JAMES PARKES AND THE AGE OF INTOLERANCE
About the Exhibition
James Parkes and the Age of Intolerance
The award-winning ‘James Parkes and the Age of Intolerance’ exhibition was launched in Southampton in January 2019 as part of the city’s Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day commemorations. It subsequently visited nearly 20 locations throughout Britain, including cathedrals, parish churches, synagogues, and civic venues. The exhibition’s tour includes many places that were important to Parkes during his lifetime.
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The Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations (University of Southampton) is proud to present this digitised version of the exhibition as part of our commemorations of the 40th anniversary of the passing of Parkes.
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All documents featured in this exhibition are used with permission of the Special Collections, Hartley Library, University of Southampton.
In the Media
The exhibition was named Public History Prize Winner 2020 by the Social History Society (SHS), which recognises activities that enhance public understanding of social and cultural history.
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This video was released by the SHS to mark this award and features an interview between Professor Pamela Cox and Dr Chad McDonald which explores the exhibition.
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Click here to read Chad's accompanying blog post, Holocaust Remembrance from ‘a practical point of view’: James Parkes, the Parkes Institute, and Public History (July 1 2020).
The exhibition was featured on the BBC's South Today broadcast in February 2019.
The segment features interviews with Professor Tony Kushner and Karen Robson (Head of Archives and Special Collections, University of Southampton) about the documents held in the Parkes archive alongside a brief look at the exhibition when it was on display in Southampton.
Exhibition Team and Acknowledgments
Dr Chad McDonald
Exhibition Curator
Dr Chad McDonald is a Visiting Fellow at the Parkes Institute, University of Southampton, and Senior Academic & Study Skills Tutor, Manchester Metropolitan University. He is the Social Media Editor for the journal Patterns of Prejudice.
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Katie Power
Exhibition Digitisation
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Katie Power is the Parkes Institute Digital Officer and responsible for the digitisation of this exhibition. She is a history PhD student at the Parkes Institute, researching Yiddish theatre in London during and after the Second World War.
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The Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations
The Parkes Institute is one of the world’s leading centres for the study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations with scholarly expertise ranging from antiquity through to the present day. The Institute's archive is one of the largest Jewish documentation centres in Europe.
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We would like to express our gratitude to the following individuals for their contributions to this digital exhibition:
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South, West, and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (Arts and Humanities Research Council) for funding the in-person exhibition
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Karen Robson, Sabrina Harder and the Special Collections team at the University of Southampton
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The Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations
The Parkes Institute Outreach Team (Uri Agnon, Anoushka Alexander-Rose, Hannah Capey, and Nicola Woodhead)
Dr Claire Le Foll (Director)
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The Ian Karten Charitable Trust for generously supporting work of the Parkes Institute and the creation of this digital exhibition
Find Out More
Below is a selection of media which you can navigate to find out more about the life and legacy of James Parkes.
Video: James Parkes in the Hitler Years
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Description:
Dr Carolyn Sanzenbacher (Duke University) explores, one response to these events was by war veteran, vicar and academic James Parkes. His work in the interwar period included advocacy for Jewish refugees and campaigns against anti-Semitism.
The University of Southampton is home to both the papers and library of James Parkes.
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The Parkes Library, found in the Univerity of Southampton's Hartley Library, is home to over 30,000 books and journals, published from the 15th century to the present day. The focus of the collection is Jewish history and the relationship between the Jewish and non-Jewish communitie.
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The Special Collections holds the papers of James Parkes (MS 60) in its extensive collection of archive material relating to Anglo-Jewry. Find out more about visiting the Special Collections on their dedicated webpage.
Hidden in the Archives: James Parkes Responds to the Holocaust, 1943
(Source commentary, Professor Tony Kushner)
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Description:
This is a remarkable document both in content and tone (the capitalisation and underlining reflect the moral energy and anger with which Parkes typed it out). The article was never published for reasons that can only be speculated about. It is not clear which journal or newspaper James Parkes had in mind.
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This source commentary written by Professor Tony Kushner explores this revealing document and offers insight into its significance.
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View/Download this source commentary.