Rhubarb 2021

By Chris Nathan (Segar’s, 1954-1957) My time as the St Edward’s School archivist

FEATURE

Br inging the school archives to l ife

F ollowing a happy but not too conspicuous school career at Teddies, it was always my wish to later return and put something back into an establishment which made such a positive, constructive and fundamental impression on my early life. The opportunity came in 2000, following early retirement from my long-time employment two years earlier, when I journeyed to Oxford and offered my services. I wasn’t too sure exactly what I could do, but after some initial conversations with Fran Prichard (MCR, 1952-1987), David Wippell (MCR, 1978-2006),Tricia Cook in the Development Office and Warden David Christie, it was suggested that I ‘take a look at the School Archives’. While I had no background in this area, historical research had always been an interest and since retirement I had worked for Professor Peter Liddell’s research team out of Leeds University, interviewing (on tape) survivors of WorldWar One and Two for their huge collection. I had also traced both my paternal and maternal family trees, which had brought their own set of surprises! The St Edward’s Archives had a long history of their own, starting with the eminent Wilfrid Cowell way back in the 1880s on the ground floor in what is now Macnamara’s and, at the last count, had been housed in no less than ten different locations around the School! As I became involved, they had just been moved from the Sixth Form

With the cooperation of everyone most concerned with seeing the archives ‘sorted’, I got to work visiting the School once or twice a week, suitably dressed in plastic apron, rubber gloves and face mask (pre Covid) going through every item. Much had to be destroyed as vermin had done their worst however slowly but surely order was restored over the next three years. Very few people knew who I was or what I was doing which was fine as what was needed was patience. I Doctorate, to design a custom-made ‘Archives Database’ package, based on standardWord software, so that everything could be placed ‘online’ for easy later retrieval. At home I scanned over 6000 images as many of the originals were deteriorating fast as there was insufficient time to do this at the School. Slowly but surely word got around, mainly via the Development and Marketing Offices, that there was now an Archives resource available, and queries of a historical nature started to come my way. Likewise, invaluable memorabilia also began to materialise and contacts were made with other schools’ archivists, researchers and authors interested in the School’s past and OSE in particular. Right from the start there was more interest from outside the School than inside, something that continues until today. However, the Chronicle editors did start to ask for historical articles for the magazine which was a step in the right direction. inveigled my very bright IT-wise nephew, then studying for his

Building (where The NorthWall is today) to a wooden building behind Cowell’s. Here I found a heterogeneous mixture of assorted archive boxes inscribed with strange pencilled markings, heaps of loose books/ papers/pictures and what can only be termed as ‘indescribables’! It was clear that no-one had really looked after the collection on a regular basis since the last full-time archivist (and teacher) Jack Tate, who had died in 1988. It was in sore need of a complete overhaul. Vermin had got into some packaging and book covers, there was evidence of bird droppings (even the odd dead bird), old ants’ and wasps’ nests and all kinds of other unwelcome visitors.This being said, the School employed a qualified and very competent Archivist, Karen Garvey, once a month from the Oxford Archives who in her very limited time did some sterling work which is still evident today.Various members of the Common Room, over the years, also had a responsibility for caretaking the archives, but these were busy people and the time given was very limited. This all meant that the Development and Marketing Offices, in particular, had no reliable resource to depend on when historical questions came through from staff, pupils, OSE,Teddies families, other schools, researchers, authors and the public in general. Also, there was a lack of trust when it came to sending in ephemera for the collection, as it was thought it would be lost.There was no formal arrangement for collecting up formal group pictures taken every summer.

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