Collections History
The Archive
The archive was initiated when the FWWCP was forced to close during the period of the 2008 recession. In response, a working team of FWWCP member Nick Pollard and close colleagues (then at Syracuse University) Steve parks (now University of Virginia) and Jessica Pauszek (Boston College), committed to working with the FED, a reorganized FWWCP, to establish an archive. Over the next eight years, the team worked to establish a core collection of materials, working from the already existing collection of Nick Pollard. It also sough out grant materials and institutional support to sponsor workshops at FED Festivals, yearly gathering of membership writers and community publishers, where focus groups were held on how the archive should be organized. At this time, Syracuse University also agreed to be continued sponsor the annual festival.
In approximately 2013-2014, Nick Pollard reached out to London Metropolitan Univeresity's Trade Union Congress (TUC) Library, directed by Jeff Howarth, to inquire about their interest in the materials. In 2014, the TUC acquired a deposit of FWWCP materials from Nick Pollard. This was the first step in creating a print collection at the TUC. The next step was to sort through these publications and develop a system for sorting and cataloguing. After additional discussions with FWWCP members at their annual FED Festival, through workshops and focus groups, it was collectively decided to begin sorting the publications by region.