British Library emails show resistance to return Lindisfarne Gospels

Jan 7 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

THE campaign to bring the Lindisfarne Gospels back to the North-East has been dismissed by the British Library as “regionalism gone mad.”

Campaigners are hoping to mount a permanent display of the Gospels in the North-East, where they were created in the eight century and remained until the mid-1500s.

But internal emails between British Library officials that have been released to The Journal have revealed a distinct lack of enthusiasm towards any long-term loan of the Gospels.

The book was drawn and illustrated to glorify the memory of St Cuthbert, whose body and cross are in Durham Cathedral.

Despite a campaign for the return of the “Book of St Cuthbert” starting in the 1960s, British Library staff have refused to accept the case for another North-East loan and accused activists of using the Gospels to achieve political aims.

Internal emails, received in response to a Freedom of Information request from The Journal, reveal that when the campaign was re-ignited in 2001, Colin Wight, web editor at the British Library, asked for background information as “the natives are getting restless in the North East”.

And as talks restarted that year over the possibility of a loan, Dr Michelle Brown, then curator of illuminated manuscripts, emailed colleagues to say a meeting would have to go ahead “on the clear understanding that we’re not going to talk them round by logic”.

She said: “This is a political issue and one that they will continue to pursue single-mindedly, regardless, hence the inadvisability of compromise and prolonged dialogue when we simply can’t go where they want us to.

“That having been said, by all means let’s use it to complicate matters and as a gesture of politesse whilst clearly signalling that future discussions will be with dean and chapter of Durham.”

Public Affairs Manager James O’Leary took a similar attitude to arranging meetings in 2006.

After a request from the Northern Ireland-born Gospel campaigner and Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods for a meeting, Mr O’Leary emailed colleagues: “On balance, this will be a good opportunity for us to restate the conclusions of the condition report.

“MPs are not the best at reading lengthy documents and are experts at skipping precise details if political advantage can be gained.”

Cultural Property Manager Oliver Urquhart also dismissed the campaign as a “one-dimensional” political concern.

He said: “I see no reason not to justify national collections.

“The (absurd) logical conclusion to the political argument is that Blackman-Woods goes back to North Ireland, the contents of all UK museums are emptied, etc., etc.”

And in January 2006 John Byford, former head of the newspaper section of the British Library (and now head of modern collections), summed up the Library’s view of the Gospels campaign by labelling it “regionalism gone mad”.

In response last night, Ms Blackman-Woods said that the library had overlooked the huge support for the Gospels’ return.

The MP said: “Ours is a broad-based campaign with support from local churches, local businesses, community organisations, the Northumbria Association, The Journal, MPs and councillors and it enjoys tremendous public support and engagement.

“These emails demonstrate that the British Library is simply not aware of the broad-based nature of this campaign to have the Gospels returned on a temporary or permanent basis, and that as MPs we are the messengers for this swathe of support.

“We have been responsible and cautious in our campaign and have argued our case fairly and thoroughly.

“It is a great shame that it would appear that the Library have not approached our discussions with the same degree of seriousness.”

She added: “I will be writing to the chair of the British Library Board for a full explanation.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conservation argument losing its power

THE British Library has admitted its arguments against a long-term loan is losing credibility as conservation techniques increasingly mean the North could safely display the Gospels.

The library has resisted requests for the Lindisfarne Gospels to be loaned to the North-East for a third time, citing the region’s inability to safely store them as “an unreasonable level of risk”.

But internal emails released to The Journal show staff last year deciding to modify their argument to prevent new conservation technology forcing them to agree a loan.

Cultural property manager Oliver Urquhart emailed public affairs boss James O’Leary to say aspects of conservation risk should revised following many advances in storage technology.

He said: “For all these reasons the North-East could argue that the level of risk in moving the Gospels is diminishing all the time, and that they are perfectly capable of looking after them, and if they don’t have the facilities are perfectly capable of building them.

“I think therefore that any argument resisting a loan on the basis of conservation is likely to be the weakest and the most easily ridiculed in the Press.”

Mr O’Leary replied: “My feeling is that we will make the lobby fight for it, but how far do you go without losing credibility?

“The Board’s position is right legally, but you’re right about the conservation element. It’s not the strongest argument.”

Two years before this exchange, the Library’s head of manuscripts Christopher Wright emailed staff urging a “robust” approach to any further loan.

He said: “The more often it goes up there the weaker our position becomes. I certainly think loans should be thought of as really special, certainly no more than once in a generation (which we have already exceeded). Say every 25 years, if that. It may be best if we concentrate on the fragility.”

Yet despite this acceptance of the North’s conservation abilities, the Library is still officially refusing a loan because of the risk to the Gospels.

Just last week the Library told The Journal that a long term loan would make it difficult for the Library to preserve the Gospels and make it impossible to manage their condition.

The Library’s technical arguments have recently included concerns that the North-East is too “remote” a location for the Gospels to be on show.

This suggestion was floated in 2003 as staff prepared information bulletins detailing their opposition.

Hugh Cobbe, head of manuscripts in 2003, argued against any short-term loan. He said the Gospels were “an icon which means an enormous amount to Christians throughout the whole country and abroad; to remove it to the North-East would be a deprivation across the whole international Christian community”.