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Churchill Archives Project creates ties across the Atlantic
Churchill Archives Project creates ties across the Atlantic
“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”
--Winston Churchill
Tucked away in the basement of the BSC library is a room that offers students and scholars a window into the entire world of the 20th century.
The new Churchill Seminar Room houses BSC’s permanent access to the digitized collection of the papers of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. The papers - more than 800,000 pages worth - are housed at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge.
The archive - which was generously funded by BSC alumnus Robert B. Callahan Sr. ’50 and his wife, Virginia C. Callahan, and dedicated on Jan. 24 – will be available on a permanent basis for BSC students and is expected to become a destination for scholars. Birmingham-Southern is one of just 20 colleges and universities in the United States with this kind of access.
“This is really a dream come true,” said Dr. Mark Lester, BSC’s W. Michael Atchison Professor of History and Law. “One of the things historians love is being able to work with primary sources. This gift has given us the opportunity to put these documents virtually into students’ hands.”
And what a trove of documents it is. More than 2,500 boxes of papers make up the archive, including rough drafts of Churchill’s famous wartime speeches, letters he exchanged with U.S. presidents and European leaders, correspondence with contemporary celebrities like Vivian Leigh and Charlie Chaplin, and even young Winston’s early – and shockingly disappointing – report cards. His career and notes ranged from some of the last major cavalry charges of the 19th century through the atomic
Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archives Centre at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Churchill College there, was a special guest at the dedication and also spoke about Churchill’s role in World War I to students in a history class. He said the archive offers a unique resource for studying our modern era.
“This contemporary material strips away the layers of hindsight and plunges you back into the past,” Packwood said. “You’re seeing what Churchill saw and how he responded
BSC students are fortunate to be able to access the materials, Packwood said; he also said he hopes to continue and deepen the partnership between Birmingham-Southern and Cambridge, and credited Callahan with bringing him to Alabama for the first time and introducing him to the college.
“I am hoping that I can come back in the future and that we can add even more materials to it,” Packwood said.
Churchill himself famously said that “without a knowledge of the past, we have no way of making guesses at the future,” his great-grandson Duncan Sandys pointed out at the opening celebration. Sandys, who reminisced about some of his favorite objects in the archive – including the notes telling the story of the familial and political jockeying for seats at Churchill’s funeral. But it’s also a chance for students and scholars to understand how the past shapes the future, he said.
“We live in a world today that he talked about,” Sandys said.
In addition to the launch of the archive and the seminar room, which provides a dedicated space for BSC students and visiting scholars to access the materials, the dedication also marked the announcement of a new opportunity for one BSC student to travel each year to work with the original materials in England. The Churchill Archives Center at the University of Cambridge also houses the papers of more than 600 important political, military, and scientific figures from Churchill’s time and later, including those of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was a personal friend of Mr. and Mrs. Callahan. Connor Hansen, a junior history major from Colorado, is the first student selected; he will be researching his senior honors history paper, likely with a focus on British policy in the Middle East.
“This is going to be an incredible opportunity and a life-changing experience for me to do, and it’s going to make a huge difference in my senior thesis and future career,” Hanson said. “I am so grateful for those who made it possible.”