The People’s Papers

Announcing a new research project! In partnership with the University of Manchester’s ‬ new Humanities PGR Placement Scheme , we’ll be welcoming a PhD researcher, @arielleglawson , to the Working Class Movement Library archives this summer. With a background in social movement archival research focusing on NYC and London, she’ll now be getting the chance to dive into the history and materials of Greater Manchester, specifically focusing on an often overlooked collection of activist neighborhood newspapers from the 1970s. Follow the link in our bio to read our latest blog post for more on the project and look out for more updates soon.

Wrapping up the People’s Papers As a final wrap up of her research Arielle Lawson provides an overview of the newspapers she has researched and a summary of the paper profiles she has put together. This project - that explored radical community newspapers from the late 1960s forward - will also have a dedicated research page on our website soon. Read the post here - .uk/blog/wrapping-up-the-peoples-papers-project/ and follow @peoplespapers

In case you missed it! You can now catch a recording of this event on the @georgepadmoreinstitute ’s YouTube page: “An online talk on 19 February 2026 which explored the materials and histories of black activist publishing in the UK from the 1970s. Organized by the George Padmore Institute and Arielle Lawson of People’s Papers (@peoplespapers ) and co-sponsored by the Institute of Race Relations (@instituteracerelations ) and the Centre for the Dynamics of Ethnicity (@codemcr ), this event focused on the archival legacy and continued significance of the black radical press — as made up of grassroots newspapers, political journals and other activist print publications — in 1970s Britain and what we can still learn from these materials today. The Speakers: Leila Hassan Howe is a British editor, writer and anti-racism activist. A founding member of the Brixton-based Race Today Collective, Leila edited the Race Today magazine from 1985. The publication played a pivotal role in highlighting the issues faced by black communities in the UK as well as race relations across the world from 1973 until its closure in 1988. Nigel de Noronha is a researcher at the Centre for the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) at the University of Manchester. His main research focus is on housing, race and migration, and he uses archival methods to explore the historical context of the persistent housing inequalities experienced by racialised minorities. Sophia Siddiqui works at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), an anti-racist charity working to inform the struggle for racial justice. She is the joint editor of the IRR’s international journal Race & Class, and she writes on issues related to the far right and community resistance. George Padmore Institute The GPI is an archive preserving the stories of black, Caribbean, African and Asian activist communities. To learn more about our work and sign up to our newsletter, please visit ”

📌 As a belated addition to our Manchester paper profiles series, we now have Longsight News! While an already much referenced example, it now has the exciting honor to be one of the first community newspapers in the @wcmlibrary collection that is now DIGITIZED and accessible online via the @internetarchive 🤩 (with special thanks to WCML volunteer Seth for the scanning help!). >> Swipe through to learn more about the paper, including a short video from our event last November where Maggie shared more about the context and her involvement from the 1970s. And go check out the almost complete run online or in person @wcmlibrary !

Thanks to everyone who joined us online yesterday and especially our fantastic speakers @darcushowe , @instituteracerelations and @codemcr ! We have the event recorded and will be following up with everyone who RSVPed. If you missed the event and would like to be added to that email just comment below or send along a DM. Otherwise stay tuned for an announcement of when the recording is live on the @georgepadmoreinstitute ’s YouTube page!

This Thursday! Last chance to RSVP to join us for an online archival workshop exploring the materials and histories of Black activist publishing in the UK from the 1970s 🗂️💥 Organized in collaboration with the @georgepadmoreinstitute and co-sponsored by the @instituteracerelations and @codemcr and with a fantastic lineup of speakers — hope to see you there! RSVP via Eventbrite at the link in bio 🔗

Announcing our speakers! We’ll be joined by a stellar lineup of participants — Leila Hassan Howe, Nigel de Noronha (@codemcr ) and Sophia Siddiqui (@instituteracerelations ) — who will be speaking about their lived experiences and archival research on the Black Radical Press in 1970s Britain and its continued significance today. Swipe through to learn more about them and don’t forget to sign up to join us online on February 19th at 3pm! Eventbrite link in bio.

Shoutout to the iconic @1in12club ! So lovely to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the @1in12librarycollective a couple of weeks ago amongst such great radical archive and library company including @maydayrooms , the Kate Sharpley library, @commonwealuk , @aiucentre and @sparrowsnestarchive . So much great work and materials and discussions (and that whole building 😍) — plus looking forward to the revival and future scheming of the network of radical libraries and archives (NORLA) !

Save the date! Join us for an online archival workshop on Thursday, February 19th exploring the materials and histories of Black activist publishing in the UK from the 1970s. The aim of this event is to uplift the archival legacies and continued significance of the Black radical press — as made up of grassroots newspapers, political journals, and other activist print publications — in 1970s Britain and what we can still learn from these materials today 🗂️ Bringing together archivists, activists and researchers, we will focus on how these materials help highlight: 📍 the breadth, variety and creativity of Black community organizing and activism, especially around often overlooked place-based projects and practices of everyday life 📍 an analysis of the time and the various issues and debates of the period from a Black (and often international) perspective 📍 the overlaps but also distinctiveness of these Black publications in comparison to other alternative and radical press materials from the time 📍 the role of these often more ephemeral publications within and as part of the broader Black radical tradition 📍 the continued significance and legacy of the 1970s Black radical press, the necessity of its preservation and its potential for further activation and research *Stay tuned for more information about our speakers coming soon!* This event is organized as a collaboration between the George Padmore Institute (@georgepadmoreinstitute ) and the @PeoplesPapers project and is co-sponsored by the Institute of Race Relations (@instituteracerelations ) and the Center on Dynamics of Ethnicity (@codemcr ) at the University of Manchester (@officialuom ).

Great to get to visit the Harvester Press collection at the @nypl / @nyplresearch earlier this month! Love to see how the archive of the British underground and alternative press from the 1970s can be accessed in NYC, so many different efforts encouraging transatlantic connections and crossovers 💞

New blog post up on the @manchesterhistories website! Check it out for a recap of our recent event and to learn more about the broader archival project with the @wcmlibrary : “Over the past six months, I’ve been exploring the Working Class Movement Library’s collection of 1970s alternative and community-based newspapers of Greater Manchester. With the title “The People’s Papers,” the aim of this archival research project has been to both assess, document and bring together the full range of different related materials included under this umbrella, but also to open up a window into 1970s grassroots and activist urban histories that too often get overlooked. In the process, I also hoped that sharing this archival practice in a more engaging and public way could make the archives more accessible, connected and “activated” within their rich historical, social and political contexts and broader material lifeworlds...”

So lovely to spend last Saturday morning @interferencearchive discussing the 1967 “Radicals in the Professionals” conference reportback and such interesting organizing and strategy questions 🛠️ Thanks to everyone who joined and hopefully we can keep the conversations going, especially with @arch_lobby_ny , @plannersnetworknyc and @sftpnyc !