丘吉尔档案 Project creates ties across the Atlantic
丘吉尔档案 Project creates ties across the Atlantic
“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”
——温斯顿·丘吉尔
Tucked away in the basement of the 澳门新葡京官网 library is a room that offers students and scholars a window into the entire world of the 20th 世纪.
The new Churchill Seminar Room houses 澳门新葡京官网’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 澳门新葡京官网 alumnus Robert B. 卡拉汉老. ’50 and his wife, Virginia C. 卡拉汉, and dedicated on Jan. 24 – will be available on a permanent basis for 澳门新葡京官网 students and is expected to become a destination for scholars. Birmingham-南部 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. 马克·莱斯特，澳门新葡京官网的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. 2人以上,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 世纪 through the atomic
艾伦帕克伍德, director of the 丘吉尔档案 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,帕克伍德说. “You’re seeing what Churchill saw and how he responded
澳门新葡京官网 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-南部 and Cambridge, and credited 卡拉汉 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,帕克伍德说.
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 桑蒂斯 pointed out at the opening celebration. 桑蒂斯, 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, 他说.
“We live in a world today that he talked about,” 桑蒂斯 said.
In addition to the launch of the archive and the seminar room, which provides a dedicated space for 澳门新葡京官网 students and visiting scholars to access the materials, the dedication also marked the announcement of a new opportunity for one 澳门新葡京官网 student to travel each year to work with the original materials in England. The 丘吉尔档案 Center at the University of Cambridge also houses the papers of more than 600 important political, 军事, and scientific figures from Churchill’s time and later, including those of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was a personal friend of Mr. 和夫人. 卡拉汉. 康纳汉森, 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,汉森说. “I am so grateful for those who made it possible.”