Karen Mcaulay

Karen McaulayPerforming Arts Librarian/Postdoctoral Researcher1

My career has been in music librarianship, but musicology is my overwhelming passion. So its hardly surprising that after my PhD, I couldnt abandon research. Im lucky I can now combine librarianship with research to a certain extent. And it does mean I understand what researchers need, too! 1

Research Journey

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After the PhD, I was seconded as a postdoc researcher to an AHRC-funded project with the universities of Glasgow and Cambridge. My doctoral research into Scottish song collecting was now counterbalanced with 18th century Scottish fiddle music. Pursuing my own path after this, Ive been spending my Wednesdays researching historical British legal deposit music. 2

Field Trips

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My time has been split between field trips to the University of St Andrews, then sifting through the copious amounts of data Ive amassed about their 18th and 19th century music collection, writing and talking about it. Its been interspersed with learning how to write a grant application, to extend the scope of my research. 3

Queen Anne: famous for ( ? ) 4

Antique dealers talk about Queen Anne legs, but Im more concerned with her Copyright Act of 1709-10. All books had to be registered at Stationers Hall in London to protect the authors copyright; nine libraries got legal deposit copies. It took decades to establish that music also had copyright, and not all music was actually registered. 4

5For example

Volume 40 contains 37 items.15 pieces composed by women

The St Andrews professors decided what to keep. Someone sorted it into rough categories, eg piano music, songs, or harp music, then it was bound. Some books combined different criteria, like vol.40, which contained Napoleonic War songs, songs by composed by women, and indeed, some war songs composed by women. 5

Music Catalogue and Lending System6

A lot of archival documentation survives at St Andrews - all the senate committee meetings, registers of when the legal deposit books and music arrived, bills for binding, borrowing ledgers, and a handwritten music catalogue written by a professors niece in 1824. We can build up a detailed picture both of the music stock and the borrowers. 6

7The Music Borrowers Learning Music

Music was borrowed by professors, a few students, and the professors friends. Ive looked at the types of music in each volume, and Ive tried to work out who borrowed which categories. This slide is a wordcloud derived from some of the instructional material methods for learning music, whether instrumental, vocal or theory books. 7

8 But What Does it all Mean?!Every picture tells 1000 words?Every picture tells 100 words?

These graphs focus on instructional material, to see whether men and women borrowed different material. The first graph was too detailed. The other summarises which books were often borrowed by men, which by women, and which attracted most general interest. This gives a rough idea, even if we dont know which bits of each bound volume were the main attraction. 8

StoriesUniversity of St Andrews Professors, Students, FriendsWomen borrowing music(And women cataloguing music as early as 1824!)9

Many stories are waiting to be unearthed, about the leisure interests of the professors and their social circle. Friends of both sexes borrowed on the professors' library accounts. Undergraduates were young teenagers at this time; only a few borrowed music. However, unmarried women were very keen borrowers. And one was a cataloguer! 9

Library HistoryWho borrowed what, when?What music was popular, and for how long?Can we plot patterns of borrowing eg by professors, students, friends Or compare use of music by men and women, even single compared to married women?10

Studying this collection has led me into library and social history. By investigating who borrowed what, and when, I'm finding out about the popularity of particular music. National songs were certainly in demand! But I can also trace patterns in library usage eg by professors or their friends, male or female, and single or married women. 10

Borrowing Music in St Andrews 1801-49

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This graph represents every music loan to the professors' friends between 1801 and 1849. The highest, solid line shows an overview. Borrowing rose sharply then declined when the library stopped getting legal deposit music.Unmarried women initially borrowed the most. Later on, men borrowed more, and more married than unmarried women used the library. 11

Each volumes borrowing history?Picture for whole collection might look something like this (image from Google!)

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I'm also analysing each volume's unique borrowing history. If I can incorporate my brief analysis of each book's contents, the results will be quite interesting. For example, piano, vocal and harp music were popular. But what about other instrumental music? And how do didactic collections compare with the rest? Im aiming for this kind of graph! 12

So, what next? Local history

National history

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So, whats next? Yes, there are almost certainly more stories to be teased out of individual volumes. Id like to find out how often the books containing womens compositions were borrowed, and to see what the most popular books contained. Id like to know more about local music-making, too. But the most important question is, what about the bigger picture? 13

The bigger picture: What did happen to all the legal deposit music?

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Image from British Library Flickr

You know the Ikea advert of clothes flying home to orderly drawers? I visualise the music winging its way to the university libraries. But the key question is this:- what happened next? If music survived in St Andrews, what about the other libraries? Do they too hold archival data to inform us about their own music collections or lack of them?

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What music was registered, and what survived? http://copac.jisc.ac.uk/

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Various records tell us what was originally registered. Michael Kassler drew on Stationers Hall records and another briefer register, to produce his bibliography, shown here. Copac shows us what is catalogued online in todays university and national libraries. But not all of it is online. 15

Time to seek grant-fundingAHRC Networking GrantVisit all former legal deposit libraries (actually, a few are still legal deposit libraries) Study DayBibliography of literature and archival resources

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Ive just applied for an AHRC networking grant , in order to bring together interested scholars and librarians to share knowledge, ideally to participate in a study day. We need to know where all the resources are, who has studied which aspects so far, and to consider future broader projects. 16

Sharp learning curve Grant-writingJe-S websiteCase for SupportJustification of ResourcesPathwaysImpact SummarySHORT! CVSHORT! Publications list

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In recent months Ive experienced the sharp learning curve associated with grant-writing. The Je-S (Joint Electronic Submissions) website is used to apply for grants with various Research Councils. Its incredibly complicated; the various pieces of writing have strange and mysterious names, the financial calculations are detailed; and the rules are stringent. 17

NetworkingMusicologistsBibliographers and Librarians (music and special collections)Library historians, Book historiansCultural historians

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I aim to create an interdisciplinary network of people musicologists, bibliographers, and librarians interested in both historic music and rare books. I also hope to attract historians of libraries, of printed books and cultural historians. Most importantly, I need people interested in the digital humanities; the British Library has already done ground-breaking work demonstrating how much bibliographic data can reveal.18

Academia and Social media TalksTwitterBlog (page on larger blog)Direct emails19

Ive spent the past 15 months networking furiously, giving talks to various groups eg at St Andrews, at the Edinburgh Bibliographic Society and at an RMA Scottish Chapter Colloquium, twice performing songs from Vol.40. Ive spoken at conferences and study days, Ive met with various people in St Andrews; and Ive emailed, blogged and tweeted enthusiastically. 19

Waiting game Twitter @KarenmcaAlso Twitter @MusicaScoticaBlog:- Karen McAulay Teaching Artist https://karenmcaulay.wordpress.com/Dedicated blog page:- https://karenmcaulay.wordpress.com/claimed-from-stationers-hall/20

So now Im playing the waiting game. If my first grant-writing attempt is unsuccessful, Ill be starting all over again finding suitable grants to apply for and working out what to write.If Im successful, be assured Ill hit social media with unprecedented enthusiasm! Either way, please watch this space. And heres where to find me 20