Schools
There’s no time to lose Grace Pritchard Woods advocates an active archive Have you ever wondered where that door goes? You know the one: it either leads to a dimly lit staircase extending downwards into the deep dark bowels of the school or upwards to the unknown spaces amongst the rafters of the towers and roofs. It is from here that a strange creature, a pale and anaemic looking shape wearing Parfum de Must et Dust emerges. The eyes squint as they meet the daylight, betraying an aversion to bright light reminiscent of the Gremlins of the said film. Needless to say, it is the School Archivist. Of course this archetypal image of the archives is untrue, but perceptions and confusion as to what School Archivists do all day and their contribution to the current needs of the School remains to some a mystery. This article aims to open up the dusty book and give some insight into what occurs in those hidden away places: the habitat and habits of these strange and elusive creatures. For those of you not Star Wars aware, Madame Jocasta was the Jedi Archivist who was somewhat aghast when ObiWan dared to suggest that her archive was incomplete! Whilst we cannot possibly keep everything, we are reliant on the generosity of the School community to ensure not only a diverse collection, but also the long term sustainability of the Archive. A colleague was somewhat surprised one day when I popped up from inside a skip having tried to retrieve an item! It is sometimes difficult to convince the staff and pupils of today that their ‘stuff’ is the archives of the future. Unsurprisingly
then, much of my time is spent gathering the material created by the institution and entering it into the collection, or writing to Old Decanians to thank them for sending me a bundle of their cherished treasures and memories. Being an archivist is rather like having Christmas 365 days a year: to steal a phrase from the film Forest Gump ‘you never know what you’re gonna get.’ The strangest item I have ever had? Perhaps a lump of shrapnel, now wrapped in tissue, which fell on the School field in 1940; or maybe the stick of rock with a Dean Close label! My job is varied and often unpredictable. The day could start with a simple enquiry regarding family history research from someone asking what I can tell them about their father or grandfather who attended the School; or a phone call from an excited Marketing Director ringing because she has heard the Antiques Roadshow is in town and could we dig out an old relic to take along? I did not take this personally! We get a lot of enquiries from current staff asking for information, ranging from a sporting statistic to what the original motto of each House used to be. Ultimately, my main aim is for the collection to be used and seen. There is no point keeping and preserving material and then hiding it away, never to see the light of day again. Hence, much of my time is spent producing displays and exhibitions. An unsurprising favourite was the old model railway which I exhibited to accompany the Preparatory School play, ‘The Railway Children’. It once belonged to the School’s Railway
The class of 1887 at Dean Close School
16
Spring 2017
