Everyone's Virtual Exhibition (EVE)

EVE is the online catalogue and virtual exhibition space of the Bill Douglas Centre. Through EVE you can explore the collection and create your own collections & exhibitions.

 

Old Library Refurbishment 2009

We are pleased to announce that the majority of the refurbishment work in the Old Library has now been completed. The new reading room facility for researchers accessing The Bill Douglas Centre collections is now open on Level 2 of the building between 10am -1pm and 2pm - 5pm each weekday. There is also a much improved reopened entrance area near the University chapel, a new seminar room, and communal space with vending facilities.

However lift replacement works are ongoing to the end of December 2009 as the lift in the Old Library is replaced with a model that is more accessible to all visitors. If you are visiting the Centre and would normally have required a lift, please get in touch with the curatorial team on 01392 264321 in advance of your visit so that we can discuss access.

For further information on the building works see http://library.exeter.ac.uk/secure/re-organisation.html

 

 

Vivien Leigh Symposium 2009

On Thursday 24th September Topsham Museum hosted a celebration of Vivien Leigh and 70 years of Gone with the Wind. The event was organised in association with The Bill Douglas Centre and featured a number of speakers talking about the career of this most enigmatic of British actresses. There will also be a special exhibition on the star drawing on from the holdings of both Topsham Museum and the BDC. For more details and booking Click Here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Anthony Attard Collection

We are pleased to announce the donation of ‘The Anthony Attard Collection’ to the Bill Douglas Centre. Anthony Attard is a writer who worked in the film industry in the UK and Hollywood in the 1970s and 1980s and has very kindly donated papers related to his career; including scripts, awards, treatments, material from his study at the National Film School and correspondence with major cinema figures such as Lindsay Anderson and David Puttnam.  He has also donated numerous pieces from his collection of film memorabilia accumulated over many years. Anthony has recently returned to the UK with his wife Barbara after many years in France and has a particular affinity with the West Country since serving with the Royal Navy from 1957-1961 when Plymouth was his home port. The Bill Douglas Centre is very grateful to Anthony for this donation, which adds to our significant holdings of filmmakers’ papers on the British film industry of the 70s and 80s, as well as our unparalleled collection of movie memorabilia.

 

 

 

New Temporary Exhibitions at the BDC

 

Two new displays featuring previously unexhibited items from The Bill Douglas Centre Collections can now be seen in the University.

In Queen’s Buildings, between the café and the senior common room, we have a display entitled ‘Treasures from the Bill Douglas Centre’. This features a miscellany of dozens of artefacts, spanning two centuries and the vast range of objects that we hold related to the moving image, from lantern slides to toys to cigarette cards. The display aims to tempt those that have not yet made it to our free, public museum to visit the galleries in the old library and has been put together by our volunteers Rosie Gibbs, Eleanor Sanderson and Jo Mills. Eleanor and Rosie, who have led much of the redisplay work in our permanent galleries, say that 'we found the open brief for this exhibition fun; it allowed us to explore all sorts of new and unusual material throughout a collection we have come to know and love'.

 

 

 

 

 

Also now displayed outside the upper stack in the old library is a display case which uses items from The Bill Douglas Centre collections to explore ideas about adaptation in films. The display –entitled ‘Page, Stage, Screen and Beyond: The Story of Adaptation’ was put together by a group of students – PhD candidates Sarah Fanning and Jennifer Barnes supervising undergraduates Anna Thorp, Liz Anderson, Liz Mooney, and Nicola Browning. The artefacts include material on Shakespeare, Dickens, Dracula and fairy tales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah and Jennifer say that ' the exhibition presents a range of artefacts that relate to the process of adaptation and that highlight the varied resources held within the Bill Douglas Centre.  The exhibit itself tells a story, which traces the development of an original work into its many incarnations. We have tried to highlight adaptation as a continuous process, a process that ultimately informs and redefines our understanding of the original work.

 

As part of the Animated Exeter! festival a group of students devised a temporary exhibition using some previously unseen treasures from the BDC's animation collections, including recent acquisitions from the Robin Allan Collection (see below for more details on Robin's donation). MA student James White supervised a group of 7 undergraduates in putting together the case. James says of the project ' the students worked as a great team and discovered some fantastic artefacts, creating a cohesive display on the history and process of animation'. The case will remain on display up to the end of May. Go to current events for further details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disney at The Bill Douglas Centre - The Robin Allan Collection

The Bill Douglas Centre is proud to announce the addition of a significant new collection available to researchers thanks to a very generous donation from renowned animation scholar Robin Allan, author of 'Walt Disney and Europe' (1999). The Robin Allan collection is particularly strong on material connected with Walt Disney Productions and includes; a large number of books; research conducted for Robin's publications including transcripts of interviews with Disney artists; and a collection of original, and very beautiful, animation cells made for Disney's films. Robin writes that; 'I knew of The Bill Douglas Centre through my interest in the cinema and knowledge of Bill Douglas and his films, and it seems to me appropriate that my collection should have a fitting home at Exeter, where I was awarded my PhD on the work of Disney, so that other students would benefit from access to the material I had collected for many years.

 

 

©Disney

 

 

 

 

 

An Animation section in the Centre's library has been opened, comprising largely of material from The Robin Allan Collection. There is also a large amount of Disney memorabilia here, collected by Bill Douglas and Peter Jewell as part of our founding collection, some of which is displayed in our upper gallery. This new donation, added to our existing holdings, creates a very significant research resource on animation, and especially The Walt Disney Company, whose stories and images have had such a huge influence on our culture.

 

A Gift from Orson Welles

We are very pleased to announce a new donation to The Bill Douglas Centre - a silver plate inscribed by Orson Welles as a thank you gift to British cameraman Ted Lloyd.

The plate was kindly donated to the Centre by Ted Lloyd's daughters; Chris Lloyd, Janet Rogers and Rosemary Smith.

Ted Lloyd (1913-1987) was a senior cameraman who worked extensively in the British film and TV industries for many years. He and Orson Welles became friends while filming a TV programme about 'Moby Dick' and Welles presented the silver plate to Ted to thank him for his help. You can find out more on the item, and on Ted Lloyd's career by selecting 'EVE Online Catalogue' from the menu on the left of the home page, then 'Catalogue of Collections'. Now just enter 'Ted Lloyd' into 'Search the BDC'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Student Work on the BDC

We have uploaded three student essays using the collections on to the site. They focus on artefacts connected with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Rebecca and Doctor Zhivago. Go to The University of Exeter - Bill Douglas Centre - Teaching and Learning for details.