"Secret" history of work-class historian Graney
THE Manchester Centre for Regional History at Manchester Metropolitan University is taking part in this year’s Manchester Histories Festival. Dr Fiona Cosson from the Manchester Centre for Regional History will be talking about the sounds and stories of folk music collector and oral historian, Paul Graney, on Tuesday June 7, at Manchester Central Library.
A pipe-fitter by day, Paul Graney spent his spare time travelling around the North West, and, using his portable reel-to-reel recorder, documented the sounds and stories of working-class people from across the region and beyond.
Graney recorded the memories of Rochdale mill girls, Salford canal men and Manchester prostitutes; further afield, Burnley weavers, Whitby fishermen and Leeds factory girls. He recorded the live music of Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Mike Harding. Graney corresponded by tape letter with people in New Zealand, USA and UK. He taped music and interviews from the radio. Graney was interested in ‘the common people’, their histories and traditions, stories and songs, and he was keen to share what he found with others.
Graney himself experienced some of the most important events of the twentieth century. In his autobiographical ‘Memory Tapes’, Graney reflected on his time tramping for work, his European travels and his participation in the General Strike, Kinder Scout Mass Trespass and Theatre of Action in the interwar years.
Dr Fiona Cosson said: “Paul Graney was well-known and well-liked amongst folk music enthusiasts in the North West, but beyond this, he is quite unknown.
“Both Graney’s recordings and Graney’s own life are prisms through which to explore everyday life in Britain in the twentieth century: poverty, work and unemployment; politics and protest; leisure and sport; music and folklore. These rich and unique can illuminate our historical understandings, adding texture to the often-broad brushstrokes of ‘people’s history’.
“In coming months, I hope to work on a project researching Graney’s life and work. The project will involve listening to his recordings, and interviewing people who knew him and remember him. It is important that Graney’s work in recording working-class experiences in the twentieth century is better known and appreciated.”
As part of Manchester Histories Festival 2016, join Dr Fiona Cosson (Manchester Metropolitan University) and David Govier (Archives+, Manchester Central Library) on Tuesday 7 June 2016, 6pm at Manchester Central Library for an extraordinary journey into the sounds of the Paul Graney collection. Free. All welcome. To book, please go to www.paulgraney.eventbrite.co.uk
The Paul Graney Archive, part of the Greater Manchester Sound Archive, contains more than 2,000 recordings consisting of live music, radio programmes, tape letters, memory tapes and oral history interviews, of which over 1,500 have been digitised with Heritage Lottery Fund support and are accessible to the public at Manchester Central Library.
Manchester Metropolitan University is proud to be a lead sponsor of Manchester Histories Festival.
