‘Good Feeling and Brotherliness’: Leisure, the Suburbs and the Society of Public Librarians in London (1895–1930)

This article describes the leisure experiences of a cohort of suburban-dwelling chief and deputy librarians who met monthly as the Society of Public Librarians in London from 1895 to 1930. Mapping evidence from societal minutes and ephemera onto data from professional journals and occupational records, the article finds that society members experienced self-directed, dynamic leisure lives that appeared both intellectually and socially fulfilling. Their pursuit of knowledge and their mutually supportive relationships seemingly owed more to mid-nineteenth cultures of self-improvement and collective endeavour than to the self-interested and insecure ‘Pooterish’ sensibilities conventionally ascribed to the inhabitants of the rapidly expanding suburbs during this period. Appropriating the research methods of the genealogist, the article is able to account for this apparent anachronism, at the same time beneficially complicating existing scholarly debates around class, society and recreational practices in semi...