Books for Students at Oxfam Lincoln

This week as students are arriving and returning to University we have decided to help out by rummaging through our stock to find some useful academic books and study guides that can help you get ahead of the curve. Adjusting to independent living in the first few weeks of university can be expensive and with books to buy, nights out to fund and yourself to feed you’ll soon realize that it’s smart to cuts costs wherever possible.

 Range of academic books we have in the shop

Buying books second hand is the perfect way to save a little money while still getting everything on your reading list and keeping on top of your studies. Here at Oxfam Lincoln we have a great range of fiction and non-fiction books and it’s definitely worth checking whether the books on your reading list are in store. This week our window display features a great range of useful books on various subjects including Literature, Psychology, Criminology, Journalism and Business. We also have a great selection of academic diaries and stationary to get you prepared for the year.

Don’t forget to ask us if you can’t find what you’re looking for; we might have a copy sitting in the stock room, so it’s worth checking. If the book you want is not in store you can also look on our online shop which has a great selection of books at great prices which can be delivered right to your home.

Steampunk Festival

This time each year, you can see the cobbled streets of uphill Lincoln fill with characters dressed In Neo-Victorian attire. Men and women wearing dapper tailcoats, military uniforms, corsets and bustle skirts and accessorized with top hats, canes and pocket watches arrive in Lincoln to celebrate the biggest Steampunk festival in Europe, which takes place in and around the Castle between the 13th and 15th of September.

To celebrate and join in with the festivities we have an exciting Steampunk themed window display in the shop, complete with Victorian focused literature, a rustic leather trunk, brass candlesticks and gothic jewellery. But what is Steampunk? In short, it’s about mixing old and new, inspired by a combination of 19th century machinery and style and 21st century technology. With fantasy elements Steampunk is a science fiction sub-genre which is becoming increasingly popular across society, with literature, television, film and fashion all taking inspiration from the Steampunk genre.

a few of the Steampunk related items we have on display

So If you’re fascinated by Dickens, want to learn more about 19th Century Inventions or fancy a glimpse into a Victorian childhood then check out our display. Equally if it’s jewellery you’re after have a look through the trunk of accessories, with beautiful cameos and dramatic gothic necklaces there will definitely be something to match your Steampunk outfit.

Lincoln Lunatic Hospital Reports 1840 – 1849

Recently a very unusual book, detailing a decade in the daily life of the Lincoln lunatic Asylum (what we now know as The Lawn) arrived in the shop along with a donation of more ordinary romances and thrillers. It was our lucky day – the donor had intended to take it to the Lincolnshire Archives but they were shut, so she brought it to us instead. We did check with the Archives, but they had all the Asylum reports they needed and so were not interested in purchasing it. Golding, Mawer and Young made a tentative valuation for auction of £100, given that it is a unique part of the history of this very important institution. However we always like to try selling interesting and valuable items in our shop first, before we explore any other avenues; to make sure our regular customers get a chance to find these treasures. This time it didn’t even take a day for the book to sell! Our volunteer, Alison, saw the potential in it straight away, and did some research about the book. While we can’t sell it to anyone else now, we thought we would still share some of the history with all our followers:

This book is unique, as far as can be told. It may have been bound as a record for the Asylum itself deliberately to cover a decade, or it may have been the personal property of one of the board members. It is also highly significant in relation to the period it covers. In the five years from 1835, Dr Robert Gardiner Hill, who is credited with being the first to dispense with restraint as a form of treatment for the insane, was superintendent of Lincoln Asylum. As the book under discussion covers the ten years following Dr Hill’s departure, it must therefore be seen as a valuable record of the results of Dr Hill’s ‘experiment’; indeed the Chairman’s narrative report of 1841 gives over much space to its discussion.

The book is a custom-binding of individual year reports. Internally, the reports themselves are titled “State of the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum” alongside their relevant year. The yearly reports are each prefaced with a narrative commentary by the current chairman, which discusses issues related to the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum both in relation to the institution and the wider issue of general treatment of the insane. These narratives are by their nature idiosyncratic, outlining as they do the preoccupations of the current chairman. These are then followed by tables of data relating to patients, staffing, supplies, and financing.

The title page from the first report in our bound omnibus.

Over the 10 years covered within the book, the reports vary in content: for instance, some years detail patients’ employment where others do not. Appendices sometimes include letters and other extraordinary materials relating to problems and controversies. The reports also become far more detailed over time. At the beginning, the contents list tends towards pragmatics: patients in, out, deceased, food, finances and so on, but by the final year, the numbers of beds, rooms and their attendants are also included, so too is a list of the books held by the Asylum and by whom, as well as details of the daily (as opposed to the initial weekly) state of the patients and discussion of issues such as escape and noisiness. Also included in later reports are fold-out maps of the Asylum, including all patients and staff rooms, layout of the gardens and elevation. As was the style of the time, the map is embellished with a view of the Asylum and a finely designed compass.

Examples of the detailed records in the book.

One of the fold-out maps.

The book is board-bound in dark brown leather with soft brown leather to the corners and spine. The spine itself is embossed with gold lettering and decoration, with red leather backing to the title. Sadly, the binding is damaged, the cover at the front having come away from the facing page. There is also one filler page within – not part of any of the actual reports – that has a piece cut out of it. Some pages have also been lightly annotated in pencil, and some maps have torn where folded. On one of the front leaves is writing that may have been added later: a handwritten list (in various scripts, so not all by the same hand) as follows:

Walsh, F.D 1847
Pay of superintendent 1847
Marriage of Superintendent 1847
Chaplain 1848
No. of patients 140 in 1847

Finding treasures like this among the many items that are so generously donated to our shop is one of the highlights for our volunteers, and something that helps makes our shop so special. While this book has already found itself a new home, you can be sure there are many more unique and special volumes on our shelves – So make sure you visit soon, and see what you can find.

What happens to your donated clothing at Oxfam Lincoln

Our Big Bra display

You might have noticed, last month in Oxfam Lincoln, we had bras all over the place. This was in aid of The Big Bra Hunt, our campaign to get you to give us your bras, so we can use them to help fight poverty and suffering all over the world. Why bras? Well keep reading and we'll get to that, because you see this was about the entire clothing chain in Oxfam, and that starts with your donations:

Every day our customers bring us donations into the shop. But did you know there are several other ways to give us your clothes?

Our shop in Lincoln is served by three donation banks in the local area. There's one in Washingborough, Welton, and the Sainsbury's carpark on Tritton Road. You can see a map of their locations on the Oxfam website.

Our bra bin in Sainsbury's

For the Big Bra Hunt Sainsbury's were also very nice and let us have a second donation bin right inside the shop, just for collecting bras.

We also work closely with Marks and Spencer; you might have heard recently about the new swhopping scheme, which means you can now donate clothing to Oxfam when you go shopping in Marks and Spencer. Or if you bring Marks and Spencer clothing to us in the shop, we'll give you an M&S voucher!

However you donate, don't forget to consider gift aiding your donation, which lets us get 25% more for every item sold! Ask one of volunteers about signing up next time you pop in.

Two of our volunteers sorting donations

Once we have received donations our volunteers get to work. The first stage in the Oxfam clothing chain is shops like ours in Lincoln. We sort through the donations and pick out clothing which we can sell in the shop. You might also be surprised to know that above our shop in Lincoln we have another area where our volunteers sort through clothing, and other goods, to list on Oxfam's Online Shop.

We get a lot of stuff donated, and not all of it is in a good enough condition to sell. But that's absolutely fine because we can still do good with it at Oxfam!

Every week the clothing we can't sell is collected from the shop and sent to Oxfam's clothing sorting centre, Wastesaver. There the clothing is sorted again, so if we missed something good in the shop it will get picked out to be sold online, or at one of Oxfam's festival shops. We also sell to designers in the UK to restyle old clothing, and other waste fabrics are sold on for recycling. At every stage Oxfam is using your donations to help us raise money for our work around the world.

About 15% of donated clothing is picked out to be sent to our social enterprise project in Senegal called Frip Ethique. There Oxfam employs local people to sort the clothing we send, and it is then sold onto to local business people for them to sell. This provides local employment and helps develop local trade.

It's at Frip Ethique where your donated bras really shine, as they are worth much more than other items of clothing, because they are hard to make. Here's a little video showing what the people at Frip Ethique do with your donated clothing:



The Big Bra Hunt has come to an end now, but we still want your bras, along with all other clothing, books, music, homeware, toys, games and more. So why not have a clear out and bring your unwanted stuff to us at Oxfam, or pop it along to one of our donations banks. You can be sure we'll do everything we can, at our shop, and beyond, to make as much as possible from it to help relieve poverty and suffering all around the world.

One of our textile banks

Welcome

Welcome to the new Oxfam Lincoln blog. We're just getting this little adventure up and running at the moment; while we await the first articles from our volunteers, why not follow us on Facebook or Twitter? Or have a look at what we have on offer from our online shop? Or you could even come and visit us in the shop!