In April 2019 ISWE was pleased to support a major academic conference at Brecon Cathedral on the subject of Reading, Writing and Collecting: Books and Manuscripts in Wales, 1450-1850.
Organised by Dr. Sarah Ward-Clavier and Dr. Mary Chadwick, the conference played a major role in stimulating conservations and collaborations on Welsh book and library history. One of the core themes to emerge from the conference was the relationships that existed between the Welsh country house, the gentry and their books – and the enormous scope for further research of these connections.
The conference underpinned a Special Number of the Welsh History Review 31, 1 (June 2022) edited by Dr. Mary Chadwick, Dr. Sarah Ward-Clavier and Dr. Shaun Evans, which positioned the Welsh country house as an important focus for future work on Welsh book and library history. This included a position piece by Dr. Shaun Evans on ‘Book cultures, gentry identities and the Welsh country house library: problems and possibilities for future research’.
Books and libraries now form a key research focus for ISWE. We are particularly interested in probing the relationships which existed between owners and their books, and the implications of these engagements for our understanding of the identities and outlook of landowning families in Wales.