The Bristol Conference -- Bookish History Girl Fun! by Sheena Wilkinson

I've just returned from a wonderful conference in Bristol, with a suitcase full of old books, friendships made and renewed, and a head full of facts -- what schoolgirls wore under their uniforms in the early twentieth century; what girls were reading in 1924; how English folk songs were used in children's books -- the sort of slightly esoteric information I have always found fascinating and which, I believe, is what made me a History Girl many years ago.

The Bristol Conference Website 

This conference, Twentieth Century Schoolgirls and Their Books (https://thebristolconference.org/) is held every two years in Bristol, and has grown from strength to strength since the first gathering back in 2008. It's run by two stalwart women, Sally Dore and Betula O'Neill, whose commitment, enthusiasm and attention to detail have made the conference a summer highlight for many readers. This year saw the eighth conference -- there was none in 2020 for obvious reasons, and as I unpacked it occurred to me that many History Girls and readers of this blog might like to hear about it. For, although the conference isn't overtly focussed on history, its remit -- twentieth century children's books is, de facto, of interest to a historian. 

Example of one day of the programme 

Who attends the conference? It's a mixture of readers, booksellers, collectors, academics and enthusiasts. We tend to be female, and we are not, on the whole, young. We have unapologetically continued to enjoy the books of our childhoods -- which often means, as well, the books of our mothers' childhoods, or we have discovered the joy of old-fashioned books in later years. I was a child of the seventies, but my own preference is for books written between the twenties and the sixties, from the heyday of the girls' school story to the mid-century golden age of children's books.

One of my favourite talks this year was about underwear 

The talks are always wide-ranging, and every conference I try (and fail) to resist the lure of a new author to collect -- (not) helped by the onsite specialist bookstall! This year I picked up a book I hadn't read by Evelyn Smith, one of the best, if not the best-known 1920s school story writers, as well as Nora O'Flangian, Prefect, a book from my own personal history, as I used to borrow a battered old copy from the P6 library in 1979 (where nobody else did, and only now am I wondering how it got there) plus a book by Doris Pocock, another lesser-known but pretty good writer. I'm calling these purchases research, since I'm writing books set in the 1920s at the moment!

my haul

All being well, the next conference will be held in 2026, and I'm already looking forward to it. It's so lovely to have the chance to discuss old-fashioned, mostly forgotten books with fellow enthusiasts. Of course we all chat online, but it's not the same as face to face. I'm guessing a lot of History Girls would love this conference -- maybe I'll see some of you there in two years' time. 

The writer Mary K Harris was the subject of my own talk