A Fonds Farewell

I’m retiring after a very fulfilling and happy 36 (gulp!) years working at Gloucestershire Archives and have been asked to a write a farewell blog. So, here it is. I have eschewed any attempt at a chronological narrative, and instead have decided to focus on three collections which have run like threads throughout my career. My acquaintance with all three began early, during my ‘Collections’ era, and I’ve been able to reconnect with them several times as my role has become more outward focussed.

The ‘Lloyd Baker’ one (D3549)

Granville Sharp, 1735-1813

My first role at the Gloucestershire Record Office, as it was then, when I came to work there in the autumn of 1987, was ‘cataloguing archivist’. One of the stand-out collections I worked on was the family and estate papers of the Lloyd Baker family. I wasn’t starting from scratch as it had already been listed in situ while with the family by the British Record Association. My job was to arrange the material into more meaningful groupings than ‘third cupboard under the stairs’ and to do detailed work on key sections. Of these, there were many. The family had a remarkable clutch of ancestors including several eminent clergymen, an inventor, a surgeon to royalty and, to top it all, the anti-slavery campaigner and tireless philanthropist Granville Sharp.  

Fast forwards to 2007 when I became involved with ‘Inhuman Traffic’, an externally funded project to mark the 200^th anniversary of the abolition of Britain ’s transatlantic slave trade. I was able to draw on my knowledge of the Granville Sharp papers to create an online exhibition, and other web based resources. (I’ve just spotted that a link to one of these resources- a film of local actor and historical interpreter John Bassett in character as Granville, appears on the latter’s Wikipedia page!). One key item featured online was a ‘slave song’-or African work chant- written down by Granville Sharp based on information from a British official who had heard it in the sugar plantations of Barbados. This powerful document includes both music and, most unusually, words meaning that we hear the thoughts of the enslaved people themselves.

D3549/13/3/27

Roger Gibbs, a Barbadian born musicologist living in Canada, realised the full importance of this document immediately when he spotted it online. Bringing his expert knowledge to bear, he recognised it as the earliest surviving Bajan music and got in contact with us. He later went on to support our successful application to have the document inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register. I was delighted to attend the awards ceremony, along with Clive Andrews, chair of our Friends organisation, in 2018.

As I write, in 2024, an ambitious major project centring on the slave song is under development, with support from several high profile individuals including Barbadian Calypso singer and cultural force ‘The Mighty Gabby.’

The ‘Kindertransport’ one (D7501)

To start at the other end of the telescope: on a fine summer’s day in 2022, I watched as a blue plaque was unveiled at 18 Alexandra Road, Gloucester- an event I had helped organise.

The date was 20 June, World Refugee Day, no coincidence, as the plaque commemorated the building’s use as a hostel for 10 Jewish boys who had escaped the Nazi regime on the Kindertransport programme in 1939. 

The establishment of the hostel was organised by the Gloucester Association for Aiding Refugees (precursor to GARAS today) and is well- documented in their archive, another of my early cataloguing projects. Although modest in quantity- a mere 3 archive boxes -the collection is gold in terms of quality and once catalogued it soon came to the attention of our then Archives Education Officer, James Turtle. In 2005, James made it the subject of an online exhibition, which in turn attracted the notice of New York resident Michael Zorek, the son of one of the hostel boys. A chain of events and relationships was thereby set in motion, culminating in the building’s blue plaque status almost 20 years later.

Descendants of the hostel boys and Wardens

My own involvement with the blue plaque unveiling, by now as Archives Development Manager, included working on a film, commissioned jointly with Voices Gloucester, to document the occasion and tell the story behind it. Working with the same film-maker, I was also delighted to harness the excellent memory of my colleague Karen, who provided a compelling case study in our ‘Why Archives’ series of mini films. The most recent development of this long running thread is a second online exhibition, And then….,  researched by James Turtle, and drawing on contacts made through the blue plaque launch, it continues where the first Kindertransport exhibition left off and follows the boys’ stories through into adult life.

The ’Kingsholm School’ one (S154/14)

My third highlight centres on the archive of Kingsholm Council School (and its later manifestations), which opened its doors in 1926, finally closing them 47 years later as a boys’ secondary school.

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  The opening of Kingsholm Council School, Cheltenham Chronicle & Gloucester Graphic, 1926

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  The last class at Kingsholm Secondary School for Boys, 1973

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  Kingsholm School pupils mark the Queen’s coronation, 1953 (S154/14/11)

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  Kingsholm School Open Day, 1957 (S154/14/11)

I’ve worked on many school collections, but the significance of this one is that it relates to our own building, which has been home to Gloucestershire’s archives since the late 1970s. 

In 2006 I was tasked with mounting an exhibition for our 70th anniversary. I’d noticed that it was not uncommon for visitors to the archives to mention that they, or someone they knew, had attended the school. They were always thrilled to see how much of the original architecture and layout remained. I was also aware that the School’s archive contained some choice items, including two large scrap books full of photos of school trips and students’ work which ex-pupils would surely love to see.

So I decided to focus the exhibition on the building and its former life as a school, and to combine it with a ‘school reunion’ event. I put a lot of effort into contacting former pupils, even interviewing some of them and incorporating quotes into the exhibition. Come the day, I remember seeing a long queue of people waiting for the doors to open and thinking well that‘s one decision that’s paid off!

Queuing for the Kingsholm School Reunion, 14 October 2006

Indeed, this decision has been rewarded many times over. Coming bang up to date, visitors to the site will notice three eye -catching panels inspired by, and featuring, snippets from three of the quotes I gathered for the Reunion event all those years ago. The artwork forms part of a new walking trail, the ‘GAWP Word Walk’. This loosely follows the railway line from Podsmead to Kings Square, with installations at key sites along the way- we are the final destination. Pupils at Kingsholm Primary School have voiced the longer quotes from which the teaser extracts are taken. These recordings are available to hear via a QR code placed near the panels, along with a short explanation of the project, which is led by GASP (Gloucestershire Arts & Social Projects). You can also hear them via their website.

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  Panels by artist Hope Hanni Eva

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  Panels by artist Hope Hanni Eva

I’m delighted with the panels, and my part in creating them, and consider ‘navy knickers rain or shine’ to be a very fitting legacy!

Written by Kate Maisey