How Can I be a Fellow? Let me Count the Ways

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Elizabeth Barrett Browning would probably kill me for misappropriating her memorable poetical line! However, I’m only now realising the very many different ways in which one can achieve Fellowship.

A Disappointing Start

Many years ago, I tried to achieve a Fellowship of Trinity College London, in oboe performance. I’m afraid I didn’t succeed, remaining a Licentiate to this day – but I no longer call myself an oboist in any case; I haven’t played for years.  To think that at one point, I couldn’t imagine myself not playing it!

An Early Dalliance

Professional

I was more successful in librarianship.  I attained Fellowship of CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) in 2010, only relinquishing it (my decision) when I stopped being a librarian.  I was also made a Fellow of IAML(UK & Irl) as I approached the end of my career in music librarianship.  (My official role was Performing Arts Librarian, but I was, essentially, a music librarian.)

Research

A couple of years ago, I enjoyed a Ketelbey Fellowship semester in the School of History at the University of St Andrews, and I’m currently a Fellow at IASH, University of Edinburgh.

I’m continuing my research activities as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland  – that’s my permanent part-time role.  Would I cause confusion by mentioning that I was also awarded Fellowship of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Autumn 2024? 

And Today … FRHistS

I was delighted to learn that I’ve just been elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.  This is a worldwide organisation with a long and distinguished history, so Fellowship really is an honour.  I’m one of 78 new Fellows this summer. Since I’ve taken the greatest interest and pleasure in historical research in the latter part of my career – as evidenced by my publications record  –  this news is a source of quiet satisfaction. 

A Year as a Research Fellow

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

It’s a whole year since I retired from librarianship, and started my new contract as a part-time postdoctoral fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Do I miss librarianship? No, I’m afraid I don’t! And am I going to give a step-by-step account of my first year not being a librarian, able to focus entirely on research? No! (I’ve blogged so much about my research that you, dear reader, have already read countless highlights.)

Along with my research, I did a little maternity cover supervising some undergraduate dissertations – that was interesting and enjoyable, and I was proud to see ‘my’ students graduate this week. (Humour me – I’ve never been able to talk about ‘my’ students before, even if it was only for one module.)

And I took up my IASH Heritage postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Edinburgh in January. Originally planned to be for six months, it has been extended over the summer, so I’m certainly not done yet with Thomas Nelson’s educational music publishing activities.

Help me Determine my Prospective Audience?

Indeed, I’m contemplating what exactly I shall do with all the information I’ve gathered – do I write a scholarly article? Keep going and consider a book as research output? And for whom would it be written? Educational historians? Social historians? Musicologists? If you’re any of these categories – or indeed, some other category – say, a historian of publishing – it would be immensely helpful if you could respond via this blog and let me know in what way it would interest you. Any feedback will help me determine my prospective audience. I’d be really grateful.

I have two follow-on ideas which I am going to pursue this summer, along with some more archival research.

But first – I need a holiday!

I’ve saved up the bulk of my annual leave so that I could take the next four weeks off this July. Family concerns mean I’m not able to consider ‘a holiday’ abroad, or indeed staying away anywhere that involves significant outlay, just in case I had to come back hastily – but a break is called for. Last summer – partial retiree or not – I had a book to nurse through to completion, and the Christmas break was a disaster, with everyone around me succumbing to flu. (I didn’t. But I’m really no Florence Nightingale, so it was tough.) Yes, I definitely need a break.

Know When to Take a Break

I should put my research hat aside for the next four weeks. Apart from the ongoing concerns, my sleeping patterns are messed up with the early rising needed for my Edinburgh research days, and I am beset with insufficient sleep, broken nights and weird dreams.

Burning the Candle at both Ends?

When I finally wake in the morning and it’s time to get up, almost my first thought is consumed by whatever I’ve been thinking about the previous day.

But who WAS she?

So, this morning’s question was:- ‘But who WAS she?’ Some sneaky Googling turns into a lengthy trawl of deep and darkly forgotten corners of art and music history to track down the composer of some tunes for early years classes. Until it really is time to do something real (the family laundry). And as I get on with daily chores, the little voice says, ‘No, you know some people she was associated with. And that she was a composer. Isn’t that enough? It isn’t. How did Thomas Nelson the publishers know about her, for a start?’ She’s not a major player in my cast list, but I’m still curious about her. Am I capable of forgetting about her until August? I’m not sure that I am!

Meanwhile…

I need to spend some time researching fun things to do that aren’t research-based!

‘Mind Your Ps and Qs’, Nana said. (She never mentioned the S)

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I have just wasted half a day, and I’m mad at myself. There I was this morning, sitting upstairs in the Heritage Collections reading room, and going through a box of papers labelled ‘Stock’. Not initially of huge interest – until I realised that I had been presented with a snapshot of a year from the stock manager’s viewpoint, enabling me to see which Thomas Nelson titles were out of stock or reprinting at various points in the year. All I had to do was work out the catalogue numbers for the titles I was interested in, and then see which ones came up in the lists, and how often. This was just a little bit more interesting!

Random warehouse (Pixabay)

I had almost worked through the entire box before lunch, and at that point, I was going to attend a seminar. Indeed, I did attend the seminar, and very good it was, too.

But in between the contentedly sifting through papers, and the contentedly attending an excellent seminar, I took it into my head to have one last search for a photo of the editor whose picture I have not yet traced. (It’s the kind of thing that enlivens a PowerPoint presentation.) Reader, I went to the Internet Archive, otherwise known as Archive.org. I’m not going to warn you off going to that website, because I fear that what happened next was all my own fault. I think I typed it in the plural, confusing it with the Archives Hub. Suddenly, I was asked to prove I wasn’t a robot. It did occur to me that they must have tightened up security, because I didn’t remember having to do that before. I obediently ticked the box.

When you get multicoloured text AND BLOCK CAPITALS warning you of a compromise, and mention of a software not used by your own institution, you stop right there.

I closed the screen, and notified the appropriate department. My computer was ‘isolated’, and the afternoon was spent getting back from Edinburgh to Glasgow to get the computer checked. Holding the potentially contaminated thing at arms length, I willingly handed it over. I type this on my own laptop at home – the other one is getting a deep scan! Maybe it was just a pop-up advert, but no chances are being taken.

As I said, I think it was my fault, if I mistyped the web address. But what I’m most annoyed about, is a perfectly promising afternoon being wasted by my typing an extra letter – if that’s what I did. I don’t think I’ll be mistyping that particular address ever again!

Mind the Gap! A Hiatus in the Research Process? Don’t Panic

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I was going to add another exclamation mark there, but one exclamation mark is enough. Otherwise, it looks panicky, and that’s not what I want.

Over the years, I have come to realise that when you feel you’ve reached a block of some kind, it’s time to take a deep breath, go and do something else, and wait for inspiration to strike.  This profound truth falls into two parts.  The first key thing is to stop thinking about the block. (I’ll come to the second shortly!)  If you’ve just completed a huge project  – or a thesis  – you might need a significant break. In my present project, it wasn’t on that scale.  I just needed to step back for a weekend.

Is That It?

So, here I am, realising that soon I’ll have looked at most of the roughly contemporaneous archives relating to the Nelson’s Scots Song Books, meaning that I won’t be able to extract much more quotable content from these papers.  And oh, I do enjoy the thrill of the chase! I can continue trawling through papers – or databases – for hours, if I’m hunting for particular details. An initial feeling of disappointment – no more discoveries? – left me wondering if I should start writing up what I do know, now?

But There Is More!

This is the second key thing.  Don’t assume that you’ve ground to a halt. And try to avoid doom predictions; don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’ll never manage to get back on track again.  Instead,  regard the hiatus as a time to regroup (if an individual can be said to regroup) and permit new ideas to surface.

I remind myself that I do have a couple of new ideas to pursue, leading on from what I’ve unearthed so far.  This is certainly not the end.

Embroidered copy of child singing from book

Moreover, as I picked up my embroidery needle for some weekend distraction, the sewing project itself reminded me that I haven’t yet explored every angle that I wanted to cover whilst I have access to the archives.

Weekend Pause for Reflection

Remember the little engraving of a child singing from a book? It was used for several of Nelson’s song books, although I think not for the Scots ones. (Only the four Scottish pupils‘ books have illustrations, and they tend to illustrate the songs they accompany – whereas the singing child is just that – a child singing.) I like it, though, and I decided to see if I could reproduce it in stitched form.

And that set me thinking about MacMahon’s New National and Folk Song Books – which include just a few Scots songs. Not to mention the other music books I’ve encountered along the way. 

Actually, that’s another piece of advice.   Take a long, hard look at your initial plan, and ask yourself if you’ve done all you intended to do. There may be other angles that have slipped to the back of your mind.

Looking back at my avowed intentions, at the start of this project, there are several more books I’d like to do a little research into. Not as much as I’ve done into the Scots books, but certainly, to see if I can find any more interesting detail around the times when these other titles were being published. I went back to see what I had written for my Fellowship page on the IASH website. Look:-

“Project title: From National Songs to Nursery Rhymes, and Discussion Books to Dance Bands: investigating Thomas Nelson’s Musical Middle Ground

So, how could I NOT devote some thought to nursery rhymes or aspiring amateur dance musicians? Even if it’s only a quick look?

“My recently-published monograph focused mainly on specialist music publishers, but I also made some comparisons with output by contemporary Scottish book publishers, including Thomas Nelson’s.  Exploring the extensive Nelson archive will offer me the opportunity to investigate Nelson’s modest music-related output in depth.  

“The Edinburgh publisher Thomas Nelson’s historical output can be broadly characterised into four categories:- religious; educational; attractive reprints of literary classics; or series for the intelligent layman.  In this project, I shall explore the publishing histories of Nelson’s comparatively limited catalogue of music books and scores, to determine how these titles justified their existence in predominantly non-musical lists.  I’m curious about the publishing histories of all Nelson’s music titles, whether notation or text; and the relative success of different titles.  I’m also interested in the working relationships with compilers and authors.”

Well, I said it there!

  • “The publishing histories of all Nelson’s music titles, whether notation or text.” I can’t compile extensive histories for all of them – there’s more than I thought – but I can certainly explore some that caught my attention. As I have for a couple already, as it happens.
  • As for the relative success of different titles? Well, I can already name a few successful ones, and one a little less successful!
  • And the working relationships? I have plenty of detail, but exploring a few more titles might yield other, unexpected discoveries – all the more reason to keep going!

“I’ll be exploring the background to Nelson’s national song collections, also contemplating their educational music materials in the era ca. 1927-40; books specifically aimed at the layman; and music publications for the Commonwealth.”

  • So – yes, I can justify a bit more time spent looking for the months before MacMahon’s book was published.
  • Maybe I can’t be as thorough as I have been in the 1948-55 era, but I should certainly dip my toes in the water!
  • And – music publications for the Commonwealth? Yes, I can amplify what I know there, too. (Indeed, I’ve just reached out to a college in Nigeria, although it relates to a quest for a picture, rather than anything to do with music.)

So – am I finished? Far from it! I just need to shine a light on different parts of the archive.

(Meanwhile, I’ve finished my wee embroidery – I have no idea what I’ll do with it. But it did get me thinking.)

IASH courtyard, May blossom at its best!

Oh, the Suspense!

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

If this book could speak, it would just say something mysterious and enigmatic. It wouldn’t give everything away all at once.

So … as you know, I’ve been ploughing through archival records.  On Friday afternoon, I’d just got to an interesting volume.  But before I’d examined all the pertinent pages, I left (because the reading room was closing) – just wishing it was Tuesday morning!

I’d unearthed a change of personnel at the publisher’s.  Over the weekend, I’ve learnt all sorts of interesting facts, most of which – truth to tell – have nothing related to Nelson’s Scots Song Books.  (They can’t have  – they’re subsequent to these books’ publication.) On the other hand, it significantly adds to the human interest, and gives a kind of forward-looking context.  And I truly believe that the more context you can give, the more relatable the ultimate story is.

I look forward to Monday, because it’s a Glasgow-based research morning.  But Tuesday? I want to get back to that volume in Edinburgh, and there are other sources I am keen to access.  Roll on Tuesday.

Being a Fellow at IASH

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

As I’ve already mentioned, I am currently a Heritage Collections Fellow at IASH – the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, at the University of Edinburgh. I’m halfway through my Fellowship, and (hopefully) halfway through my trawl of the Thomas Nelson publishers’ archives in search of correspondence about their music publications in the 1940s to 1950s.  The book I’m primarily interested in has presented me with a few surprises and thoughts of new directions to pursue, but I shall plough on through the archives until I am sure I’ve captured every whisper about these four little school books.

View from the Scholar Hotel

This week, we had the Institute’s 55th Anniversary celebrations, with a focus on Decoloniality. The Institute has just concluded a two-year project on this theme. There was also a session on motherhood and reproductive justice.

Now, you’d think, perhaps correctly, that my Scottish song book and music education focus has little connection with either decoloniality or motherhood. But I did put a lot of effort into broadening the scope of the music collection to include more music by women and composers of colour, whilst I was a Performing Arts librarian at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, so I was keen to find out what other scholars in more directly related disciplines have been doing.

I think it’s fair to say I felt a bit overawed! IASH is very interdisciplinary, so there were contributions from all corners of the humanities, and by scholars with far more extensive experience in their fields than I have in mine. But there were contributions from the performing arts, and from heritage collections and archives – I felt more comfortable in these areas, and a bit less out of my depth.

I stayed in Edinburgh overnight to make it less of a rush from Glasgow for the second morning.

In the final session, with contributions from past and present directors, I was impressed by the sheer reach and achievements of this amazing institution, and both proud and humbled to be a Fellow here.

O wad some Power the giftie gie us,

To see oursels as ithers see us!

In the context of Robert Burns’s poem, those lines are exhorting us not to get above ourselves, but taken in a different context, they perhaps offer reassurance that others see something in us that we can’t necessarily see ourselves.

‘They thought I was worthy to be a Fellow – in a very competitive application process?’, I mused. But yes, they did indeed select me, which is a vote of confidence in itself.  Sometimes, you need validation by others – it’s hard to be objective about oneself!

Another view from the Scholar Hotel

Image at top of post: The Edinburgh Futures Institute

Seminar, Weds 26 March, 1pm:- Perusing the Papers from Thomas Nelson and Sons’ Parkside Works (Research into Nelson’s Scots Song Book – Work in Progress)

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay
Through the archway into the courtyard at IASH

As I’ve mentioned, I’m currently Heritage Collections Research Fellow at IASH, the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, at the University of Edinburgh. All guest fellows are invited to give a work-in-progress seminar, and it’s my turn on Wednesday 26 March at 1 pm. You can attend in person, or online – more details on the link below. The abstract tells you what my talk is about.

Abstract and Zoom link

I’ll explain what I’m looking for, and introduce you to some of the individuals I’ve been finding out about.  The one thing I can’t predict, is whether I shall by then have found the answer to my prime question!

Nelson's Parkside Works - old engraving
Hope Park Square, home of IASH
The ArchivesHub entry for the collection

Eyes on Stalks: a Day with the Archives

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

Last Friday, I submitted an article.  Yesterday, I did the minor edits for an accepted article and dispatched that, too.

And today, I headed to Edinburgh and resumed my archival pursuits.  The city was initially bathed in golden sunshine, though this didn’t even last until lunchtime.  It is certainly a very beautiful city.

Nearly spring in Edinburgh?

Unless you’ve experienced it, you can’t imagine how many brown folders of thin carbon copies will fit into an archival box. Carbon copies are as thin as airmail writing paper.  The bulk of this particular box consists of NINETEEN folders of rejection letters just for one year,  1948.

You might think I didn’t need to concern myself about books they didn’t publish,  but you never know what snippets about publishing policy or the economic climate – or anything else! – might turn up.  (And you’d be surprised at the number of would-be authors who didn’t take a definite refusal AS a definite refusal, but kept writing to argue their case!)

‘Do Forward the Bathing Costume’

That was an unexpected postscript, in one of the letters that wasn’t a rejection.  The publisher and author had evidently gone to the swimming baths, and the author went home without his trunks! Irrelevant, but it’s undoubtedly evidence they were on friendly terms, isn’t it?

I did discover – unneccessarily, but amusingly – that in the late nineteenth century, the managing director of this publishing house used to go open-air swimming in Leith before work in the summer. Clearly the tradition had either continued, or been revived, with the opening of the Portobello open-air pool in 1936 …

Moving with the Times: from Magic Lanterns to Silent Movies

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

My new schedule entails thinking about an Edinburgh publisher whilst I’m in Edinburgh, and writing about various other aspects of my research on my Glasgow days.

I have an article I’m actively gearing up to write; another requiring tweaking; a couple more requested; and lastly, a new avenue for which I’ve identified a journal, but not yet completed the research. Quite a bit of writing!

But first, in the first article, we have the soprano and her repertoire.  And her ‘go-to’ encore.  And if you thought I got excited about magic lanterns – new technology for late Victorians – well, you can imagine my excitement at the thought that I may need to watch a silent film soon.

Why? A musicologist watching something in silence?  What does silence have to do with music (apart from John Cage’s 4’33”, of  course)?

You see, I think this film may have influenced her choice of encore. So, firstly, I’m awaiting an eBay copy of the novel on which the movie was based.  And then, I’m waiting to find out if I can watch the movie without leaving Scotland.

She wasn’t a film actress herself, so my whole quest is a bit tangential – I’m not thinking about nipping down to London unless it’s absolutely unavoidable. But I could  …

Meanwhile, I reflect that watching silent moving pictures must have been enormously exciting if you had grown up with the occasional magic lantern show.  And when, in due course, talkies came in … it’s hard to imagine how amazing that must have been.  Small wonder that printed music took a bit of a nosedive in the late 1920s – the options for entertainment outside the house were expanding all the time.

I’m eagerly awaiting news of my chances to watch this intriguing spectacle!

The Plan is Working

Posted on by Dr Karen E McAulay

I read some advice the other day (you’ll have seen it often enough):-

If you aren’t happy where you are working, then leave.

There’s another adage, which is similar on the face of it, which goes like this:-

If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.

I know there’s value in the first suggestion,  but it isn’t always possible, is it? You may be well aware that you’ve probably been in the same job too long, but personal circumstances mean you simply can’t leave. Or your role is so specialised that you would have to relocate, which might not be an option.

This is why I prefer the second adage. Sometimes you have to take a long view, and your Plan B might involve changing direction whilst sitting tight.  Get ready for a new role, adjust your mindset accordingly, but accept that it’ll be a while before you make the move.

Alt-Ac-tually

I feel for people at the start of an academic career, with the struggle to get one foot on the ladder.  Do you actively want an Alt-Ac career, or do you feel you have no choice?

I wanted to be an academic music librarian. That became my career, but later I regretted not having finished my first PhD and given academia a fair shot.

My Plan B began with getting a PhD.  Afterwards,  I was very fortunate to get partial secondment as a researcher for more than a decade, whilst remaining in librarianship for the bulk of my week.

Adjust Mindset

It’s not just a question of having the right qualifications.  You need to ensure that you believe in yourself as a scholar, and that others see you as a serious academic.

  • Write the articles;
  • Publish the book (if appropriate) or chapters,
  • Attend conferences (partial attendance isn’t ideal  but it’s better than non-attendance, if cost or time are problematical);
  • Give talks, whether scholarly or as  public engagement;
  • Seek opportunities for career development.  (I did a part-time PGCert a couple of years after the part-time PhD).
  • DO NOT, repeat DO NOT, write yourself out of a career option because you believe yourself incapable of it. (Aged 21, I believed I would never be able to stand in front of a class of students. And on what did I base that assumption? I’d just taught English to assorted European students for about a month.  I did it. I planned lessons, and stood there, and did it. So who said I couldn’t?!  And it gets worse.  There weren’t many women doing music PhDs when I was 21.  Guys told me it was incredibly hard to break into academia – and I just took their word for it.  How naive WAS I?!)
  • Look instead for opportunities to practise the  areas you feel need improvement.  You may need to think laterally.  Music librarians seldom teach music history, but they do deliver research skills training. Lots of it.

Today

Fast-forward to now. I left Glasgow at 7 am today, in subzero temperatures. Edinburgh is bright, clear and breathtakingly … well, breathtakingly cold as well as beautiful! A freezing cold early start might not sound like a luxury to the average retired librarian.  I’ve never wanted to be conventional, though.

The Mercat Cross, Edinburgh

This is the first week in my IASH Heritage Collections fellowship.  For the first time in my career, I’m NOT juggling librarianship and research.  I’m part of a vibrant community of practice, and I have both the  University Library and the National Library of Scotland just down the road. Thus, today, I saw a set of four Scottish song books that are remarkably hard to find as a set. (Three cheers for legal deposit!) 

And last night, the year got off to an even better start, with an article being accepted.  Just a few minor tweaks to do, which won’t be difficult.

It feels to me as though my long-term plan might be working out quite well!