Chris Williams – My Memories of Nina

I first met Nina at a labour history conference in Manchester in 1992. She attracted my attention for the declamatory, no-nonsense style with which she delivered her paper, and the robustness and energy with which she responded to her critics. But she also took the trouble to offer me, a rather wide-eyed junior lecturer, some kind and supportive comments. The roots of our friendship were sown then, and began to grow strongly when I contributed to a volume – Miners, Unions and Politics – that Nina co-edited with Alan Campbell and David Howell for Manchester University Press in 1996. For the next few years we met intermittently at conferences, and as Nina's work on Arthur Horner progressed she would occasionally phone me to ask about some detail of South Wales Miners' Federation history. Nina's dedication to this project was such that I think she re-lived the life of 'little Arthur', overflowing with enthusiasm and wonderment as she completed the huge jigsaw of his life and times.

Both of us came to Swansea University in 2005 – Nina as an Honorary Research Professor – and we began to work together on plans to attract funding for comparative labour history, involving colleagues in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary and Portugal as well as elsewhere in the UK. Nina was undoubtedly the driving force – dashing off proselytizing emails (always 'urgent'!) to people who might initially have been alarmed by the directness of the approach, but rapidly realized that, with Nina, what you saw was what you got: commitment, passion and a never-wavering conviction that efforts would yield positive outcomes. Travelling abroad with Nina was always entertaining, because she relished new experiences so much, even if it was only seeing the Bristol Channel from the air as we flew from Amsterdam back to Cardiff.

Nina and Phil made the move physically to Swansea in 2007 and Nina immediately made her presence felt in the History department (though she had to be dissuaded from attending departmental meetings!). She was always there to take an interest, to offer encouragement and to push for a new initiative. Without her drive I suspect we would not now be looking forward to opening the Richard Burton Archive in May 2010. But Nina was not just a lively colleague, she was also a good friend with whom one could relax over a glass of wine, talk about cricket, or laugh at some of the absurdities of British higher education.

Nina's illness earlier in 2009 shook all who knew her. Her apparent recovery brought a smile to many a face – by force of personality Nina appeared to have beaten off a life-threatening condition. We began to plan again for new projects (she told me that we would co-author an article on the historiography of coal mining in 2010 – she told me, and I did not demur!), and of course she completed the writing of her biography of Horner. But in September I noticed that there was not quite the usual intensity or focus about her, and she confessed over dinner one night that she was still coming to terms with the after-effects of the operation. A few weeks later and the news was much more serious. Now, with the brevity and finality of the turning of a page, she has gone.

The vividness of Nina Fishman will, however, take a very long time to fade from my memory. She was one of those people who, by knowing, one's own life is greatly enriched. She was intellectually and personally immensely generous, and her belief in the importance of the history she studied, wrote and taught provided an invaluable reminder of the purpose of scholarly enquiry. But most of all I will miss picking up the telephone (usually amidst domestic chaos) to hear the words 'Hello love, it's NINA'.