Illustrated Chronicle, Leicester (Newspaper Collection)

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): C2

Title: Illustrated Chronicle, Leicester (Newspaper Collection)

Date(s): 1856 - 1979

Level of description: Fonds

Extent and medium of the unit of description: 123 reels of microfilm

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: Established in 1856 the newspaper was originally published under the name 'Leicester Chronicle and Leicester Mercury (United)'. After 1915 the title changed to the 'Illustrated Chronicle' until publication ceased in 1979.

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CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: The Illustrated Chronicle collection contains articles, editorial comment and letters relating to local life in Leicester and also includes reports about how the city has responded to the arrival of successive immigrant communities throughout the 20th century. With regard to Black and Asian history in Britain a particular feature of the newspaper is the series that was run in 1961 about the Leicester's cultural diversity, entitled 'Strangers in the City'.
Each report provides information about the numbers of immigrants settling in the city, the districts where migrant communities settled and the relations between recent arrivals and established local communities over time. Some reports document factual information about the work of the city council in providing services for immigrant communities. For example, the article from 21 April 1961 (p.12) entitled 'Are we giving these families a fair deal?' provides information about the quality of housing in areas settled by Black and Asian peoples and calls for a local authority survey into service provision for immigrant communities. Other reports contain information about local views on immigration and include contentious statements about the extent of migration from the New Commonwealth, reflecting local views on the state of race relations at the time. For example, a front-page article from 4 October 1961, entitled 'Leicester's Indian 'Invasion'', opens with the following statements about the causal factors for migration to the region: There are nearly 2000 Indians and Pakistanis in Leicester. Many of them came here six or seven years ago when social and economic conditions in their homeland were at a low ebb. The Indian sub-continent today is more stable, but Indians still continue to pour into Leicester. Why? Because they like it here, there is plenty of work for them - and because Leicester people are particularly tolerant towards them...'

Geographically, the Highfields area of Leicester is frequently mentioned as the city's main area for immigrant communities. The St Peter's Road area is documented in the 'Strangers in the City' series as the focal point for African Caribbean peoples, whilst the Narborough Road and Spinney Hill Park areas are listed as the initial areas of settlement for Indian immigrants from the Punjab and Gujarat from the late 1940s through to the early 1970s. Earlier information also mentions Highfields as the place of settlement for Leicester's Irish and Jewish immigrants in the mid- to late 19th century and the city's Polish, Ukrainian, Belgian and Italian communities during the first half of the 20th century.

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CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: Open access

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Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids: Selected articles are listed in the Library catalogue (card index) under 'Immigrants' and 'Immigration'.

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

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DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Recorder's note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:

Interest: Black, Asian

Specific group: African-Caribbean and South Asian peoples

Subjects

Population demography

African-Caribbean peoples

Asian peoples

Housing

Interethnic relations

Ethnic groups

Immigration

Personal/Corporate names

Illustrated Chronicle, Leicester

Places

Leicester, United Kingdom

Highfields, Leicester, United Kingdom