Rock and Roll, Counterculture, Peace and Protest

Rock and Roll, Counterculture, Peace and Protest

Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975

Editorial Board:

Bill Schurk
Music Library, Bowling Green State University

Marcus Collins
Lecturer in Modern History, Loughborough University

Joseph Kruppa
Department of English, University of Texas at Austin

Johnny Black
Freelance journalist and writer for Mojo, Q, and The Times

Chad Martin
Department of History, University of Indianapolis

Norma Coates
Faculty of Information and Media Studies,
University of Western Ontario

Source Libraries and Institutions:

The core libraries supporting this collection are:

• The Ray and Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies, Bowling Green State University;
• The University of California at Berkeley;
• The University of Sussex;
• The National Archives at Kew;
• Rock Source Archive.

There are also many smaller supporting libraries and organisations supplying images and data including Barclaycard, Beaulieu National Motor Museum, Biba, British Telecom, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Communist Party of Great Britain, Gandalf’s Garden, the Labour Party Research Department, Mirrorpix, NASA, the People’s History Museum and the Robert Opie Collection.

Nature of the Material:

Substantial bodies of original manuscript and typescript material providing in-depth research material on many key topics.

Visual sources are a very strong feature of the overall resource and we include many thousands of well indexed photographs depicting the people and events of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, making this ideal for teaching and project work.

A wealth of ephemera including pamphlets, leaflets, posters, pins and artefacts.

Key Feature: Video Clips

We include video clips from ITN Source and Huntley Film Archive.

Key Feature: Chronology

Another key feature is a massive, multi-faceted chronology of the period – with embedded articles and images – that helps to contextualise all of the issues discussed.

Scope of the Collection:

• Changing lifestyles from the austerity of the 1950s to the abundance of the 1970s.

• The impact of credit cards, the Pill and computers on post-war society.

• Student activities around the world from places such as Algeria, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Tanzania, the UK and the US.

• The Underground Press and ‘zines culture.

• Books and games which were popular with students.

• The impact of TV and Movies on Pop Culture.

• Why was Che Guevera such a popular figure?

• The Civil Rights Movement.

• The development of Black Power in the Caribbean and its transfer to the US.

• Campaigns against Nuclear Weapons.

• Mai ’68 and student revolutions across Europe.

• Worldwide opposition to the Vietnam War.

• Evolving styles of music from Rock & Roll through R&B, Folk, Soul, Reggae, Rock, Electronica, Funk, Prog Rock, Glam and Metal.

• Book, magazine, play and film censorship

• The early days of environmental and ecology groups.

• Campaigns for gay and lesbian rights.

• Drugs and drug culture.

• The battle over pirate radio stations.

• Race relations.

• Pop culture.

• Fashion and Youth Culture.

• The Women’s Liberation Movement.

For example we include:

• The renowned Social Protest collection from UC Berkeley documenting reactions to the Vietnam War, campaigns against nuclear weapons and for civil rights.
  

• Complete runs of key underground magazines such as Gandalf’s Garden; and a wide range of ‘zines from the collections at Bowling Green State University.
  

• Pamphlets, photographs and eye-witness accounts covering events such as the student disturbances in France in Mai ‘68.
  

• Key documentation concerning censorship from the publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover to the Oz trial.
  

• A complete run of both the Sydney Oz magazine and the London Oz magazine.
  

• Thousands of photographs documenting key events of the period from teddy boy culture to hippies at rock festivals.
  

• Original production notes and scripts relating to the films and documentaries of Peter Whitehead.
  

• In-depth interviews with central figures such as Bill Harry and Barry Miles.

Introductory Essays:

Topics covered include:

• Experiences of Teaching Popular Culture.
• The Permissive Society and Popular Culture.
• Recollections of Liverpool in the 1960s.
• A description of the May 4 Shootings at Kent State University.
• Popular Music and Mass Media.
• The Space Race.
• Changing Patterns of Consumption.

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