Resources for democracy: A short history of Bradford Resource Centre

For the exhibition, Resources for Democracy! A People's History of Bradford Resource Centre, Joel White created a zine that traces the 46-year history of the Bradford Resource Centre (BRC), a grassroots institution that supported community and trade union organising in Bradford from 1979 onwards. Written in the spirit of 'history from below,' it draws on archival materials, oral histories, and collaborative workshops with the FoBRC to recover the ethos of collective self-organisation that defined the centre’s values.​

Founded to provide 'resources for democracy,' the BRC offered vital practical support, from meeting space and printing facilities to welfare rights advice, enabling community and labour groups to act independently. It became part of a national network of resource centres formed out of 1970s community development initiatives, aimed at giving working-class people access to knowledge and tools for social change.