'Black '47, Bob and Me': Reading Race, Collecting Cultures - The Roving Reader Files

The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre is an open access University of Manchester facility. The blog 'Reading Race, Collecting Cultures' (www.aiucentre.wordpress.com) features on its website (http://www.racearchive.manchester.ac.uk). The Roving Reader Files category of blog posts is produced by Alison Newby (under the pseudonym The Roving Reader) in collaboration with Hannah Niblett (Collections Access Officer). The former provides the text and the latter provides the images. The Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials. The intention is to introduce research skills and terminology to the general user/reader in an entertaining yet informative manner by revealing hidden stories, making unusual connections and sharing insights into using the Centre's collection for research. The post "Black '47, Bob and Me" illustrates the goodwill and generosity at the heart of the research community by tracing how individuals collaborated in the ultimately fruitless search for the identity of 'Bob' - referred to by author Frank Neal in a dedication he wrote by hand on the flyleaf of a copy of his book Black '47: Britain and the Famine Irish (now to be found on the shelves of the Centre).