The John Rylands Research Institute and Library in Manchester has announced plans for the British Pop Archive (BPA), which it hopes will become the national collection for all aspects of post-war popular culture. In essence, he argues that Weatherfield is as important as Middelmart and that Curtis should be treated with the same reverence as Shakespeare. The handwritten lyrics of Ian Curtis in She’s Lost Control, c1979. Photo: Jo Castle / Courtesy of the University of Manchester “Obviously… why didn’t you do it?” said Jon Savage, the newly appointed professor of popular culture at the University of Manchester and one of the driving forces behind the project. “But it is a kind of false equivalence. It is very easy to see objects from 400 years ago and say that this is really important. What we are saying is that it is important now. “Maybe if more people had kept material since Shakespeare, it would not be just Shakespeare we are talking about.” Pop culture has long been treated with the seriousness it deserves, Savage said. “People really put their heart and soul into it, so why not take it seriously?” The collection will include the archive of Rob Gretton, the manager who oversaw Joy Division’s transition to the New Order and was a meticulous archivist, according to Hannah Barker, director of the John Rylands Institute and a professor of British history. “It simply came to our notice then. The archive is huge, it occupied an entire cellar. “I never knew Rob, but I guess he kept these things because he knew they were important.” Barker said the idea for a popular culture archive began to form in her head in 2018 after the deaths of Mark E Smith and Pete Shelley. “Because I’m a historian working in archives, I remember thinking, ‘I wonder what would happen if these guys did not have an archive.’ He met Savage and the project began to take off. He also read a call to the Guardian by Jill Furmanovsky, one of the UK’s most famous music photographers, for a special archive of British rock photography. The John Rylands Research Institute and Library. Photo: Courtesy of the University of Manchester “You know when you feel the universe whispering to you,” Barker said. There has been a lot of talk, including photographer Kevin Cummins, who also has a pair of Hacienda gyms, packed and unbearably on file. “I know,” Barker said. “Imagine what a Chorlton dad would do with them.” Also part of the collection will be the Granada TV archive, which will shed light on the dazzling roster of its programs, such as Coronation Street, World in Action, Prime Suspect and, for people who could only dream of going out. , The Hitman and Her. Savage said there were many pop and youth culture farms across the UK, but he believed this would be the first designated pop culture archive. “The reason is really obvious, pop culture was incredibly fertile on these islands in the post-war period.” Manchester, with its rich history of popular culture, is the obvious home for the collection, its supporters say, and will open on May 19 with an exhibition of individual Manchester-flavored items. However, the intention is to be a national collection and there has been a lot of talk about obtaining records, said Barker, who wants to challenge “the default assumption that things should go to London, that a national collection should be based in London”. . “I would like to challenge that,” he said. “A lot is happening beneath the surface, there is a lot of discussion and negotiation. “We have great ambitions.”
