire. In some countries, notably Canada, it gained a fiifm stronghiold and outlived the parent Union in... more
The National Home Reading Union was founded in Great Britain in 1889 and quickly spread to colonies and dominions of the British Empire. In some countries, notably Canada, it gained a fiifm stronghiold and outlived the parent Union in Great Britain. This chapter discusses the ways in which National Home Reading Union circles were established in the Empire and the ways in whioch they operated. It demonstrates how membership of a reaing circle not only enabled the formation of social friendships but also how it maintained a sense of cultural belonging to the 'home' country - this being a stated aim of the Union.
The success of the Chautauqua Assembly in providing educational holidays in North America in the final quarter of the nineteenth century raised interest in the development of a similar type of holiday in Great Britain. Following the... more
The success of the Chautauqua Assembly in providing educational holidays in North America in the final quarter of the nineteenth century raised interest in the development of a similar type of holiday in Great Britain. Following the establishment of university extension summer schools, which were themselves influenced by the example of Chautauqua, the Congregationalist social reformer John Brown Paton organised such a holiday in 1889 under the auspices of the National Home Reading Union in Blackpool, a popular seaside resort in the north of England. Adopting the values and practices of the Chautauqua Assembly, this combined informal education, non-conformist Christian morality and socially respectable leisure activities. Although not successful in establishing an English Chautauqua in Blackpool, Paton later mediated the Chautauqua ideal through his sponsorship of the Co-operative Holidays Association, a pioneer organisation in the development of rational holidays. It is argued that both the Chautauqua movement and the National Home Reading Union exercised a crucial influence on the development of rational and respectable holidays in Britain that has not previously been fully recognised.
Research Interests:
The Co-operative Holidays Association was founded in 1893 by the Rev. T. A. Leonard, a Congregationalist Minster in Colne, Lancashire. Its aim was to provide organized holidays in the countryside for working-class people as a moral and... more
The Co-operative Holidays Association was founded in 1893 by the Rev. T. A. Leonard, a Congregationalist Minster in Colne, Lancashire. Its aim was to provide organized holidays in the countryside for working-class people as a moral and cultural alternative to the commercial seaside resorts. The Association was not simply a holiday club but a voluntary leisure organization
committed to the promotion of specific cultural values. Adopting the work of a number of nineteenthcentury cultural critics, notably Arnold, Ruskin and Morris, the Co-operative Holidays Association was grounded upon the concept of the countryside as not only a physical but also a cultural and
spiritual alternative to the city and industrial materialism. Its holidays thus sought to recreate the primitive communal lifestyle idealized in Romantic interpretations of pre-industrial pastoral society and to educate participants in the cultural interpretation of the countryside and landscape. Its
antithetical approach to conspicuous consumption and material comfort became a focus of conflict as the proportion of middle-class members increased after the turn of the century and led to the formation of a schism in 1912. This paper assesses the significance of the Co-operative Holidays
Association to the development and consolidation of a dominant cultural mode of countryside leisure practice and also explores the extent to which its self-identity was formed by taste and cultural values rather than social class.
committed to the promotion of specific cultural values. Adopting the work of a number of nineteenthcentury cultural critics, notably Arnold, Ruskin and Morris, the Co-operative Holidays Association was grounded upon the concept of the countryside as not only a physical but also a cultural and
spiritual alternative to the city and industrial materialism. Its holidays thus sought to recreate the primitive communal lifestyle idealized in Romantic interpretations of pre-industrial pastoral society and to educate participants in the cultural interpretation of the countryside and landscape. Its
antithetical approach to conspicuous consumption and material comfort became a focus of conflict as the proportion of middle-class members increased after the turn of the century and led to the formation of a schism in 1912. This paper assesses the significance of the Co-operative Holidays
Association to the development and consolidation of a dominant cultural mode of countryside leisure practice and also explores the extent to which its self-identity was formed by taste and cultural values rather than social class.
In post-industrial countries, folk dance may be considered as an embodied performance of a perceived tradition and is representational of values attached to an imagined past. The English Country Dance is one such form of folk dance,... more
In post-industrial countries, folk dance may be considered as an embodied performance of a perceived tradition and is representational of values attached to an imagined past. The English Country Dance is one such form of folk dance,
having been revived, or re-invented, in the early twentieth century by Cecil Sharp who claimed it to be a national dance of England. However, Sharp re-defined it not as a popular and spontaneous leisure activity but as a serious middle-class art form representing an English sensibility and the virtues of a pre-industrial pastoral collectivism. After the hiatus of the First World War, the English Country Dance continued to offer a resistance to the modern, this time in the form of a burgeoning popular dance culture which embraced urban sophistication and jazz dance. Using the concept of performativity, this paper attempts to demonstrate that the leisure context of the English Country Dance, in terms of spatiality, style, consumption and gender, enabled a continuity of resistance to the modern in a changing sociocultural environment. The paper draws upon primary research in the archive of the Manchester Branch of the English Folk Dance Society and upon records of contemporary dance in the Mass Observation archive.
having been revived, or re-invented, in the early twentieth century by Cecil Sharp who claimed it to be a national dance of England. However, Sharp re-defined it not as a popular and spontaneous leisure activity but as a serious middle-class art form representing an English sensibility and the virtues of a pre-industrial pastoral collectivism. After the hiatus of the First World War, the English Country Dance continued to offer a resistance to the modern, this time in the form of a burgeoning popular dance culture which embraced urban sophistication and jazz dance. Using the concept of performativity, this paper attempts to demonstrate that the leisure context of the English Country Dance, in terms of spatiality, style, consumption and gender, enabled a continuity of resistance to the modern in a changing sociocultural environment. The paper draws upon primary research in the archive of the Manchester Branch of the English Folk Dance Society and upon records of contemporary dance in the Mass Observation archive.
Research Interests:
Public libraries, leisure and the provision of fiction between 1850 and 1914. Case studies of public libraries and library committees in Darwen, Blackburn and Wigan. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of ...
Rate-supported public libraries were established in Great Britain in the mid-nineteenth century with mixed objectives of educational progress and recreational reform. Although librarians upheld the concept of public libraries as... more
Rate-supported public libraries were established in Great Britain in the mid-nineteenth century with mixed objectives of educational progress and recreational reform. Although librarians upheld the concept of public libraries as educational establishments and normally deprecated the recreational uses of libraries, the public demand upon libraries was principally of a leisure nature. This article traces the origins of public libraries in the nineteenth-century campaign for recreational reform and evaluates the reaction of librarians to the uses of two specific leisure forms in public libraries, namely newsrooms and games rooms. It shows that public libraries were significant providers of leisure facilities, but that their potential to develop a leisure function was curtailed by the library profession's desire to change the image of the library from a leisure orientated institution to one of educational and information priorities.
Between 1845 and 1914 several municipal museums in Great Britain established an industrial collection of objects relevant to local manufacture. The origins of these collections are found in the 1830s and the reform of design education.... more
Between 1845 and 1914 several municipal museums in Great Britain established an industrial collection of objects relevant to local manufacture. The origins of these collections are found in the 1830s and the reform of design education. Industrial collections assigned an economic function to museums and were contested by critics who maintained that museums should be concerned primarily with fine rather than applied art. It is argued that curatorial decisions on the adoption of industrial collections can be evaluated with reference to contemporary debates on art, design education and the relative values of liberal and applied knowledge.
Through case studies of the municipal museums of Birmingham and Preston, this paper assesses contrasting curatorial responses to industrial collections. Adopting Matthew Arnold’s categories of Hebraism and Hellenism as an exploratory framework, it concludes that industrial collections represented materialistic values associated with Hebraism that were directly opposed to the spiritual values associated with Hellenism.
Through case studies of the municipal museums of Birmingham and Preston, this paper assesses contrasting curatorial responses to industrial collections. Adopting Matthew Arnold’s categories of Hebraism and Hellenism as an exploratory framework, it concludes that industrial collections represented materialistic values associated with Hebraism that were directly opposed to the spiritual values associated with Hellenism.
Research Interests:
Although the Public Libraries Act of 1850 permitted the provision of libraries through public expenditure, the spread of the library movement owed much to philanthropic assistance for the remainder of the nineteenth century. This pattern... more
Although the Public Libraries Act of 1850 permitted the provision of libraries through public expenditure, the spread of the library movement owed much to philanthropic assistance for the remainder of the nineteenth century. This pattern reflected the contemporary norm of dependence on philanthropy for social improvements, and many public libraries were indebted in some way to financial or other support from private sources. The Harris Public Library and Museum in Preston is widely regarded as the single most impressive example of library philanthropy in Great Britain. Its perceived function and the design of the building placed an emphasis on the culture of classical civilisations, and the role of art and sculpture was given a higher priority than literature. Consequently the design of the building did not serve the library well. The public library service in Preston, and indeed throughout Great Britain, did not depend on philanthropy, but the rate of its expansion was significantly assisted by it.
This paper presents an evaluation of Steps to Health, a project undertaken in Bolton to improve the health of Asian women through the creation and promotion of opportunities for participation in exercise and physical activity. Asian... more
This paper presents an evaluation of Steps to Health, a project undertaken in Bolton to improve the health of Asian women through the creation and promotion of opportunities for participation in exercise and physical activity. Asian communities in the United Kingdom tend to experience significantly poorer health than White communities and to exhibit lower rates of participation in exercise and sport than the majority population. The project thus offered an opportunity to explore methods through which community sport development managers might support the government's aim of increasing physical activity amongst Asian communities as a means of improving health. The research was conducted primarily through semi-structured interviews with female Asian volunteers who undertook to train as fitness instructors and coaches and to develop sport activities within their communities. The success of the project was attributable to a number of factors, most importantly the ethnic status and educational background of the volunteers.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This report is submitted to the Higher Education Academy (HEA) on behalf of the Leisure Studies Association (LSA). The LSA aims to foster research in Leisure Studies; to promote interest in Leisure Studies and advance education in this... more
This report is submitted to the Higher Education Academy (HEA) on behalf of the Leisure Studies Association (LSA). The LSA aims to foster research in Leisure Studies; to promote interest in Leisure Studies and advance education in this field; to encourage debate through publications, and an international journal Leisure Studies; to stimulate the exchange of ideas on contemporary leisure issues; to disseminate knowledge of Leisure Studies to create the conditions for better-informed decisions by policy makers. The LSA is a member society of the Academy of Social Sciences.