More Hot News from the Archive Peter Cunningham
M
odern archives must be multi-media and, after the excitement of finding something that had been lost, … the next hot news is not video but
audio.
Some 30 years ago, our then Librarian/Archivist Liz Edwards together with historian Sallie Purkis, recorded interviews with staff and students. Cassettes are now being digitised with remarkable quality, entertaining and enlightening to hear. Good examples are memories from students of the wartime years, recorded at Homerton Roll Reunions in the early 1990s. Light-hearted and full of interest about social life in College and in Cambridge, the constraints of war, as well as their academic and professional experiences. Two themes resonate with other items in this Newsletter: memories of their colleagues from Sierra Leone featured in the lost film (see production stills previous page); and students’ encounters with Principal Alice Skillicorn, some daunted by her strict demeanour, others warmed by the personal interest and detailed memory she showed on other occasions – more about Miss Skillicorn in the next article. But for the moment keeping with recorded interviews brings us (apparently seamlessly) to the RSM Heritage Project, now re-emerging from lockdown. Following a suggestion made at the recent AGM, the Principal agreed to be interviewed by Steve Watts and me, recorded on Zoom and uploaded for public access on YouTube. Geoff provides an inspiring account of promoting the arts through his varied career in higher education, from Cambridge to Liverpool, Dundee, Royal Holloway and back to Cambridge. He also reflects on leading the College through its period of post-Charter growth, as Homerton has played a distinctively progressive role in 21st century Cambridge. This interview provides not only a valuable document to archive for posterity, but a welcome contribution by the RSMs to valedictory celebration of Geoff’s Principalship. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoiZ3JL7OuI Mathematicians, too, have made a start on committing their departmental memories to history, recording a fruitful discussion of how their subject developed in the last three decades of last century. Homerton acquired a high profile in developing teachers for the teaching and learning of maths in primary and secondary schools, over a period of curricular, cultural and technological change.
The opportunities and challenges are interestingly revealed, and it’s to be hoped that other groups of RSMs might take the opportunities presented regarding their own subject. The archive has a wealth of documentary material that could provide a backdrop or a focus for this kind of discussion. Finally, we can observe how far our archive has come in the last 40 years …
… from Homerton Roll News 1979 An item in Homerton Roll News of 1979 reminds us how the archive has grown and Miss Skillicorn’s crucial posthumous role in its development. From library cupboards in the Black and White building, via a basement cellar in Cavendish, to its penthouse suite in Queen’s Wing, with garden views and stunning sunsets. Rich seams of history are preserved, as College continues to benefit from this asset in its new home. The archive made a striking historical and artistic contribution to our 250th celebration in 2018; this was followed by Sue Conrad’s exhibit documenting the Royal Charter on its tenth anniversary, sadly frustrated by the pandemic but we hope this work may be more fully appreciated on a future occasion, with the opening of a new Dining Hall, perhaps?
rsma newsletter september 2021 page 21
