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A visit to the Kate Sharpley Library (2012)

category international | history of anarchism | news report author Saturday July 21, 2012 18:48author by KSL - Kate Sharpley Library Report this post to the editors

I’ve just come back from visiting the Kate Sharpley Library in California. Things have changed from the days when I could get there on the bus and we were buying our first filing cabinet. Lots of filing cabinets now, as well as boxes like the Left Bank Books archive. It’s good to look at the non-fiction shelves, seeing ‘old friends’ and new acquisitions.

There’s always plenty of filing and organising to do which occasionally throws up a gem: did you know Walthamstow’s Ambrose Barker was in touch with Max Charnick (Chernyak) in Buenos Aires? It’s good to put runs of newspapers into acid-free boxes. This is the ‘preserve’ part of us ‘preserving and promoting anarchist history’. Of course, those boxes cost an arm and a leg, so you have to choose who gets preserved. A couple of 1970s French pamphlets gave up their Mylar protective pockets to some 1920s Italian publications. Thanks go to our friends: your donations help with ordering that essential preservation stuff (when we’re not spending them on acquisitions).

I saw our catalogue in action. One thing we discussed was how we could use it to raise our profile (and fill gaps in the collection) without being overwhelmed by demands beyond our limited abilities.

We talked about ways to get hold of books and periodicals that we need, and how to get more supporters. We also talked about digitising documents and publications. First we need to raise the money for a new scanner, just to do the small jobs like the ‘treasures’ to illustrate our ‘Notes from the KSL‘ blog. In the long term, when we digitise material we want it to be done well, and to show collections in context. That will need both work and money.

With Barry working on it most days, the library is probably the best organised and catalogued that it’s ever been. With the help of our friends and comrades, the Kate Sharpley Library will be preserving and promoting more anarchist history than ever in the coming years. If you want to help with that, send us some money or drop us a line!

Related Link: http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/f7m1jp
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International | History of anarchism | News Report | en

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On May 30, 2014 we will be celebrating 200 years of Mikhail Bakunin (1814 – 1876), a famous activist of the Russian and international revolutionary movement, a social thinker and one of the founders of the international anarchist movement. [Français] [Русский]

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amsterdam.jpg imageThe International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam (1907) 15:56 Wed 14 Oct by Nestor McNab 7 comments

In August 1907, Amsterdam hosted an international anarchist congress with delegates from 14 different countries. Over the space of a week, it dealt with a series of questions, such as anti-militarism, anarchism and organization, anarchism and the workers’ movement, syndicalism and the general strike, etc., and also the foundation of a new anarchist international. [Nederlands]

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archivesmall.jpg imageNestor Makhno Archive - update 22:19 Fri 11 Apr by Nestor McNab 0 comments

The Nestor Makhno Archive has been updated, with the addition of a large number of new documents in Italian, English, Turkish, Portuguese, French, Czech and Serbo-Croatian.

textThe International Anarchist Congress, Amsterdam 1907 15:05 Mon 22 Oct by a cura di Maurizio Antonioli 7 comments

We present here the English translation of the records of the International Anarchist Congress held in Amsterdam in August 1907, translated from the book "Dibattito sul sindacalismo: Atti del Congresso Internazionale anarchico di Amsterdam (1907)", edited by labour historian Maurizio Antonioli, possibly the most complete record of the Congress and the debates that lasted six days. Translated by Nestor McNab.

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Paul Avrich died in New York on the morning of the 17th February 2006 after a long illness. While an exchange student in the USSR, Paul uncovered the Kronshtadt insurrection and the role of anarchists in the Revolution. He was to produce several works based on this information, works which, while controversial, were pioneering.

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This article, excerpted from a talk by Lucien van der Walt, co-author of Black Flame: the revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism, covers key elements of anarchist and syndicalist history, including its role in Asia, Africa and Latin America, its impact on unions and anti-colonial struggles, and its historical centrality.

imageThe International Anarchist Congress, Amsterdam 1907 Aug 17 by Dimitri (MACG - personal capacity) 0 comments

Maurizio Antonioli (ed.), The International Anarchist Congress, Amsterdam 1907 (Black Cat Press)
This presentation published in "Rebel Worker" Sydney's anarchosyndicalist journal, issue 214, August-September 2012. [ελληνικά] [Italiano]

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textOctober 2014 Kate Sharpley Library Bulletin online Oct 29 Kate Sharpley Library 0 comments

KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 80, October 2014 has just been posted on our site.
You can get to the contents here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/fn30cz or read the full pdf here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/m6406g

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KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 76, October 2013 has just been posted on the site.

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KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 73, February 2013 has just been posted on the site. You can get to the contents here http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/qrfkm1 or read the full pdf here: http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/g4f5zm.

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KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 70-71, July 2012 [Double issue] has just been posted on the site. You can get to the contents or read the full pdf too.

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KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library No. 68, October 2011 has just been posted on the site.

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