Time and Tide: Connections and Legacies

'Journalism is the first rough draft of history' has become a maxim within the journalism profession. But as the networking, campaigning and training organisation, Women in Journalism (WIJ) points out on its website, that draft of history all too often excludes a female point of view (https://womeninjournalism.co.uk/about-us/ [accessed 3/07/2019]). In its research report, 'The Tycoon and the Escort' (2017), WIJ presents a body of evidence to show that while women have become more prominent at more senior levels in broadcast journalism, newspapers are lagging behind, with just 25% of news stories on the front pages of national newspapers in Britain written by women, and only three national newspapers employing female editors. WIJ states 'it is unacceptable in the 21st century that the big stories are still overwhelmingly written by men, that journalism is still delivered through the male lens' (https://womeninjournalism.co.uk/research/, p. 13 [accessed 3/07/2019]) and as a body of professional women working in newspapers is dedicated to tackling this problem.

'Time and Tide: Connections and Legacies' will make known to a wider public the 'draft of history' laid down by the influential and long-running female-produced weekly newspaper Time and Tide. Founded in 1920 this modern feminist magazine was unique in establishing itself as the only woman-run publication of its kind, successfully taking up a position alongside its chief competitor the New Statesman as a leading review of political and cultural affairs. One of its marketing slogans 'Time and Tide tells us what women think and not what they wear' resonates as strongly today in a media industry that continues to value a woman's appearance more highly than her opinion. The underlying premise of the proposed project is that there is much to be gained by looking at this example of women's journalism from the past and relating it to contemporary female journalistic and publishing practice. In a wider context, the resurgence of feminist activism (exemplified by the #MeToo movement) underscores the importance of listening to and amplifying female voices, while the huge level of interest in the recent 'Vote 100' centenary evidences a great demand for creative forms of engagement with feminist and women's history. This interdisciplinary project will harness the unique opportunity presented by the centenary, in May 2020, of Time and Tide's first issue to widely communicate the history of this important feminist periodical, revealed in-depth for the first time by the PI's critically acclaimed monograph, Time and Tide: The Feminist and Cultural Politics of a Modern Magazine (EUP 2018).

Foremost among this project's objectives is to maximise the cultural impact of the PI's research by connecting diverse non-academic audiences with the history of Time and Tide and its place within an intricate network of other women's periodicals. Through a centenary edition reprinting a selection of Time and Tide's contents from the interwar decades, and an exhibition of interwar women's magazines at the UNESCO-recognised Women's Library Collection at the London School of Economics, the project will widen access to primary materials that are only available in archival holdings. In addition, a public-facing Festival of Women Writers and Journalists to mark the centenary of Time and Tide will bring together publishing, media and communications professionals as well as academics who will offer perspectives on this magazine's historical significance and its legacy for women writers and journalists today. The benefits of these activities will be to enhance public understanding of why the emergence of the feminist press in Britain is so significant and especially engage A' level students (through the LSE Library's education and outreach programme) and young writers (including those associated with the UK's network of independent and radical bookshops) who may be contemplating a career in journalism.

By making primary materials accessible to new national and international audiences, increasing public awareness of women's feminist and literary activity 'after suffrage', and inviting a new generation of A' level students and trainee women journalists to respond to the female-produced periodical Time and Tide, the project will generate durable civic benefits including an enhanced understanding of women's cultural and political achievements in print, and an increased empathic understanding of the historical processes that have shaped women's position in society and their contribution to professional and public life today. Recent calls to arms by such acclaimed writers as Jeanette Winterson (Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere, 2018) and Mary Beard (Women and Power: A Manifesto, 2017) underscore the fact that while women have come a long way in a hundred years since winning the vote in Britain in 1918 there is still much more to do if we are to achieve true gender equality. The project directly addresses this dimension of UNESCO's sustainable development goals, and the project's activities and methods have been deliberately chosen to promote equality, diversity and inclusivity.

Primary beneficiaries will be those who engage with any or all of the core project activities - the centenary Edition of Time and Tide, the Festival, and the Exhibition - all of which will have an online presence to enable global access and will be promoted nationally and internationally through online forums and email distribution lists. These core activities will be co-delivered by the PI and the following key project partners: Five Leaves Publications and its central Nottingham bookshop, winner in 2018 of the Independent Bookshop of the Year Award and founder in the same year of Feminist Book Fortnight; LSE Library which houses the UNESCO-recognised Women's Library Collection; Friends of The Women's Library (Charity no. 277165); and the not-for-profit networking, campaigning and training organisation Women in Journalism (WIJ). These public, commercial and cultural sector partners will also benefit from the project through the knowledge exchange and partnership work that is central to the project and which will inform the agendas of these organisations going forward. Information about these anticipated benefits will be captured through a variety of feedback methods, including printed feedback forms and online user surveys, in-depth analysis of creative and journalistic responses to project materials invited from A' level English and History students and trainee women journalists, and the sharing of information between the PI and project partners.

Additional 'hard' impacts will be the heightened visibility brought by the project to the interwar feminist materials in the Women's Library Collection (currently best known for its suffrage archive), and the income generated by the centenary edition of Time and Tide co-produced with Five Leaves. This commercial partner reinvests its resources in supporting dozens of local community groups and runs an events programme with at least one meeting in the bookshop every week. Another direct beneficiary will be the Project Officer. The portfolio attached to this post - including events support/management, development of content for the project website, and impact and engagement analysis - will strengthen their C.V. and is expected to be very attractive to someone with an MA/MRes qualification looking to pursue a research career.

Sustainability of the project outputs beyond the grant period will be ensured by the data management plan accompanying this application. The creation of an organisational framework involving public, commercial and third sector organisations for sustainable commemoration activities relating to interwar feminism and women's writing during and beyond the funded period will also create a long-term project legacy.