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March 23, 2023
The Case of the ‘L’Homme de la Denise’
We are grateful to present another guest blog! This time from Timothé Lhoste who is currently completing his master’s degree studying History of Science at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris. Timothé was in touch with the Centre for Research Collections requiring access to Charles Lyell’s Notebooks, and a very interesting story emerged, which sheds light on how Lyell worked. Read on to find out more about Timothé (and Lyell’s!) research …
I am working on a scientific controversy concerning a “human fossil” known as ‘L’Homme de la Denise’, and named to acknowledge its discovery in 1844 on the slopes of the Denise Mountain, near the city of Le Puy-en-Velay in the French Massif Central. The find was crucial, as from the outset, doubts hovered over the authenticity and the exact age of the discoveries. In fact, these bones and the gangue (the material that surrounds them) continued to fuel a lively discussion for more than a century.
Drawing on the method of the biography of scientific objects, such as Marianne Sommer’s Bones and Ochre: The Curious Afterlife of the Red Lady of Paviland, my study seeks to trace the impact of this object on the social world and vice versa. I am also interested in the evolution of different scientific interpretations of these objects.
Lyell’s sketch showing the south face of Denise Mountain, Notebook 240, page 11
Charles Lyell’s Notebooks 239 and 240 document his trip to France during the summer of 1859, when he stayed in the vicinity of Le Puy-en-Velay from August 6th to 16th. He already knew this region, since he had visited it in 1828, as evidenced earlier in the run of his Scientific Notebooks in Notebook 12, dated 30 June – 21 July 1828. This area of the French Massif Central called Velay was of particular interest to Lyell. Volcanic formations had allowed the genesis and preservation of many fossil sites – and so of course would be of interest to Lyell the ‘volcano hunter’! – but in 1859, Lyell was now looking in particular for solid geological evidence of the antiquity of man.
For this reason, in the wake of Edmond Hébert and Edouard Lartet, he carried out investigations on the Denise site. He described the geology of the surroundings of Le Puy and carefully examined the human bones, which had been found in the region fifteen years before. During his stay, he met with local scholars such as Auguste Aymard, Bertrand de Doue, Pichot-Dumazel and Félix Robert. He even met Georges Poulett Scrope who came to complete his observations of the volcanoes of this region.
Lyell’s Notebooks testify to the richness of his observations. He visited other geological and paleontological sites (including Polignac, Cussac, Espaly, Saint Privat d’Allier, Doue, and La Roche Rouge), drew multiple sketches and talked with many local people. The most compelling piece of ‘evidence’ is a photograph of the “museum block” (bought in 1844 by Auguste Aymard and Bertrand de Doue for the local museum) which is glued into Lyell’s Notebook 240; this illustrates the particular interest that Lyell had in these bones.
Photograph acquired by Lyell showing the Denise block containing human bones which is glued into Notebook 240 page 69
Moreover, he also took Notebook 240 with him to Aberdeen for the 29th meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, along with the famous photograph commissioned by Prestwich and Evans, and featuring the local workmen, showing the position of a stone axe into the sedimentary series of Abbeville (and for more information on that, please see Clive Gamble’s article featured in the Geological Society of London’s Blog Photographs of the Drift ).
In his speech at Aberdeen (and later in his book Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man published 1863), Lyell referred to the Denise findings, acknowledging their authenticity and he praised and acknowledged the scientific validity of the discoveries Jacques Boucher de Perthes had made in Abbeville.
However, Lyell could not commit to the idea of ‘L’Homme de la Denise’ as a proof of the contemporaneity of the man, and the latest eruptions of the Massif Central, refusing to give them any value of antiquity.
Thank you Timothé for sharing your research – we wish you all the best for the completion of your Masters degree. Thanks also to Caroline Lam, Archivist & Records Manager at The Geological Society. This enquiry initially drew our attention to the fact that there was an original photograph in the collection – in fact – one of only two glued into the Notebooks. We can now appreciate how important photography must have been to Lyell – and indeed to others working at that time. It has enabled us to ‘unearth’ many more related archives – we will revisit this topic!
Further Reading:
Lyell Charles, 1859, “On the occurrences of works of human art in post-pliocene deposits”, Twenty-Ninth meeting of the British association for the advancement of science, London, Murray.
Lyell Charles, 1863, Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, London, Murray.
LGBTQI+ History Month: Discovering the Papers of the BLOG Society and the Letters of Christopher Isherwood
Ash Mowat is one of our volunteers in the Civic Engagement Team. Ash has been looking into the papers of the BLOG society and the letters of Christopher Isherwood in our archives and shares that information with us here.
Introducing Ash: I was born and have lived in Edinburgh most of my life. I attended University of Glasgow in the late 1980s where I hoped to complete an honours degree in English literature, but unfortunately due to ill health I was only able to obtain a degree at ordinary level. I have diverse interests in literature, the visual arts and science and history. I also worked for almost 25 years in social housing and have a passion for social justice, and equalities.
The University of Edinburgh’s Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Society (also known as BLOG)
I reviewed some documents of the University’s Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay society BLOG (later made more inclusive and expanded to include Transgender in the title) BLOG, that was founded in 1973. [1] It is now known as PrideSoc. [2]
Having such a society in place is a hugely valuable resource to students. Starting at University itself can, whilst being exciting, can also be daunting to many, perhaps moving to a new city of even country, and having to adjust to living independently often for the first time. More so if from a potentially marginalised group such as LGBT+. For some of the years in this archive there were still some legal barriers to gay sex, and even when those were removed, the media’s and societal attitudes on queer people were often hostile throughout the end of the last century and beyond. Things are much better in Scotland today but still far from perfect, with transgender and non-binary people often exposed to hostile attitudes.
The papers in the archive cover the period from 1973 to 1999, although due to data protection requirements, only publicity and constitution papers etc. are available to view. This is an interesting period in LGBTQI+ history coming a few years after the partial decriminalisation of gay sex between men in 1967 (much later date of 1980 in Scotland) and subsequent period of greater gay liberation, only for the devastating impact of AIDS to emerge from the early 1980s.
A useful timeline on UK LGBTQI+ history can be found here.[3] Whilst it is encouraging that progress has been made in the UK, it is disturbing that it was as recently as 1992 that the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality as a mental disorder, and that the controversial School censorship on LGBTQI+ “promotion” Clause 28 was only repealed in England in 2003. Further, there is still a lot of toxic media debate on transgender rights in the UK. We should also be mindful of friends across the world in the many countries where same sex relationships are illegal.
The picture above, from the BLOG papers, above a very amusing and affective piece, transposing the erroneous stances taken against gay people in terms of being a chosen lifestyle, something that you’ll grow out of, or as something to keep secret from others. Instead here the same lame, lazy judgements are imposed on the “heterosexual disposition”.
Above is a handwritten copy of the constitution of BLOG from 1993 outlining the general principles of the organisation. It is noteworthy that at this time transgender people had not been incorporated into the membership. A further curiosity is the clause that “it is recognised that this Lesbian and Gay Society cannot, so does not intend to try to, fully meet the needs of bisexual students at Edinburgh University, though they are welcome to join and take part”. This reveals an historic tendency to not fully embrace the validity of bisexuality, something happily not reflected in the group’s current constitution.
Finally from 1989, a list of gay groups and societies of the time, including advice and support as well as leisure and recreational activities.
One of the outlets above is West and Wide Bookshop no longer operating. This was founded by Sigrid Nielsen and Bob Orr who previously opened the Lavender Menace in 1982, the first LGBT+ bookshop in Scotland and only the second opened in the UK at the time.[4] In addition to book sales, they also sold magazines, held events, and produced their own newsletter, which in addition to covering gay issues, also promoted antiracism and opposition to sexist thinking and practices.
Whilst the store itself closed in 1986, it now operates as a sometimes pop-up bookshop and archive committed to retaining out of print works in their library. Volunteers are welcome to participate in their project.[5]
Christopher Isherwood: Last Drawings and manuscript material at University of Edinburgh
I viewed the above in the archives, the drawings of Isherwood made by his lover of over 30 years Don Bachardy. [6] Firstly, however, a little biography and discussion on his writing.
Isherwood was born in England in 1904, although later settled and adopted nationality in the USA. He was a gay man and writer of fiction and non-fiction, with several of his works being adapted for the screen, whilst he also wrote for the cinema.[7]
One of his most celebrated works is a series of short stories later published as Goodbye to Berlin in 1939. These semi-autobiographical tales feature a version of Isherwood as the narrator, and reflect upon his years in Berlin in the 1930s, where he was required to take on work as a tutor of English language to earn a living whilst working on his fiction.
Rereading this recently after many years, it appears in places quite sketchy and incomplete, however to be fair Isherwood remarks in the introduction that he originally intended these stories to be developed into a longer piece, so the reader should understand this and view these accordingly.
In this collection, Isherwood brilliantly captures the abject poverty and sometimes squalor in Berlin at the time, contrasted with some of the lavish living of some of the rich families he comes to teach. He describes the libertarian attitudes, sexual freedoms and nightlife of the Weimar republic cabaret and club scene. His characters are always colourful: sometimes beautiful, grotesque, opportunistic, unreliable and spirited. The narrator can adopt a tone that can appear judgemental on other characters whilst not revealing fully his own views and opinions, which can be jarring. They are all, however, carefully crafted and brought to life with vibrant decadent dialogue.
Whilst the references to gay sex are muted, they would have to have been so given the date of their publication, their very inclusion and the sometimes licentious behaviours of the characters must have proved quite brave and shocking for the period.
The most famous character in the book is that of Sally Bowles, whom Isherwood based on the real life journalist, activist and writer Jean Ross.[8] Ross was unhappy at her portrayal in the book and the later film inspired by it, Cabaret, as she felt Bowles was too frivolous a character only interested in hedonistic pursuits, whilst Ross was an intellectual, a committed political activist (she was and remained a communist) and engaged in writing and creative activities. She was also appalled at the anti-Semitic language used by Bowles in the book (she refers to “a filthy Jew”), when Ross was a fervent antifascist and deplored anti-Semitism. Despite those factors, the character of Sally Bowles is a powerful example of a defiant free spirit in stark contrast to the emerging fascist state.
In Isherwood’s defence here, to honestly record the history leading up to the coming to power of the Nazi government, it is essential to reflect the anti-Semitic views that many German citizens held. Sometimes in these stories, the unchallenged anti-Semitic remarks are problematic, and some of the Jewish characters described come close, at least to me, to displaying the stereotypical racist tropes such as an avidity for wealth. Isherwood himself later regretted some of the harsh portrayal of his characters,[9] and his biographer explored his attitudes to Jewish people as explored in this review.[10]
The stories, covering the three years up to the appointment of Hitler, do reflect the rising oppressive dark shadow that is the emergence of the Nazis, fuelled by the poverty suffered by the people and by exploiting the lazy, diverting scapegoat of Jewish culpability for Germany’s hardships.
The Cabaret movie of 1972 does a good job at depicting the brutality of the insidious Nazi rise to power, and because of the later release date, is more frank and celebratory on the depictions of gay lives and nightlife scenes. The music and score were written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and the songs formed a crucial piece of the narrative and were so effective in depicting the conflicting worlds of the flamboyant night club scenes, the glaring contractions between poverty and wealth, and the complexity and humanity of those living though this period.
Drawings of Christopher Isherwood by Don Bachardy (SC F 478)
I viewed the book of these extraordinary drawings by the accomplished artist and lover for over thirty years of Isherwood, completed in the last few months of Isherwood’s life during the mid-1980’s as he was dying from prostate cancer. Due to data protection issues, no images from the collection can be posted here.
In the introduction John Russell writes” There was never a book like this before, and I doubt that there will ever be one like it again. It is a book about what it means for one human being to take responsibility for another.”
And Don Bachardy himself explains of the process “Because of Dan’s help (a fellow artist), I was able to find the time to draw Chris through these last few months. I had almost daily drawing sessions with him and was fairly often able to do as many as nine or ten a day, sometimes fewer”.
It’s such a clear demonstration of the love between these two men that such determination, stamina and resilience was found to complete this art in such circumstances. The drawings themselves, monotone sketches black on white, are sometimes a portrait of the face only but also include full body nude postures. They can be sparsely formed, a matter of just a few lines, or be much more detailed and refined. In all cases, they are easily recognisable and capture the features and expressions of the subject.
The face is often the most defined area detailed, the lived lifelines across the forehead and glint captured in the eyes. The hands, a writer’s tools, are also drawn and captured carefully. They are remarkably bold and frank in honestly portraying suffering, as there is no soft focus or shielding from the truth. They reflect upon a life lived in full by a writer who in his work sought to observe and record the diverse lives of others, and chose to have his own journey from illness towards death to also be preserved in this art.
Don Bachardy has had an extensive output as an artist and still lives in the home in Santa Monica California, where and Isherwood first occupied together over 50 years ago.[11]
Christopher Isherwood letters from the University of Edinburgh Archive (MS 3216)
There are a couple of revealing remarks from Isherwood here, the first from a letter of 11.7.1967 to a Harry Heckford: “One fact I don’t mention. I wrote to some Government office offering my services in an intelligence job if war broke out…in late September of 1938 I was preparing to take part in the war effort, three months later, I had discovered I was a pacifist!”
In another letter to the same recipient sent in October 1971 he replies “No, I never had any direct trouble during the McCarthy era, though I was sometimes questioned about my friends. You see, as a naturalised citizen, I had been thoroughly investigated by the FBI-also as a pacifist-so the witch hunters didn’t dare to challenge their verdict”. This is interesting as the McCarthy trials focused not only on suspected communists but also gay people in public office.[12]
The Edinburgh Pride March
Outside of the University society, Edinburgh also has a vibrant annual LGBT Pride march and festival held every June. From humble beginnings of “lark in the park” in 1988 (with actor Ian McKellen amongst the speakers)[13] with only a few hundred attendees, the first Pride march was held in 1995. [14]
A further resource on queer history in Edinburgh and Scotland can be found here. [15]
Pride now has thousands of participants, and is a vital, colourful and celebratory display of LGBTQI+ diversity and empowerment.
[1] https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/repositories/2/archival_objects/
[2] https://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/activities/view/pridesoc
[3] https://www.bl.uk/lgbtq-histories/lgbtq-timeline
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_Menace_Bookshop
[5] https://lavendermenace.org.uk/
[6] https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/library-museum-gallery/crc/research-resources/lgbtq-sources
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Ross
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_to_Berlin
[10] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/may/23/biography.features2
[11] http://www.donbachardy.com/biography.php
[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_scare
[13] https://www.facebook.com/EqualityNetwork/posts/lark-in-the-park-28th-may-198830-years-ago-today-in-protest-at-section-28-which-/10156383303877378/
[14] https://prideedinburgh.co.uk/our-history/
[15] https://www.ourstoryscotland.org.uk/heritage/assocSupp/Edinburgh1977.htm
On trial: Early American Newspapers, Series 1
Thanks to a request from a HCA student the Library currently has trial access to Early American Newspapers, Series 1 from Readex, which offers fully searchable issues from over 730 invaluable American newspapers from the period 1690-1876.
You can access the Early American Newspapers, Series 1 via the E-resources trials page.
Trial access ends 14th April 2023. Read More
Dissertation Support: Referencing for Law
We’ve set up another date for our popular ‘Referencing for Law’ session, which is always well attended by UG and PG students alike. If you are not familiar with referencing law materials, this is the session for you! We’ll cover:
- Why we reference and the definition of plagiarism
- How to use reference systems in assessed work
- What to include in a reference list for OSCOLA
- An assessment of how reference manager software works with OSCOLA
- Hints and tips to make referencing easier
The all-important date for this is Wednesday 5th April, 10am-11am.
The session will be held online using Blackboard Collaborate, with a link to the session provided on the event page and also in reminder emails. The seminar will last just under an hour with time for questions built in. It will be recorded and uploaded to the Law Librarian Resources Media Hopper Channel for access asynchronously afterwards; slides and a link to the recording will be sent out after the event. Please book a place via the MyEd Events Booking system.
We understand this is a little late for UG students whose dissertations are due in the next few weeks, but don’t despair! If this is you, we recommend you take a look at the materials you can access at any time here:
- Recording of Referencing for Law (session from October 2021) – the same material is covered in this session as will be addressed in the live session in April. Slides are available under the ‘attachments’ tab.
- Referencing playlist on Law Librarian Media Hopper Channel – includes demo videos of using Endnote to insert references.
- Law Subject Guide: Page on referencing and plagiarism – includes links to loads of useful resources to help with referencing
- OSCOLA guide – the official 61 page guide to the current 4th edition of the OSCOLA referencing system. Many students’ questions can be answered by careful perusing of this guide, or alternatively checking the Cite Them Right database.
If you’ve read and watched all of the above but are still struggling, just get in touch by email: law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.
On trial: East African Newspapers
Thanks to a request from staff in HCA the Library currently has trial access to East African Newspapers from EastView, featuring key newspapers from the region from the 1940s to the early 2000s.
You can access the East African Newspapers via the E-resources trials page.
Trial access ends 2nd April 2023. Read More
New! Roper iPoll
Following a successful trial last year I’m happy to let you know the Library now has a subscription to Roper iPoll provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University.
You can access Roper iPoll via the Databases A-Z list, DiscoverEd and relevant Subject Guides and Databases by Subject pages.
Roper iPoll provides U.S. and international public opinion polls and datasets from 1935 to the present. Surveys cover any number of topics including, social issues, politics, pop culture, international affairs, science, the environment, and much more. Includes the major academic, commercial and media survey organisations. You can search for datasets by keyword, country, surveying agency, timeframe and type of sample. Read More
Documenting I.C.28
Last summer, I spent five days photographing the skeleton of William Burke to document recent conservation as a record for future collection care. The remains had been conserved and cleaned for the first time since the 1800s and the skeleton was going on display at the National Museum of Scotland for their 2022 exhibition “A Matter Of Death and Life“. I also photographed the life and death masks of Burke, Hare and Robert Knox (“the man who buys the beef”).
E-Resource trial: Skills for study
As we’re midway through the second semester, many eyes are turning to assignments and thinking ahead to final exams. Did you know that we’ve recently secured a trial of the interactive resource Skills for Study?
Based on the bestselling The Study Skills Handbook by Stella Cottrell, Skills for Study offers an interactive and personalised solution to help students hone their academic skills while developing skills required by employers:
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Each of the modules comes complete with exercises, activities, and module assessments along with supplementary videos, articles and blogs. We know how popular the Study Skills Handbook is for students from a range of disciplines, so here’s how to access this interactive resource:
- Visit the Skills for Study website and sign in with your university login. You’ll be asked to register the first time you do, so follow the instructions on this student guide for single sign-on (pdf).
That’s it, it’s that easy! More information about the trial is available on the E-Resources trials page. Our trial ends on the 24th April so have a good look before then, and if you want to offer any comments on this or any of our other E-Resource trials then please consider filling in the trial feedback form.
LGBT+ History Month: LGBT+ legal resources
It’s LGBT+ History Month in February so we wanted to highlight some resources in our collection that are relevant to anyone looking at the history of LGBT+ rights.
We recently purchased Justice After Stonewall: LGBT Life Between Challenge and Change, a new title published in January 2023 and edited by the School of Law’s own Dr Paul Behrens, along with co-editor Sean Becker. From the abstract:
Justice After Stonewall is an interdisciplinary analysis of challenges and progress experienced by the LGBT community since the Stonewall riots in 1969. […] This book breaks new ground by bringing together experts from politics, sociology, law, education, language, medicine and religion to discuss fields as diverse as same-sex marriage, transgender students, the LGBT movement in Uganda and LGBT migrants in the Arabian Peninsula, conversion ‘therapy’, and approaches to LGBT matters in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. What emerges is a rich tapestry of LGBT life today and its consideration from numerous perspectives.
Based on thorough research, this book is an ideal text for students and scholars exploring LGBT matters. At the same time, its engaging style makes it a particularly valuable resource for anyone with an interest in LGBT matters and their reception in today’s world.
Did you know that legal database HeinOnline also have a database on LGBTQ+ Rights? From the title page:
This collection charts the gay rights movement in America, showing the civil rights codified into law in the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as the inequalities that still exist today. All titles in this collection have been assigned one or more title-level subjects relating to their scope, and are further divided into six subcollections, whose areas of focus constitute Marriage and Family, Employment Discrimination, Military Service, AIDS and Health Care, and Public Spaces and Accommodations. A separate subcollection, Historical Attitudes and Analysis, presents books, pamphlets, reports, and more from the 18th century through the mid-20th century. Content in this subcollection includes accounts of individuals criminally tried for their sexuality to attempts to find a medical cause for homosexuality.
This collection is rounded out by a curated list of Scholarly Articles selected by Hein editors, as well as a Bibliography of titles to launch your research outside of HeinOnline. Finally, an interactive timeline, incorporating documents from HeinOnline with other media from around the internet, plots out an overview of LGBTQ rights in America from 1950 to the present day, helping to demonstrate the relevancy of the content within the database to the real-world events to which they are connected.
If you are interested in finding out more scholarly resources for LGBT+ research you may be interested in our Gender and Sexuality Studies Subject Guide, which has been developed by the Librarian team along with one of our former EDI interns. The guide is separated into pages for Gender Studies, Queer Studies, and Student Support, as we hoped to provide resources both for those looking to find academic resources and seeking local communities across the University of Edinburgh. While this guide is not law-specific it may provide resources for further reading to support the issues faced when dealing with LGBT+ rights in a legal setting.
As ever if you would like to discuss support for your research please contact us on law.librarian@ed.ac.uk to make an appointment to discuss your topic and how we can help.
Behind the Lens: LGBT+ History Month
February is LGBT+ History Month and this year’s theme is #BehindThe Lens. This aims to celebrate “LGBT+ peoples’ contribution to cinema and film from behind the lens. Directors, cinematographers, screen writers, producers, animators, costume designers, special effects, make up artists, lighting directors, musicians, choreographers and beyond.” (LGBT+ History Month, 2023)
To help you learn more we’ve pulled together just a small selection of Library resources that will allow you to start to look ‘Behind the Lens’.
Books and more books (we are a Library after all)
Films, TV, documentaries, etc.
Doing your own research
Books and more books (we are a Library after all)
Why not start with The Oxford handbook of queer cinema as an introduction. This hefty tome covers a wide variety of topics including silent and classical Hollywood films, European and American independent and art films, post-Stonewall and New Queer Cinema, global queer cinema and new queer voices and forms.
New queer cinema: A critical reader considers the filmmakers, the geography, and the audience of New Queer Cinema. While Queer cinema in Europe brings together case studies of key films and filmakers in this area. Sapphism on screen: Lesbian desire in French and Francophone cinema focuses even more specifically on films made by male and female directors working in France and other French-speaking parts of the world. In a queer time and place: Transgender bodies, subcultural lives is the first full-length study of transgender representations in film but also art, fiction, video and music. Whereas LGBTQ film festivals: Curating queerness pays homage to the labour of queer organisers, critics and scholars. Read More
Collections
The History of Access to University
Ash Mowat is one of our volunteers in the Civic Engagement Team. Ash has been...
Volunteering at the CRC: Charlotte’s experience
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Projects
Bearing Witness: The Pre-Digitisation Conservation Treatment of The Witness, Part 1
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Glazy in Love: Rehousing the Emma Gillies Collection
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