Summary of the impact

Research on Lawrence has contributed to the conservation and preservation of a literary heritage of local, national and international significance through award-winning cultural activity in the Nottinghamshire region. School children, community and special interest groups, and a broader public through national and international media activity, have engaged with insights into Lawrence's life and local legacy through exhibitions, outreach and workshops, contributing to a deeper understanding and appreciation of Nottinghamshire's rich cultural heritage and to an improved tourist experience. The discovery of a previously unpublished Lawrence manuscript has served to reinvigorate public interest and debate and to challenge long-held public misconceptions about Lawrence's attitudes towards women.

Underpinning research

Ground-breaking biographical research undertaken by Professor John Worthen (Nottingham 1994-2003. Emeritus from 2003-present) during his tenure as Director of the D. H. Lawrence Research Centre (DHLRC) focused on Lawrence's early life in Nottinghamshire, providing the most detailed account to date of the physical contexts of the author's family, while also re-evaluating the lasting impact of his upbringing on his writing. In particular, Worthen's latest biography (3.1) emphasises Lawrence's status as an outsider and English radical: Lawrence is shown to be a writer who travelled widely and wrote about different cultures, but whose imagination constantly returned to his Nottinghamshire roots in order to articulate a critique of English society and English attitudes. Making extensive use of the Clarke papers (material collected by Lawrence's younger sister Ada Clarke currently on loan to the University's Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections [MSS]), and of other unique research materials in the University's collections, Worthen describes the conflicted nature of Lawrence's links with the area in which he lived until the age of twenty three. He draws on a letter and notes by a contemporary of Lawrence's at Nottingham High School to identify the class alienation the young writer suffered as a scholarship boy; he quotes a testimonial from a headteacher to describe Lawrence's skills as a pupil-teacher in Eastwood; and he cites unpublished poetry from a college notebook to explore the surprisingly middle-class and literary qualities of Lawrence's early writing.

Dr Andrew Harrison's work (Lecturer in English, Nottingham, 2010-present) draws on Worthen's research in its re-evaluation of Lawrence's life and legacy. It engages directly with Worthen's published outputs by contextualising earlier biographical approaches to Lawrence (3.2) and offering a revisionary and comparative account of the importance of his regional links. Harrison's essay `The Regional Modernism of D. H. Lawrence and James Joyce' (3.3) uses Lawrence's complex formative relationships to the region to account for changes in the form of his writing across his early career. In particular, Harrison claims that Lawrence's status as a modernist and the experimental qualities of his writing are strongly and internally related to his ambivalent relationship to the local area. He compares Lawrence's relationship with Nottinghamshire to Joyce's relationship with Dublin, showing how the experimentalism of both writers' works emerged out of their troubled regional identities. This work draws on Worthen's research on Lawrence's relationship to Eastwood in order to make a broader point about the nature of the author's writing and his reputation as an early twentieth-century author. Harrison is actively involved in publishing and describing newly-discovered letters and other writings by Lawrence, transcribing and annotating correspondence, but also looking closely at the physical attributes of manuscripts (e.g. handwriting, and the choice of images for postcards) to offer a complex interpretive analysis of them as archival items (3.4). His own research is building towards a new critical biography of the author, which he is under contract to write for Blackwell. Worthen and Harrison's research has:

• Provided the most detailed and accurate account to date of Lawrence's relationship to the Nottinghamshire region;
• Extended knowledge of Lawrence's life, attitudes and involvement in the literary and intellectual culture of his day through the discovery, publication and interpretation of new letters, manuscripts and research materials;
• Located Lawrence's writings in the experimental contexts of literary modernism, challenging an earlier tendency to view his writings as predominantly realist or simply idiosyncratic.

References to the research

The quality of the research is indicated by the strength of the publishers of items 1, 3, & 4. Item 2 is a public exhibition informed by the DHLRC's world-leading research into the life and legacy of D. H. Lawrence, and drawing upon the University's designated D. H. Lawrence collections.

Details of the impact

Based in Eastwood, D.H. Lawrence Heritage is a twin centre visitor attraction celebrating the life and works of D.H. Lawrence and his links with coal mining in Nottinghamshire and the broader history of the area; it has a longstanding relationship with staff in Nottingham's D H Lawrence Research Centre (DHLRC). Since his tenure as Director of the DLHRC, Harrison has reinvigorated this relationship, undertaking sustained public engagement activity (through exhibitions, talks, outreach) that has allowed him to share insights and findings from his research, and that of his colleague John Worthen to stimulate debate and improved understanding of the area's literary and social heritage. This engagement extends to media work (on Lawrence and his locality, but also more recently on a previously unpublished Lawrence manuscript that Harrison was able to authenticate on behalf of an archive), allowing Harrison to share the DHLRC's work more broadly, extending public knowledge on, and insight into, Lawrence's life, work and legacy.

Providing curatorial leadership and advice on Lawrence and his locality and contributing to an award-winning visitor experience
Research on Lawrence's relationship to his Nottinghamshire locality (3.1 & 3.3) informs curatorial practice at D. H. Lawrence Heritage (DHLH), materially influencing the selection of objects and images and the development of text panels for its exhibitions. DHLH staff are not Lawrence specialists. They rely on input from the DHLRC to ensure that their material is factually accurate and combines an appropriate level of specialism and general appeal. (5.1) The research base offered by the DHLRC through this curatorial advice adds capacity to this small, publicly-funded heritage organisation and underpins its ability to consistently engage core and new audiences: it was given the Best Visitor Attraction distinction at the Nottinghamshire STARS Awards in 2012. It attracted 11,832 visitors between March 2012 and April 2013. The Leader of Broxtowe Borough Council cites the partnership as being instrumental in `ensuring the continuation of D.H. Lawrence Heritage Centre as a visitor attraction of international importance' and in improving `the D.H. Lawrence scholar and visitor experience in general' (5.2).

Engaging the public with Lawrence through his locality
Knowledge about and awareness of Lawrence and the wider literary and cultural heritage of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire has been enhanced through:

• contributions to the annual D. H. Lawrence Festival (21,371 visitors since 2008): delivering key public lectures (e.g. Harrison's 2012 lecture on the use of regional locations in Lady Chatterley's Lover); co-curating the Festival exhibition (e.g. Harrison's involvement in curating the 2011 centenary exhibition on The White Peacock).(5.3)
• outreach work informed by Harrison's work on accent and locality (ref 3) with pupils at a local comprehensive school has had `a huge impact on the students', developing their confidence and feeling of self-worth, while allowing them to `look directly into Eastwood's past and heritage'.(5.4)
• exhibitions at the Weston Gallery (part of the University's public arts centre and museum, whose audiences are predominantly [over 90%] non-University) have emphasised Lawrence's material connections with Nottinghamshire and given `a fascinating picture of the literary impact of Lawrence'. (5.5) `The Many Lives of DH Lawrence' (4 May-16 September 2012, ref 2), was informed by the research insights of both Harrison and Worthen (3.1, 3.3 & 3.4), in particular through Harrison's use of the Clarke papers, and his situating of Worthen's biography in its own historical context (3.3). The exhibition attracted 6,360 visitors (from the UK, Spain, France, Brazil, Canada, USA and Japan), showing a distinct increase in and diversification of engagement from the exhibitions staged in 2002, 2005 and 2007 (2967, 2608 and 4213 respectively). Lakeside's marketing manager attested to the exhibition's role in helping to `grow the Lakeside audience as well as offering an insight into academic and significant archival material'. (5.6) Feedback from visitors reveals the extent to which the exhibition raised new awareness of, and interest in, Nottinghamshire's literary and mining heritage. (5.5)

Raising public awareness of Lawrence's life and works through sustained media work
Harrison and Worthen have provided a research knowledge-base for media work whose role is to generate new understanding and cultural debate. This has enhanced the capacity of television producers to produce `authoritative' content for documentary programming, and through this, has contributed to changes in public awareness and knowledge at a national and international level:

• Drawing on Worthen's biographical research (3.1) Dr Sean Matthews (seconded to UNMC from 2010) discussed Lawrence's regional connections in Teversal on The One Show (9 November 2009, viewer figures 4.91 million); and his links with Middleton-by-Wirksworth on Country Tracks (26 February 2012); Harrison discussed Lawrence's fictional depiction of working-class life in Eastwood in a news item to mark the centenary of Sons and Lovers on the regional news programme BBC East Midlands Today (29 May 2013).
• Harrison and Worthen provided research advice and were interviewed for a BBC Inside Out programme on Midlands writers and the current growth in sales of erotic literature (focusing on Lady Chatterley's Lover as a groundbreaking work in the genre and drawing on themes in Worthen's published research [3.1]). The programme aired on 9 September 2013. Inside Out has around 4 million viewers and features three items linked by a presenter of approx. 8 and a half minutes each. The producer says of the research advice provided by Worthen and Harrison that their `broad knowledge with very specific detailed examples allowed me to focus on what was important to include in the 8 and a half minute item on `DH Lawrence, the explosion in recent erotic fiction and what would he have thought''. (5.7)
• Harrison has contributed extensively to a forthcoming BBC Culture Show documentary. He has used his research on Lawrence in his locality (3.3) to feed into discussions about the writer's contemporary importance, has helped to look for ideas and ways in which the story could be told, and has contributed a central interview to the programme, providing `an integrity and an authoritative perspective' for the programme's producer. (5.8)

Discovery of a new Lawrence Manuscript: stimulating public debate
Staff from the DHLRC regularly work in conjunction with international archives, interpreting items from their collections and making them available to diverse audiences. Evaluation of archival material undertaken for the Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL) in Wellington, New Zealand resulted in Harrison's discovery of a new Lawrence manuscript. The text of the manuscript was published, with an interpretive essay by Harrison, in the Times Literary Supplement (29 March 2013); its discovery was widely reported in the New Zealand and British media (e.g. in the New Zealand Herald, 30 March 2013, and in the Guardian and The Telegraph, 11 April 2013). (5.9) This exposure served to provide valuable national and international media exposure for the ATL. ATL curator Dr Fiona Oliver noted that: `The significance [of the discovery] for the Turnbull is it shows our collections have international as well as national relevance' (5.10). The discovery also reinvigorated public debate on Lawrence's attitudes to women, encouraging a re-appraisal of long-held public misconceptions about this controversial aspect of Lawrence's work and provoking extensive national and international media and social media activity: The article was tweeted by individuals and organisations whose followers total 762,642. It was then re-tweeted 99 times within two weeks of publication, and was favourited 52 times. In addition to broadsheet media engaging with the story (totalling over 575,000 followers over the Guardian and Telegraph), the range of individuals and organisations involved in the twitter activity included women's lifestyle site Jezebel (@jezebel, 136,000 followers), and a photographer and cultural commentator (@peepsqueak, 10,302 followers), suggesting that the article stimulated interest from audiences who might not ordinarily have engaged with Lawrence and research on Lawrence. (5.11)

Sources to corroborate the impact

5.1. Heritage Services Manager at Broxtowe Borough Council (contact details on file)

5.2. `D. H. Lawrence Heritage Awarded Museum Accreditation'. Broxtowe Borough Council, 7 June 2013 [viewed 12 September 2013]. Available from http://www.broxtowe.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=12273 Article attesting to STARS award and link between accreditation and the strength of the partnership between DHLRC and DHLH

5.3. `2013 D. H. Lawrence Festival Brochure'. D. H. Lawrence Heritage [viewed 12 September 2013]. Available from http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/dhlheritage/documents/festival-brochure-2013.pdf Programme for 2013 D. H. Lawrence Festival highlighting contributions from DHLRC staff

5.4. Drama Teacher at Eastwood Comprehensive School (factual statement and contact details on file)

5.5. Visitor feedback from exhibition (available on file)

5.6. Marketing Manager at the Lakeside Arts Centre (contact details on file)

5.7. Feedback from BBC producers for Inside Out attesting to the value of the research base provided by DHLRC staff and its impact on the quality of their programmes (factual statement)

5.8. Feedback from BBC producer of The Culture Show attesting to the value of the research base provided by DHLRC staff and its impact on the quality of their programmes (factual statement)

5.9. Press articles attesting to public interest in the recent discovery of a manuscript article by D. H. Lawrence

5.10. `Lawrence's post-dated reply'. Dominion Post, 30 March 2013 [viewed 12 September 2013]. Available from http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/8489067/Lawrences-post-dated-reply Article in which a curator at the ATL attests to the impact of the discovery and interpretation of the new manuscript on the international standing of the archive

5.11 Press and Twitter responses to discovery of manuscript (pdf available on file)