{"id":3832,"date":"2020-12-16T13:28:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T13:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/?p=3832"},"modified":"2021-01-04T13:39:29","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T13:39:29","slug":"sca-review-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/2020\/12\/16\/sca-review-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"SC&A in review: 2020 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no doubt that 2020 has been a markedly different year from the one we anticipated when writing last year\u2019s annual review blog post. Like many of you, the S<\/span>pecial Collections\u00a0<\/span>&<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>rchives<\/span>\u00a0team have been working frequently from home\u00a0<\/span>since March<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019ve been any less busy. As the end of year (thankfully) draws\u00a0<\/span>to a\u00a0<\/span>close, we\u2019re taking the time to reflect on what we\u2019ve achieved and hope that this compilation sends a little bit of archive magic out to your screens!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Karen (Special Collections and Archives Manager)<\/span>:<\/span> “What a contrast 2020 has been compared to 2019!\u00a0<\/span>The\u00a0<\/span>SC&A team, along with most other employees at the University, moved to working from home\u00a0<\/span>on 23<\/span>rd<\/span>\u00a0March<\/span>\u00a0and we are mostly still there. We still meet at least once a week but now instead o<\/span>f booking a meeting room or bagging a table (and\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>coffee) in the Library Caf\u00e9 we now get together\u00a0<\/span>via\u00a0<\/span>our\u00a0<\/span>computer screens<\/span>\u00a0(coffee included)<\/span>!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working remotely has presented us with opportunities to\u00a0<\/span>tackle<\/span>\u00a0some of the\u00a0<\/span>tasks\u00a0<\/span>which<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>get overlooked and pushed aside in a busy office.\u00a0<\/span>Early in lockdown much of my time was taken up working on a grant application to support a project to catalogue and promote our amazing David Drummond Pantomime Collection. Our application was not successful this time round \u2013 while it was disappointing news it has given me the opportunity to delve deeper into this wonderful collection and to discover some of its hidden treasures \u2013 I’m currently exploring boxes of libretti or books of words from the mid 19<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0century to the mid-twentieth century. Some of them are just books of words but some have gorgeous illustrations. So far, my favourite find is Sinbad the Sailor, closely followed by Mother Goose and Dick Whittington…<\/span>I could go on…<\/span>It feels especially important that we catalogue this collection given the devasting effect that the virus ha<\/span>s had on live pantomime performances around the country this year<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Brightly<\/a>

Brightly illustrated programme cover for the Mother Goose pantomime at Drury Lane, 1902. [David Drummond Pantomime Collection]<\/p><\/div>

\"Lavishly<\/a>

Lavishly illustrated programme for the pantomime Dick Whittington at Drury Lane theatre. [David Drummond Collection]<\/p><\/div>The rest\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0the team have been\u00a0<\/span>keeping busy<\/span>\u00a0too:\u00a0<\/span>Tom has worked on and off campus on the ever-expanding University archive<\/span>, while Jo has worked on new and remote ways of delivering our popular teaching session<\/span>s. Jennie has had great fun\u00a0<\/span>cataloguing<\/span>\u00a0some of Martin Rowson\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>digital cartoons (so funny!)\u00a0<\/span>The Max Tyler Music Hall collection has ben<\/span>e<\/span>fitted from<\/span>\u00a0the attentions of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Clair<\/span>, who\u00a0<\/span>has<\/span>\u00a0now catalogued all the research files\u00a0<\/span>and Mandy\u00a0<\/span>enjoyed scanning some of the sheet music<\/span>, some of which has been recorded and uploaded\u00a0<\/span>by Dan Harding, Head of Music Performan<\/span>ce at Kent <\/span>–<\/span> it really brings our collection to life. You can listen to this recording here<\/a>. Beth, our pro<\/span>ject archivist for the UK Philanthropy Archive, has\u00a0<\/span>continued to\u00a0<\/span>spread the good news about our deve<\/span>loping collection<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>as well as\u00a0<\/span>delivering an excellent online event.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working from home has meant that much of our volunteer work stopped abruptly in the spring<\/span>\u00a0– we miss our volunteer community very much\u00a0<\/span>and hope<\/span>\u00a0that we can welcome back our regular team\u00a0<\/span>as<\/span>\u00a0well as some new ones \u2013 watch this space! Having said that we\u00a0<\/span>did manage to set up\u00a0<\/span>Daniella,\u00a0<\/span>who was able to\u00a0<\/span>transcribe and translate indentures\u00a0<\/span>from\u00a0<\/span>Ronald Baldwin collection <\/span>from home. S<\/span>ee her blog post here: <\/span>https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/specialcollections\/2020\/07\/08\/exploring-early-modern-kent-in-the-archive-part-1-an-introduction-to-the-ronald-baldwin-collection\/.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>Thanks to Daniella\u2019s great work we have been able to enhance our\u00a0<\/span>catalogue records.” <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Tom (University Archivist): \u201cThis year my highlight was the opportunity to dedicate more time than usual to looking after and developing the University of Kent Archive. This large and important collection charts the development of the University of Kent through the initial planning and development of the site in the early 1960s, its foundation in 1965, and through the succeeding 55 years of educational achievement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Though records of the University\u2019s activities and\u00a0<\/span>decision-making<\/span>\u00a0processes have always been collected, it was not until relatively recently these have been gathered together in a dedicated space within the Templeman Library. As a result, a considerable backlog of archival work has built up, and the collection requires sorting, duplicate-thinning, repackaging, cataloguing and being physically arranged in its dedicated\u00a0<\/span>storeroom<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because my other SC&A duties have been less pressing, this year I\u2019ve been able to make proper headway in carrying out essential collections development work with this archive, including consolidating the various caches of documents in the library into a single space, commencing weeding of the various runs of published information such as annual reports and prospectuses, grouping similar records and records from the same department together, and commencing cataloguing of important papers like those of Eric Fox, the first Registrar of Kent. This interesting collection includes papers on the establishment and development of the University and the various crises (usually student led) that afflicted the university in its first 12 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a>

Eric Fox, first Registrar of the University of Kent, and his wife, Mary. July 1982 [V.453]<\/p><\/div>Working from home has also given us the opportunity to catalogue the University’s extensive photograph collection which my colleague Rachel has been working on. Rachel is also a Kent alumna so her knowledge is proving doubly useful in getting context from the images.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a>

Black and white photograph showing a party in the Registry Office, 1990, complete with Santa and a pantomime horse. [University of Kent Archive, 1471.2]<\/p><\/div>The University Archive also took receipt of two large and significant collections in autumn 2020: records of Eliot College and records of the Faculty Office. Watch this space for updates to our catalogue throughout 2021 as these collections are catalogued and made accessible to our readers.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jo (Senior Library Assistant): \u201cThroughout this year I\u2019ve often joked that because my job involves collections and people, 2020 has meant a definite shift in my working environment. Whilst this is true (I very much miss introducing students to our collections in person), it\u2019s been a great opportunity to develop our digital learning offer and create content that will hopefully serve our communities for years to come.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gif<\/a>

Gif showing slides introducing Special Collections & Archives to students. There is a lot of colour and spider diagrams.<\/p><\/div>\n

I particularly enjoyed making videos of some items from our collections to help support teaching; rather than single images, filming archives helps viewers get a sense of the physicality<\/span>\u00a0of the object and hopefully encourages them to come and see items in person when it\u2019s safe to do so. Our Artists\u2019 Books Collection was the perfect example of this: the books rely (and sometimes play with) our sense of touch to convey their meaning, and it was lovely to see some of these works and convey my knowledge and enthusiasm for them digitally.<\/span> You can view an example of these videos here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On a completely different note, there has been a wealth of digital learning and training created this year and it\u2019s been really nice to have the opportunity to develop skills that being on campus doesn\u2019t always allow for. Thanks to Kent\u2019s Learning and Organisational Development team I completed six weeks of British Sign Language training over the summer which will hopefully serve our users well in future.<\/span>\u00a0I also finally got certification for my MA, so I guess I\u2019m \u2018officially\u2019 a Librarian now!<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jennie (Library Assistant \u2013 Curation & Discovery): \u201cMy role is to describe the items in our Special Collections and Archives and make them easy to find on our library search systems. Traditionally this is done with the item in hand, but of course this year a new approach had to be found. Luckily, we have a large and ever-growing collection of political cartoons by Martin Rowson in digital format just waiting for someone to add them to the catalogue \u2013 and that someone was me!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

‘Giving up the Ghost’ by Martin Rowson, 9th June 2019, The Guardian. MRD1351, British Cartoon Archive<\/p><\/div>\n

I was able to download the images at home and access our archival cataloguing system remotely to add some of Rowson\u2019s fantastic satirical cartoons to our database. My personal favourite so far is\u00a0<\/span>Giving up the Ghost<\/span><\/a>\u00a0because it took a lot of detective work to figure out who all the politicians were, and because the Nigel Farage snake under the bed makes me laugh. It also features Rowson\u2019s famous \u2018fur cups\u2019, which I make sure to add to the catalogue record when they appear. Rowson himself explained what the fur cups mean on Twitter:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/a>

Exchange between John Waterworth and Martin Rowson on Twitter explaining the fur cups present in Rowson’s cartoons.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m sure you can work it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Clair (Digital Archivist): \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the first to mention that this year has been a very different experience of working in Special Collections & Archives! For the most part we\u2019ve been distant from our collections in a physical sense, but this in turn has provided the opportunity for us to focus on some of the more admin-heavy collection tasks that we seldom get to focus on in the \u201cnormal world\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Triage<\/a>

Triage of photographs of research files from the Max Tyler Music Hall Collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

This year feels like a difficult one to draw highlights from, but there have certainly been some satisfying and enjoyable moments for me. First up, we\u2019ve taken a few steps to improving access to our collections this year. I had the pleasure of cataloguing the entirety of Max Tyler\u2019s research files. I won\u2019t go in to too much depth here as\u00a0<\/span>I wrote a blog post on the subject<\/span><\/a>\u00a0back in October 2020, but just to say that it\u2019s an impressive collection that touches on many subjects, performers, and music hall songs. You can\u00a0<\/span>browse the entire collection here<\/span><\/a>. My colleagues have made tremendous progress with cataloguing our collection of Martin Rowson digital cartoons. This is an active collection with continuous accruals, so it\u2019s great to see them getting added to our online catalogue. We have managed to clear our scanning backlog of newspaper cartoon cuttings with help from our Digital Imaging team. And last up,\u00a0<\/span>our collections can now be found on The National Archive\u2019s Discovery platform<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, I had the opportunity to develop my skills in social media archiving this year, collecting tweets on the subject of philanthropy during the covid-19 pandemic for the\u00a0<\/span>UK Philanthropy Archive<\/span><\/a>. This piece of work not only enabled me to learn some coding skills in Python programming language, but also meant I got to work closely with my colleague Beth\u00a0Astridge\u00a0to develop a collection for our newest archive!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Mandy (Library Assistant \u2013 Digital Imaging): \u201c<\/span>I have really enjoyed scanning the music sheets<\/span>\u00a0from our Max Tyler Collection!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>hey are so delicate and the pictures are so pretty<\/span>. S<\/span>eeing the music sheets\u00a0<\/span>as<\/span>\u00a0how they used to be<\/span>\u00a0has\u00a0been great.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Colour<\/a>

Colour illustrated cover of a music sheet from the Max Tyler Music Hall Collection entitled “Victory and Peace Grand March”<\/p><\/div>\n

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Beth (Project Archivist \u2013 UK Philanthropy Archive): \u201cAs with the rest of the Special Collections & Archives team \u2013 2020 has been a year of challenges and disruption \u2013 but also a year of new ways of working and opportunities to explore. There are several things that happened in the UK Philanthropy Archive this year that I think are worth celebrating!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have focussed some time on making connections, spreading awareness about the UK Philanthropy Archive, and talking to potential donors about their collections. As always, it is so interesting to hear about the different trusts and foundations out there, to catch up with people who are passionate about the organisation they represent and the causes they support and begin to explore how they might ensure the\u00a0<\/span>long-term<\/span>\u00a0preservation of their archives.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

COVID-19 has had a notable impact on the philanthropic sector \u2013 with many funders pausing grants, diverting funds to COVID emergency schemes, and adopting more flexible grants programmes and support mechanisms. To capture a record of some of this rapid change in the philanthropic sector we have developed an archive collection of the tweets coming from many of philanthropic sector organisations and individuals during 2020. It has been fascinating to investigate how to do this, and my colleague Clair (Digital Archivist) has written about her work on this elsewhere on this blog!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/a>

Screenshot of attendees at the official virtual launch of the UK Philanthropy Archive, November 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

In March 2020 we had planned a big event to launch the UK Philanthropy Archive with a seminar and the inaugural Shirley Lecture to be delivered by the wonderful Dame Stephanie Shirley.\u00a0<\/span>Sadly,<\/span>\u00a0we had to postpone, and the event was split into two separate events. We held the first of these \u2013 a virtual seminar on Archives of Philanthropy in November, which officially launched the UK Philanthropy Archive! This brought together researchers, archivists, funders and others from the philanthropic sector to talk about the opportunities and challenges of keeping archives about philanthropy. It was well attended with lots of great presentations and interesting questions \u2013 and if you missed it \u2013 the recordings are available on our website! A big thank you to all the speakers who did an amazing job in communicating why collecting archives from the philanthropic sector is so important.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is so much to look forward to in 2021 from the UK Philanthropy Archive. As well as more collections being deposited with us, getting back to cataloguing and getting the collections available for research, and several oral history interviews planned, we have the inaugural Shirley Lecture (in May 2021), as well as another exciting seminar \u2013 so keep an eye out for more information on our webpages.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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The<\/span>\u00a0SC&A team<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>wish<\/span>\u00a0you\u00a0<\/span>a peaceful and safe\u00a0<\/span>Christmas and\u00a0<\/span>New Year and we\u00a0<\/span>hope you\u00a0<\/span>can connect with loved ones near and far. We\u2019re closed for Christmas from Friday (18<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0December) and will be back in the (virtual) office from Monday 4<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0January 2021.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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