Kate Sharpley Library
Library dedicated to anarchist texts and history
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Through World War I, Killed in action and Archive
Namesake
The Kate Sharpley Library was named after an anarchist and anti-war activist who was born in Deptford, in South London in 1891. She worked in a munitions factory and was active in the shop stewards movement. During the World War I, her brother William Sharpley was lost during a battle between Serre-lès-Puisieux and Beaumont-Hamel. Her father was killed in action and her boyfriend was listed as missing believed killed, although she suspected he had been shot for mutiny. At the age of 22, when called to receive her family's medals from Queen Mary she threw the medals back at the Queen, saying 'If you like them so much you can have them'.
The Queen's face was scratched, Kate Sharpley was beaten by police, and imprisoned for a few days. However, no charges were brought against her. But she lost her job. After marrying in 1922, she dropped out of anarchist activities until a chance encounter with Albert Meltzer at a train station during an anti-fascist action. This led to her meeting many younger activists and so, when Brixton anarchists came to name the archives they had collected from the movement, '[t]hey resisted the temptation to call the archives after a famous person and named it the Kate Sharpley Library'.
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Holdings
The library has texts in English and other languages, near complete collections of several anarchist newspapers, and collections of reports and literature from various anarchist organisations. It is maintained by donations, and money made from sales of pamphlets and other publications. As of 2014 it was receiving one or two in-person visits per month and the bulk of the research requests arrived by email.
Locations
The library was begun in the 121 Centre, a squat in Railton Road, Brixton, South London in 1979 by a collective which included anarchist Albert Meltzer. It had both lending and reference sections. In 1984 the centre was raided by the police. Consequently the library was moved for safety across the road to a different squat. Barry Pateman, a self-described '"independent" scholar' who around that time was undertaking research into the history of anarchism, recalled in an interview:
'... I think in 1991, I learnt from Albert Meltzer that the KSL was in search of a new home.'
At the time Pateman was living in Stamford, Lincolnshire. He later recalled that the library was transported from London which needed two trips of a minibus which was full of boxes. Consequently:
'The Library filled up one room with boxes and I put others on the floor, on tables etc. Initially I began to sort what I could. English language books, papers, newspapers, pamphlets, correspondence, ephemera in one place etc. Other languages all grouped together as well. As I did this I chatted to Albert about future plans. He was very keen on KSL becoming a little publishing house by publishing some of the material it had. Col [Longmore] and Ineke [Frencken] had produced some nice Bulletins and he was keen to make these a regular feature. That was the genesis of the Bulletin of the KSL.'
Moran (2014) observed that when the library was moved to the safety of Pateman's home, its focus shifted towards being a special collection and archive. After eight years, Pateman moved to the United States and in 1991 the library was moved again, to a renovated barn at his home in Northern California.