'Hulme and the Nightmare Scenario': 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 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 Roving Reader Files are designed as public engagement materials, the intention being 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 blog post "Hulme and the Nightmare Scenario" introduces the Hulme Study Collection (held in the Centre’s archive) in order to give a flavour of how one of the worst UK urban planning disasters of the mid-to-late twentieth century affected the lived experience of one of Manchester’s most deprived communities. Rare, unpublished City Council documentation is juxtaposed with the published hopes for the future recorded by local residents in Hulme Views. Self Portraits, revealing the spirit, strength, camaraderie and humour surviving in the multi-ethnic Hulme community despite tremendous tensions and difficulties.