Welsh Journals

THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES BOOK BOX SCHEME, AND THE SOUTH WALES COALFIELD 1914-1939 1915, the London based booktrade periodical, Book Monthly, commenting on bookselling opportunities west of the Severn, characterised the Welsh miner as a great reader, nay a student of serious books, including Carlyle and Emerson, and the prophets of what may be called the social gospel.1 Other commentators between the two World Wars were similarly impressed by the breadth and depth of South Wales miners' reading habits. The Reverend RJ.Barker observed that in the Rhondda Valleys more men know the writings of Karl Marx and the philosophy of Dietzgen than in any other working-class community in the country.2 The tutor of an adult education class on 'Psychology', held at Clydach Vale in 1926, felt humbled by the grasp which the miners especially had of the subject, some of them being acquainted with its best literature. They taught me more psychology than I ever knew.3 How did miners gain access to the 'best literature'? Some miners were able to assemble their own libraries, but as unemployment took hold in the 1920s and 1930s, purchasing books became a luxury few could afford. Bert Coombes had a regular job, yet his little library had been built 'by sacrifice, by going without a visit to the pictures or to a football match', to save the two shillings required to buy a cheap edition 'of some great book'.4 When miners were unable to buy their own books, it has generally been assumed that access was gained via the scores of Miners' Institute and Welfare Hall libraries that existed across South Wales at that time.5 This impression is reinforced in many autobiographies written by miners and other residents.6 The extent to which Institute libraries provided high quality non-fiction, especially during the late 1920s and 1930s, has been studied elsewhere. Evidence obtained at the National Library of Wales (NLW) reveals another avenue through which miners, indeed people throughout Wales, could obtain such material, namely the Travelling Library book boxes scheme run by NLW in conjunction with various adult education providers.8 This article considers the impact made by the scheme in the South Wales coalmining districts, and how it contributed to book access.