Our Archivist, James, reflects on the different projects that have been going on in the Archive during this first half of term:
New shelving in the Archive!
We are excited to announce that we are now in the process of installing high-quality racking in one of our strong rooms. This follows the installation of racking in the larger strong room several years ago, which was a tremendous success.
The rolling shelving will make our items much more accessible, while also making it easier to organise the school’s important historical collections without creating clutter.
The installation of this racking will be a key milestone in ensuring that we are compliant with the latest archival standards.
We look forward to sharing photographs of the new-look Archive in the very near future!
Heritage Open Day
To celebrate the return of Heritage Open Days to Brighton, for two days in September Brighton College opened its doors to visitors.
I talked about the 175-year history of Brighton College and its buildings, using a range of archival records to help tell our school’s story, from its foundation in 1845, through periods of prosperity and near-bankruptcy, navigating the dangers of the Great Depression and two World Wars, to its recent successes amidst Brighton's own transformations as a city.
After the talk, visitors went on a tour of the College site with some of our lovely prefects and take a closer look at some of our newest buildings.
Community Partnership
Over the last few years pupils have had the opportunity to interact with the College’s archives.
Since September, several Upper Fifth and Lower Sixth pupils have been working with me on several projects. In the year ahead, the team will have the opportunity to catalogue a variety of archive materials and work with archive materials hands-on to explore different areas of the school’s history.
The group will also have a chance to put their research skills to the test, using archive materials to create fact files on the histories of our different Houses, and the different sports that have been played here, exploring how these have changed over the years.
The final weeks of the option will involve preparations for an oral history project and if you would be interested in participating in this, please let me know!