| Reference Number (Click this to reveal full catalogue structure) | LJMUH/FLC |
| Title | F L Calder College of Domestic Science |
| Date | 1875-1970 |
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| Extent | 14 shelves |
| Description | The F L Calder College papers contain the records of one of LJMU's founding Colleges, also known as the F L Calder College of Domestic Science, the Liverpool Training School of Cookery, the Liverpool Technical College for Women, and the Liverpool Technical College of Domestic Science. The collection includes the Administrative papers of the College; Buildings & Estates including building plans; Student Records like student registers, examination results, student work such as dissertations, awards and degrees, and individual student papers; Staff Records and memorabilia; Society Papers from the College; Promotional Material and Publications, including in-house magazines, programmes, and books published in association with the College; Personal Correspondence of staff members; Research Activities; an extensive, unique, and significant Garment and Textile series produced and used by students and staff; Photographs produced by and for the College; Audiovisual Material; Artworks; the Personal Papers of Fanny Louisa Calder; Teaching Materials including books and other publications used for teaching and studying at the College; Newspaper Cuttings collected by various staff and students; and other Ephemera.
Significant records include:
LJMUH/FLC/13, the personal papers of Fanny Louisa Calder, which includes LJMUH/FLC/13/1/1 a letter from Florence Nightingale dated 1892 which praised Calder as the Saint of 'Laundry, Cooking, & Health,' and LJMUH/FLC/13/2/1/1 the manuscript War Cake recipe by Fanny Calder.
LJMUH/FLC/6/5/1 and LJMUH/FLC/8/2/1: The History of F L Calder College of Domestic Science: 1875-1965 (1967) by Margaret E Scott, and research notes on the history of the College. This includes an overview of the organisational history from both an administrative and personnell perspective, and includes extensive discussion of the impact of World War One and World War Two on the College.
LJMUH/FLC/6/5 for other publications produced by or in association with the College, including the aforementioned; recipe books and pamphlets dated 1888-1976, including the 1976 Centenary Recipe Book; and the Domestic Science Handbooks edited by Margaret C Pepper, Head of F L Calder College 1924-1939. Housecraft magazines, published by ATDS and edited by several members of F L Calder College, is catalogued separately under reference HC. Other in-house publications include LJMUH/FLC/6/1/1 The Calder Courier Magazine, 1947-1974, an official in-house publication by F L Calder College; LJMUH/FLC/6/1/2 Calderbook One, 1967, a book of poems by students of the College; and LJMUH/FLC/6/2 College Prospectuses, 1906-1977.
LJMUH/FLC/1/2 Internal Report Books on activities of the College, 1876-1919.
LJMUH/FLC/1/5/1 College Committee Records and Minute Books, 1876-1925.
LJMUH/FLC/3/5 Personal Papers of individual named students, which includes garments produced for examinations, photographs, large hand-drawn student posters, and other personal records and memorabilia.
LJMUH/FLC/9 an extensive, significant, and unique Garment and Textile collection owned by the College for teaching and demonstration purposes, for research, or made by students as part of their coursework, including antique tools for textile crafts.
LJMUH/FLC/1/11 World War Two planning material for Merseyside, including a map of Merseyside produced in 1941 predicting what the city would look like after the war ended.
LJMUH/FLC/2/2 Large format architectural plans and drawings of College buildings.
LJMUH/FLC/1/9/2 for 1975 Centenary Celebration papers, including the ceremonial Centenary plate.
LJMUH/FLC/5/1/2 F L Calder College Old Students' Society News Leaflets and Publications for extensive summaries of student, staff, and alumni activities, including: changes to the organisation of the College; staff changes, illness and news; activities of residential homes for students such as the hostel; obituaries; births; marriages; and employment obtained by alumni. These also include detailed accounts of how the College, its staff, students, and alumni coped during the First World War and Second World War, such as the need for home working during the bombing of College campus buildings in the Blitz, and the participation of women in Auxiliary military forces like the WAAF, in addition to home front efforts.
LJMUH/FLC/10 Photograph series produced by or for the College. These include official class and College body group photographs; images of students in teaching, around campus, or in halls of residence; external visitors from around the world, including Queen Mary who was patron of F L Calder College in her lifetime (LJMUH/FLC/10/5/5). These photographs evidence the wide diversity of women from different racial and ethnic backgrounds who came to study at F L Calder College in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, possibly linking to Windrush and mass migration to Liverpool from 1948 onwards.
LJMUH/FLC/14 an extensive collection of books and pamphlets used by students and staff for teaching and studying at the College.
LJMUH/FLC/14/1/1/23 for a publication which deals with attitudes towards mental illness, disability, 'family' and gendered social structures, sex, gender and sexuality, and Jewish communities.
LJMUH/FLC/14/1/1/59 c.1910s-1930s publication which may be useful for researchers interested in early attitudes towards mental health and disability.
LJMUH/FLC/14/3/3 for a 1963 advert for filmstrips used as a teaching tool, which may be useful for researchers interested in historic attitudes towards disability, sexual health and STIs, attitudes towards weight and eating disorders, and gender and sexuality more broadly.
LJMUH/FLC/1/3/1/20 1963-1967 College course syllabi information which includes information relevant to researchers of attitudes towards disability and mental illness. |
| AdminHistory | F L Calder College was founded in 1875 as the Liverpool Training School for Cookery by Fanny Louisa Calder and a Committee of 58 Ladies, including the Countess of Derby and Sefton. Once the College came under City of Liverpool authority in 1920, it became known as the F L Calder College of Domestic Science. The College taught domestic crafts (also known as 'housecraft') such as Cookery, Laundry, Needlework (and other fibrecrafts), and Housewifery, which included Home Nursing. Classes were originally held in St George's Hall but soon moved to the Colquitt Street campus c.1900. A residential building for Housewifery courses was acquired on Prince's Road in the early 1900s, but closed at the onset of World War One in 1914. A student residential Hostel, Stone House in Calderstones, was acquired in 1928. Following the destruction of Colquitt Street campus buildings during the Blitz in World War Two, however, the College campus moved to Myrtle Street in 1943 after a short period of working from home. The College residential buildings moved to Dowsefield House in 1958, which was owned by the Liverpool Education authorities, where it remained until it merged with the Liverpool Polytechnic in 1991.
Fanny Louisa Calder was born 1838 in Liverpool. She served as Honorary Secretary from 1875 until 1918, and took the Committee Minutes for the College during this period. Calder was also involved in campaigning for the standardisation of examinations regulation, leading to the founding of the Northern Union of Training Schools of Cookery in 1876 (reference LJMUH/FLC/1/1/6). In 1899, the Department of Education arranged central examinations for Cookery diplomas. In 1903 she was invited to join the Liverpool Education Committee. In 1913 Calder was awarded an Honorary MA by the College, and she died in 1923.
World War One also had a significant financial impact on the College, due to lack of students during the cost of living crisis, which influenced its transfer of authority to the local education authorities in 1920. From 1966 onwards, F L Calder College was able to offer Bachelor of Education degree-level programmes, awarded by the joint Institute of Education with the University of Liverpool.
Other significant Heads of F L Calder College include Miss Farnall, Lady Superintendent from 1975-1881, and Miss Lucas, Lady Superintendent 1881-1896. Miss Jane Smith, Principal 1896-1924, worked on Fanny Calder's original Ladies' Committee and retired from her role as Principal in December 1924. Margaret C Pepper, Principal 1924-1939, and Head of the Training College 1927-1939, was promoted from her previous role of Vice-Principal to Principal in January 1925. She organised with the Local Education Authorities for a post of Principal for the City Technical School for Women, incorporating the F L Calder College of Domestic Science, to be announced at £600 per annum, rising by £25 p/a to a maximum of £700, for a non-resident, exclusively reserved for educated women with experience in educating women and girls, with good knowledge of working conditions for 'women's occupations, industrial as well as domestic.' In 1927 Pepper was transferred to Headship of the Training College Department of the City Technical School for Women, for which Miss C A Kemp was appointed overall Principal in the role previously outlined from 1927-1939. Pepper retired in 1939 following ill health, and instead of seeking a new Head of Training, a Vice Principal was sought and was given to Miss M M P Morley just before the outbreak of World War Two. Pepper died in 1946 (obituary in LJMUH/FLC/5/1/2/1/13). Miss M M P Morley was Vice-Principal 1939-1956. Miss M E Robertson was Principal 1956-1972 up until her death in November 1972 (obituaries in LJMUH/FLC/4/5/1). Most of the surviving papers of the College were the papers used and produced by M E Robertson in her running of the College. Robertson also contributed heavily to research for The History of F L Calder College of Domestic Science: 1875-1965 by Margaret E Scott (1967) (LJMUH/FLC/6/5/1 and LJMUH/FLC/8/2/1). The final Principal of F L Calder College until its dissolution in 1976 was F Kenworthy, J.P., B.Sc., F.R.S.A.
The College was also heavily associated with Women's Education Movement, including links to the Association of Teachers of Domestic Science (ATDS) (reference LJMUH/FLC/1/1/8), for which Fanny Louisa Calder, Margaret Pepper, and M E Robertson were all members. Pepper was Chairman of ATDS 1931-1933 and edited the official magazine publication for ATDS, 'Housecraft.' M E Robertson was President of the ATDS 1960-1963. ATDS was later known as the National Association for Teachers of Home Economics (NATHE), which maintained ties to F L Calder College.
In 1892, at the suggestion of the Liverpool Training School of Cookery and the Liverpool Shipping Federation, the Technical Instruction Sub-Committee financed a special Cookery Class for Seamen for the training of ships' stewards and cooks. The class was held in a room provided by the Shipowners of the Seamen's Institute and taught by a man with both considerable experience at sea and a qualification from the Liverpool Training School of Cookery. The classes were carried out as an experiment under the supervision of the Committee of the School of Cookery, and proved successful, leading to more similar classes provided by the Shipping Federation. This is likely the inception of the Liverpool Nautical Training School for Ships' Stewards and Cooks provided by the Nautical Advisory Committee (see LJMUH/NC/7/1/1).
For more on the history of the College, please see:
Webster, R., and Wilkie, S., 2017. The Making of a Modern University: Liverpool John Moores University (London: Third Millenium Publishing), pp.76-81.
Scott, M. E., 1967. The History of F L Calder College: 1875-1965 (Universa Press: Liverpool).
Both of these texts are available via LJMU Special Collections & Archives. |
| CustodialHistory | The majority of the F L Calder College of Domestic Science papers were acquired through an internal transfer. When the College closed in 1976, its papers were transferred to I M Marsh College, and later to the archive in 2008 following the closure of the I M Marsh College campus. A large portion of these papers were produced, kept, or used by M E Robertson who was Principal of the College from 1956 until her death in 1972.
Other papers, such as student personal papers (LJMUH/FLC/3/5), were donated by private individuals such as family of alumni. |
| Related Material | See reference HC for the Housecraft Magazine series, the official publication of ATDS, later NATHE, from 1931-1982.
LJMUH/NC/7/1/1 for a luncheon menu for the Nautical Training School for Ships' Stewards and Cooks, designed by Liverpool College of Art printmaking students, 20 Sep 1956.
LJMUH/IMM for the papers of I M Marsh College.
LJMUH/LP for the papers of the Liverpool Polytechnic.
LJMUH/LJMU for the papers of Liverpool John Moores University.
External Allied Materials:
Liverpool Record Office hold a number of records on both F L Calder College and Fanny Calder: http://archive.liverpool.gov.uk/CalmView/Overview.aspx?s=f%20l%20calder http://archive.liverpool.gov.uk/CalmView/Overview.aspx?s=fanny%20calder
Of particular note is letters written by Fanny Calder, and a photo of the F L Calder College campus on Colquitt Street in 1941 with damage from the Blitz - reference 352 PSP/2/97.
The University of Reading Special Collections holds a recipe book published by the Liverpool Training School of Cookery, 1899: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/c8004e97-9e07-48fb-9e40-2146affb8c80 |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| AccessConditions | Access to some of these records is closed or restricted because they contain personal data which identifies people who may be alive, in accordance with data protection legislation. LJMU Archives, however, still encourage researchers to make research enquiries related to this material and we will endeavour to help you in your research. Potential outcomes from an enquiry might include: a) we provide you with information extracted from a record or record(s); b) we provide you with partial access, i.e. a redacted copy of the record you wish to view with personal data removed; c) you are invited to fill in a research access request form to gain restricted access to records you wish to view, upon discussion and agreement to certain access conditions; or d) no access is granted. Decisions about access to restricted or closed items is made at the discretion of LJMU Archivists. Please see details within the Access Conditions for individual items for specific information.
Please contact archives@ljmu.ac.uk for all appointments and enquiries. |
| CreatorName | F L Calder College of Domestic Science |
| Language | English |
| Creator | Christopher Olive, Project Archivist 2023 |