New Year, Old Hackney
Our reading list this January has been curated by Hackney Libraries in collaboration with Hackney Museum. The museum cares for over 9,000 objects, artworks, images and oral history recordings, and inspires many visitors every year – from schoolchildren to celebrated authors.
When better to look back at our local history, ancient and modern, than at the changing of the year? We have chosen a selection of books with links to items held in this vital local collection. If you’d like to learn more, browse Hackney Museum’s online collections – they are full of photographs, detailed descriptions and histories.
African and Caribbean People in Britain
Hakim Adi
This seminal text explores the history of Black people in Britain from the earliest times to the present. Rich with sources, it documents both collective movements and individual histories so that they can still be heard today.
The book features the writer and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, and mentions the famous review that Mary Wollstonecraft wrote of his work. His daughter, Joanna Vassa, is buried in Abney Park Cemetery.
Professor Hakim Adi gives an online talk exploring how Africans have often been hidden in ‘Black British’ history.
The Blitz Bus
Glen Blackwell
Emmie and Jack find themselves transported back to London in 1940, in the middle of the Blitz. They find themselves dodging falling bombs and trying to work out if the mysterious figure they keep seeing is a spy.
A time travel adventure perfect for young people. If you want to learn more, Hackney Museum is home to a gripping section on the Blitz. Or if it’s the double decker bus that caught your eye, then at the Museum you are in for a treat…
An Air Raid Warden’s box in the Hackney Museum collection.
When Secrets Set Sail
Sita Brahmachari
Immy and Usha set out on a quest through London accompanied by two bickering ghosts to find a series of magical objects that shed light on their family history. Decades ago, their adored grandma made a promise she couldn’t keep, and she can’t pass on to the other side until the girls fulfil it.
Packed with local history and adventure, this story shows how everyday objects can be the magical key to understanding our heritages and allowing everyone’s story to be told.
This tiffin tin was brought to London Bhagwan Devi Pandit in 1946, when she joined her husband in Pedro Street, Clapton.
The Little Match Girl Strikes Back
Emma Carroll, Lauren Child
This brilliant feminist reworking of The Little Match Girl tells the story of Birdie, who sells matches on the mean streets of Victorian London, while her mother works at the Bryant & May factory making matches for 14 hours a day. Birdie leads the factory workers out on strike, in a beautiful story about unity, courage and claiming agency.
Bryant and May’s safety matches at the Hackney Museum will help you see through Birdie’s eyes.
London Clay
Tom Chivers
Tom Chivers takes us on a journey through the many layers that make up London to uncover what secrets lie beneath a city. Many of his tales intertwine with the history of our borough, from the echoes of Roman and Anglo-Saxon times to lost Shakespearean theatres.
Chivers tells the story of the submerged remains of the Rose Theatre, south of the river, but Hackney was once the home of the Bard’s very own theatre, the Curtain. A brilliant mix of history and folklore for lovers of London.
A carved wooden bust of Shakespeare in the Hackney Museum collection.
Growing Out
Barbara Blake Hannah
Barbara Blake Hannah was one of the very first Black women reporting on TV. The loss of her job, as a consequence of the enormous pressure and hate mail from viewers, sent her on a journey of self-discovery. She embraced her identity instead of feeling suffocated in her attempts to emulate whiteness.
Explore Hackney Museum’s collection of hairdresser and barber shop objects, signs and posters that celebrate the history of African and Caribbean hair and style in Britain.
Explore Hackney Museum’s collection of hairdresser and barber shop objects, signs and posters that celebrate the history of African and Caribbean hair and style in Britain.
Granny Came Here on the Empire Windrush
Patrice Lawrence
Ava needs to choose an inspirational figure for school. Granny starts to tell her the story of how she came to London on the Empire Windrush, and Ava realises that her hero is much closer to home than she thought.
This extraordinary story, beautifully illustrated by Camilla Sucre and written by Hackney author Patrice Lawrence was inspired by our very own Hackney Museum!
“Suitcases are heavy so you have to grip the handle firmly. That’s why we call them grips.”
Hidden Heritage
Fatima Manji
Throughout Britain’s galleries and museums, civic buildings and stately homes, objects and works of art point to a complex national history of colonialism, migration and cultural exchange. Portraits, sculptures and even buildings expose the diversity of pre-twentieth-century Britain and the misconceptions around modern immigration narratives.
Fatima Manji searches for a richer and more honest story of a nation struggling with identity and the legacy of empire.
Hackney Museum’s collections and displays tell the stories of migration to the borough from the Romans and Anglo Saxons onwards through objects and oral histories.
Walls Come Tumbling Down
Daniel Rachel
Daniel Rachel’s compelling work tells the story of 16 years of the music and political activism of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge: three key movements that rose and fell. Each shaped and was shaped by the music of a generation. The voices of the artists, musicians and politicians of the time are used to chart this pivotal period in history.
Victoria Park was the stage for the landmark concert in 1978 where photographer Syd Shelton immortalised bands such as The Clash and X-Ray Spex performing in front of 80,000 people.
Rock against Racism was a campaign set up in 1976 as a response to the increase in racial conflict and the growth of right-wing nationalist groups such as the National Front.
Book Title 10
Author Name
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