Alec Craig, Censorship and the Literary Marketplace: A Bookman’s Struggles

Alec Craig (1897-1973) was a passionate, widely published campaigner for freedom from literary censorship. His pioneering analytical history of the subject in 1937 attracted a foreword from E.M. Forster and quickly became a standard work, while he was also a prominent figure in bodies such as PEN and the British Sexological Society. He issued an inflexible call to free literature “from all shackles legal, economic and social” (Craig, 1937, p. 108), and included in this demand pre-publication amendments by cautious publishers, the pricing of works beyond the reach of most consumers, and the absence of controversial works in libraries. However, rather than campaigning for unfettered freedom for its own sake, he insisted that both censorship and pornography were symptoms of the fundamental lack of “rational sex education” and “social conditions which will obviate sex frustration” (1937, p. 155). This chapter will reassess Craig’s radical and now forgotten prescription for social and literary culture, formed in a moment of cultural optimism arguably dissipated by the Second World War. Drawing on Craig’s own archive and that of his publisher, it will explore how his reputation and works fell victim to the forces he resisted, finding poignant illustration in the fate of his library of rare editions of censored books, psychological and legal works; left to the public, it was divided and dispersed, much of it sequestered and never added to public catalogues. Ultimately, a marginalised Craig becomes a case study of the polymorphous power of censorship to limit and distort the creation and dissemination of literary culture

Caroline Playne: the Activities and Absences of a Campaigning Author in First World War London

Caroline Playne (1857-1948) was a committed and influential pacifist and internationalist who dissected the causes of the First World War in four idiosyncratic published histories. Diagnosing the growing bellicosity of the peoples of Europe in the years before the war as a shared mental illness, she espoused many deeply conservative opinions, frequently echoing the moral outrage of contemporary temperance groups and purity crusades, for example. However, Playne was privately wholly absorbed in the charitable support of London’s enemy aliens and their dependents, including unmarried mothers and illegitimate children. Evidence of this work survives in fragments in some archives, but is suppressed from her published works and from the papers she left to the University of London, along with much of the rest of her campaigning life. This article seeks to explore the motivations of Caroline Playne in what emerges as a sustained act of biographical erasure. The image ultimately presented is of a woman who secured a voice in the public life of the city through the suppression not only of her sex, but also her limitless human compassion, and so arguably her very self

The role of environmental stress in fruit pigmentation

For many fruit crops, the colour of the fruit outwardly defines its eating quality. Fruit pigments provide reproductive advantage for the plant as well as providing protection against unfavourable environmental conditions and pathogens. For consumers these colours are considered attractive and provide many of the dietary benefits derived from fruits. In the majority of species, the main pigments are either carotenoids and/or anthocyanins. They are produced in the fruit as part of the ripening process, orchestrated by phytohormones and an ensuing transcriptional cascade, culminating in pigment biosynthesis. Whilst this is a controlled developmental process, the production of pigments is also attuned to environmental conditions such as light quantity and quality, availability of water and ambient temperature. If these factors intensify to stress levels, fruit tissues respond by increasing (or ceasing) pigment production. In many cases, if the stress is not severe, this can have a positive outcome for fruit quality. Here, we focus on the principal environmental factors (light, temperature and water) that can influence fruit colour.publishedVersio

Health benefits of joint replacement surgery for patients with osteoarthritis: prospective evaluation using independent assessments in Scotland

Study objectives - To determine extent of change in psychological, functional, and social health after knee and hip joint replacement surgery using independent assessments. Design - Patients were recruited before surgery and interviewed preoperatively, three months after surgery, and nine months after surgery. Interviews were conducted in the patients' own homes. Setting - Two orthopaedic surgery units in Scotland. Participants - A consecutive sample of 107 patients with osteoarthritis having primary replacement of the knee or hip. Main outcome measures - Assessments of depression, anxiety, pain, functional activity, informal care, and formal service utilisation were made at three time points. Main results - Anxiety and pain were significantly reduced and functional activity levels significantly increased after surgery. While gains in anxiety and pain reduction occurred between the preoperative and three month assessments, gains in activity were made between the three month and nine month assessments. Although pain was reduced and activity increased, levels of depression were unchanged after surgery. Patients reported need for assistance with fewer activities after surgery, but increases in the use of formal services and increases in the number of hours per week of informal support received were observed at both three month and nine month follow up. Conclusions - The main benefit of joint replacement surgery is pain relief. Gains in functional activity, particularly mobility and leisure activities are made by many patients. Paradoxically, surgery for osteoarthritis seems to act as a 'gateway' to increases in formal and informal community support, which are maintained into the longer term

Mars' Magnetic Atmosphere: Ionospheric Currents, Lightning (or Not), E and M Subsurface Sounding, and Future Missions

Mars' ionosphere has no obvious magnetic signs of large-scale, dust~produced lightning. However, there are numerous interesting ionospheric currents (some associated with crustal magnetic fields) which would allow for E&M subsurface sounding

MGS View of Martian Magnetosphere

The solar wind's interaction with Mars has been studied for several decades. However, the scientific results from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) mission represented a very significant step forward in our understanding in this subject. Missions since MGS, including missions currently under development such as MAVEN, have built on MGS' results. In this presentation, I briefly discuss the historical context of MGS' results regarding the induced Martian magnetosphere. I then highlight the major scientific results from the MGS observations and showcase ongoing investigations using MGS data

Radical Collections: Re-examining the roots of collections, practices and information professions

Do archivists ‘curate’ history? And to what extent are our librarians the gatekeepers of knowledge? Libraries and archives have a long and rich history of compiling ‘radical collections’- from Klanwatch Project in the States to the R. D. Laing Archive in Glasgow- but a re-examination of the information professions and all aspects of managing those collections is long overdue. This book is the result of a critical conference held at Senate House Library in 2017. The conference provided a space to debate the issues and ethics of collection development, management and promotion. This book brings together some key papers from those proceedings. It shines a light on pressing topical issues within library and information services (LIS)- to encompass selection, appraisal and accession, through to organisation and classification, and including promotion and use. Will libraries survive as victims of neoliberal marketization? Do we have a responsibility to collect and document ‘white hate’ in the era of Trump? And how can a predominantly white (96.7%) LIS workforce effectively collect and tell POC histories