Research
LIVERPOOL NEWSPAPER HERITAGE - COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT
AIMS
Liverpool Newspaper Heritage is a new collaborative research project that I have set up in order to document the history of the Liverpool press from its origins in the eighteenth century up until the beginning of the twentieth. As Liverpool became the “Second City of Empire”, it gave birth to hundreds of newspapers and periodicals, many ephemeral but others enjoying long print-runs. Few of these publications are remembered today but the best were of high quality and pioneered new approaches to both newspaper production and journalism. A key aim of the project is to set these achievements within the wider provincial and national contexts. It is further proposed to link this research with a wide-ranging programme of dissemination and outreach in order to maximise its impact.
The principal outputs envisaged are:
- a comprehensive, illustrated book (edited collection)
- a two-day colloquium exploring the contribution of provincial newspapers to the development of the British press
- a temporary exhibition of historic newspapers in a Liverpool museum or gallery
- a course module/workshop for PGR/PGT on using historical newspapers as a research tool
- a short course for Continuing Education students exploring Liverpool’s historic newspapers and periodicals
PROJECT TEAM
The core project team currently comprises:
Dr Mark Towsey (Sponsor and Chair of Advisory Board)
Prof John Belchem (Historical consultant)
Dr Nick Foggo (Project lead and principal researcher)
Dr Andrew Hobbs, UCLAN (Editor and researcher)
Lucy Kilfoyle (Researcher)
Alex Robinson (Consultant on outreach)
Denise Rudd (Consultant on project management)
In order for the full scope of the project to be achieved within its planned four-year timescale, the team is looking to recruit additional members who are willing to contribute in the following two roles: first, researchers to study individual titles (both newspapers and periodicals); secondly, subject experts to review/edit draft chapters (or sections) and place the findings in their wider context (whether provincial/national or political/social/commercial).
EDITED COLLECTION
The provisional scope and structure of the edited collection are shown in the following section.
LIVERPOOL NEWSPAPER HERITAGE - EDITED COLLECTION
The scope and structure of the edited collection are currently under review but will be broadly as follows (titles and individuals are indicative and not exhaustive):
WORKING TITLE: LIVERPOOL NEWSPAPER HERITAGE
FOREWORD AND INTRODUCTION
NEWSPAPERS IN THE GEORGIAN PERIOD
The earliest titles (Liverpool Courant, Williamson’s/Billinge’s Liverpool Advertiser, Gore’s [Liverpool] General Advertiser, Liverpool Phoenix/Saturday’s Advertiser, Liverpool and Lancashire Weekly Herald, Liverpool Chronicle)
The birth of the new giants (Liverpool Courier, Liverpool Mercury)
Reading rooms (Athenaeum, Lyceum, Exchange, Union, Minerva, Commercial, Willmer’s, etc)
NEWSPAPERS IN THE AGE OF REFORM
The growth of the liberal press (Liverpool Mercury, Liverpool [Commercial] Chronicle, Albion, Liverpool Times, Liverpool Journal, Liverpool Telegraph)
The new Conservative press (Liverpool Courier, Liverpool Standard, Liverpool Mail)
NEWSPAPERS IN THE EARLY VICTORIAN PERIOD
Price wars, stamp duty and penny papers (Liverpool Journal, Liverpool Weekly News, Liverpool Express, Northern [Daily] Times, Northern Weekly Times, Events, Daily Post, Liverpool Herald, Liverpool Weekly Mail, Willmer's Liverpool Morning News, Charles Willmer, Michael Whitty)
The commercial press (Gore’s General Advertiser, Myers’s Mercantile Advertiser/Liverpool Mercantile Gazette, Telegraph and Naval Directory/Liverpool Telegraph, [Liverpool] Journal of Commerce, Shipping and Commercial Express)
International editions (European Times), the electric telegraph, news agencies (Lee & Nightingale), syndication
NEWSPAPERS IN THE LATE VICTORIAN PERIOD
Massive papers and mass readership (Liverpool Mercury, Liverpool Daily Post, Liverpool Courier)
New weekly papers (Liverpool Weekly Mercury, Liverpool Weekly Courier, Liverpool Weekly Post, Halfpenny Weekly)
Evening papers (Liverpool Evening Mercury, Evening Courier/Express, Liverpool Evening Albion, Liverpool Echo)
Closures and mergers in the last quarter of the 19th century
PERIODICALS AND SPECIAL INTEREST NEWSPAPERS
Early periodicals (Liverpool Magazine, Liverpool Gleaner, Kaleidoscope, Imperial Magazine, Thespian, Liverpool Theatrical Investigator)
The unstamped press (Brazen Head, etc)
Humour and satire (Figaro in Liverpool, Liverpool Lion, Porcupine)
Weekly periodicals (Liverpool Photographic Journal, Liverpool Compass, Liberal/Liverpool Review, Argus, Liverpool Lantern, Liverpool Link)
Welsh-language and religious papers (Yr Amserau, Catholic Magazine and Reflector, Christian Reflector, Crescent, etc)
INNOVATIVE JOURNALISM AND OTHER CONTENT
London gossip and the parliamentary sketch (E B Neill, Savage Club, Edward Whitty)
Social conditions (Thomas Whitehead, Hugh Shimmin, “Alfred Quiz”)
Leisure activities: chess, gardening, photography (Liverpool Photographic Journal), family interest, etc
Poetry and serialised novels
APPENDICES
Lists of titles, circulation figures, etc