A breath of fresh air…

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 14 April 2015

The air handling systems we have here at the Borthwick were installed just over 10 years ago ahead of our move from our old site at St. Anthony’s Hall. They work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and help, along with the building’s design, to keep a consistent level of both temperature and humidity in our strongrooms and our searchrooms – including our microfilm room. If you’ve visited us in the past, you will have heard it rumbling quietly away in the background.

The reason we control the temperature and humidity is quite simple – it’s better for the documents! Every document we hold here is entirely unique and irreplaceable and correct environmental conditions help to preserve our collections for you to use in the future.

As you can imagine, constant use of a system for just over ten years means that things need replacing to make sure we can provide those optimum conditions. We have a short window this spring to undertake work to replace and renew our air handling system. We have chosen this period as it’s the ideal time to do this – right in between the cold of the winter and heat (and humidity) of a British Summer!

Photograph of a door marked 'Plant Room' — This is where the magic happens.

Sadly, this means there will be some unavoidable impact on the services we can offer you. For the period 23rd April-8th May 2015 we’ll need to operate our searchroom and document delivery service from our Lifelong Learning space on the the top floor of our building – right by our exhibition space.

This is so the air handling equipment in the searchroom and microfilm room can be replaced with the smallest amount of disruption possible. The air handling equipment in these spaces is housed in the ceiling, so for the sake of safety and disruption we’ve chosen to relocate for the duration.

Our Lifelong Learning room is slightly smaller than our usual surroundings, so for the duration of this work we’ll only be able to accommodate eight readers at a time and – sadly – we won’t be able to open our microform space as work will be underway there too.

As we’re only able to help a smaller number of researchers than usual during this time, please get in touch to book your space if you’d like to visit us during the course of the air handling works as we will only be able to accommodate pre-booked researchers.

Photograph of the Borthwick searchroom showing people seated at the tables — Our searchroom

Beyond our searchroom and microfilm spaces, we’ll also be replacing air handling equipment in our Conservation and Accessions/processing spaces too – so if you’re visiting us over the next few days, there may be a some unavoidable noise from upstairs and outside which we’ll try to keep to a minimum.

We won’t know until the work starts how much disruption may be caused, so check our website, twitter account (@UoYBorthwick) and on Facebook for the latest news.

The benefits of this work will be felt for at least another 10 years and will ensure we can continue to care for our shared heritage in the best possible conditions, both while you’re using our archives in our searchroom, and while they lie in our strongrooms waiting for you to discover them.

Introducing the Genesis Project

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 9 April 2015

Written by Sally-Anne Shearn, Genesis Project Archivist

The Borthwick Institute holds archival collections that range in date from the 11^th century to the present day. If you have visited the Institute yourself you will be all too familiar with the numerous paper catalogues that take up an entire wall of the searchroom reception, serving as guides to our ecclesiastical, business, architectural, health, estate and drama collections (not an exhaustive list by any means).

If you have looked up these same collections on the internet, you may have discovered that only a small fraction of these vast holdings, perhaps 10%, have information available online – via external databases such as The National Archives ‘Discovery’ catalogue (and its predecessor Access to Archives), the Archives Hub, and dedicated websites like The Cause Papers Database and The Harewood West Indian Archive.

Photograph of rows of bound catalogues on a book shelf — Lots and lots of lists…

A newly funded project aims to change that. Over the next two years the Genesis Project will open up the full range of the Borthwick’s collections to staff and the general public through the creation of our own online catalogue using AtoM, or Access to Memory, a web-based, open source application for archival description and access. For the first time, users anywhere in the world will have remote access to accurate and up to date information about our full holdings, bringing the Borthwick in line with other institutions of similar size and scope and creating a wealth of opportunities for research and discovery.

The aims of the project are both ambitious and modest at the same time. Where traditional archival practice has often focused on putting complete archival catalogues online, right down to individual item level, our aim in this initial stage will be to populate our catalogue with collection or ‘fonds’ level descriptions, that is descriptions of archival collections at the highest level, and their associated authority files. These are the parts of an archive catalogue that provide users with the ‘need to know’ data, the key dates, names and general content of the collection and any restrictions that might apply to its access and use. The fonds level description will describe the collection as a whole, whilst the authority file will describe the creator of that collection and can be linked to multiple collections, allowing us to show links between different groups of archival records created by the same individual, family, or organisation.

The project will prioritise collections with no existing finding aids online, bringing key details of such diverse archives as those of the playwright Sir Alan Ayckbourn, the chocolate makers Terry’s of York, and the estate and family papers of the Earls of Halifax, to a global audience. In doing do we hope to highlight the hidden treasures in the collections which, until now, have only been discoverable by searching the paper catalogues in the searchroom. Treasures such as the Morrell Deeds in our Private Deposits which include records from as early as the 12^th century, or the papers of the York family which date from the 17^th to the 20^th century and include 24 volumes of diaries, visitor books and common place books kept by Lady Mary York between 1786 and 1831.

As Project Archivist I will be spending the next few weeks getting to grips with AtoM and the archive standards we will be using before I begin work on the first collection level descriptions. As the project progresses I hope to use this blog to share new developments and discoveries. The Genesis Project is, as its name suggests, just the beginning – but by establishing a single, uniform source of information for our holdings it will provide an invaluable tool to staff and visitors and a solid foundation for the expansion of our online catalogues in the future, showing the world just what the Borthwick Institute has to offer.

Rehabilitating John Summerland

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 27 March 2015

This is one of a series of blog posts published as material from the Retreat archive is digitised and made available online. More information about the Wellcome Library funded project to digitise the Retreat archive can be found on the project pages of our website. Digital surrogates from the Retreat archive project so far are available via the Wellcome Library.

This blog post was written by Jon Mitchell who is a doctoral student in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds. His thesis relates to eighteenth century Quaker attitudes to mental illness, and is funded by The White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities. He can be contacted at prjm@leeds.ac.uk.

It really is a privilege to start blogging for the York Retreat Archive digitisation project. The Retreat captured my imagination as a History undergraduate but I never had the opportunity for in-depth research, for want of an original hypothesis. It seemed like it had all been done before. But somehow an idea came to me, I followed it up and here I am writing a PhD on the Retreat nearly a decade later. The more time I spend with this material, the more I realise there is still a great deal to say about the Retreat. Making these archives available online will enable a new generation of research. So I had better get writing quickly lest someone steals my thunder!

Like so many undergraduates, the first time I came across the Retreat was in Michael Foucault’s Madness and Civilisation. One moment of the Retreat’s early history particularly resonated with me, and has stuck in my mind ever since;

‘Samuel Tuke tells how he received at the Retreat a maniac, young and prodigiously strong, whose paroxysms caused panic in those around him and even among his guards. When he entered the Retreat he was loaded with chains; he wore handcuffs; his clothes were attached by ropes. He had no sooner arrived than all his shackles were removed, and he was permitted to dine with the keepers; his agitation immediately ceased; “his attention appeared to be arrested by his new situation.” He was taken to his room; the keeper explained that the entire house was organised in terms of the greatest liberty and the greatest comfort for all, and that he would not be subject to any constraint so long as he did nothing against the rules of the house or the general principles of human morality. For his part, the keeper declared he had no desire to use the means of coercion at his disposal. The maniac was sensible of the kindness of his treatment. He promised to restrain himself.’ (pp.233-234, Routledge Classics, 2001)

Naturally, having been let loose myself as it were in the asylum archives, I wanted to know more about this incredibly powerful and important moment.

Whilst we may question Foucault’s analysis and style, he cannot be accused of hyperbole in this instance; the passage paraphrases Samuel Tuke’s account of the incident in his 1813 Description of the Retreat, save for the fact that Tuke probably didn’t witness the incident himself and made no claim to have done so;

‘Some years ago, a man, about thirty-four years of age, of almost Herculean size and figure, was brought to the house. He had been afflicted several times before; and so constantly, during the present attack, had he been kept chained, that his clothes were contrived to be taken off and put on by means of strings, without removing his manacles….’

Tuke added that ‘the patient was frequently very vociferous, and threatened his attendants, who in their defence were very desirous of restraining him by the (straight) jacket.’ (Description pp.93-94)

However, the patient’s case notes (RET 6/5/1A p.77) and correspondence from the family (RET 1/5/1/7) give a different angle to these events. We assume from how Foucault and Tuke use this incident that the ‘maniac’ (whose name was John Summerland) had been under restraint in other institutions for some time before admission to the Retreat. The moment of Summerland’s release is often used to illustrate a liberating shift in psychiatric methods as patients were brought out of the darkness of Bedlam dungeons and into the light of ‘moral treatment.’ Yet the reality is less straightforward. Summerland’s case notes reveal he had indeed been restrained, ‘fastened with chains’ and ‘repeatedly bled with cathartic medicines’ whilst under confinement in Philadelphia. But he then returned to England on a voyage which would have taken weeks, and would not have been possible under restraint. Upon his return to England he lived with his parents in Staffordshire for over two months and again there is no mention of him being under restraint here or on his journey to the Retreat. Summerland’s case notes add further information which seems to contradict Tuke’s version ‘he frequently converses rationally, tho in a high strain… It does not appear that he has ever attempted to injure himself or others.’ And whilst Summerland was indeed ‘a large man of great muscular strength and power’ he was ‘much reduced in flesh on his admission.’

Letters from his family to the Retreat show that Summerland, despite his vague diagnosis of ‘derangement’ managed to attend Quaker Meetings for Worship before his admission. This involved sitting in silence for a considerable amount of time. Again, hardly the place for a raving maniac.

Samuel Tuke had access to all the Retreat case notes and used them to statistically demonstrate the Retreat’s success in Description of the Retreat. It seems that Tuke exaggerated Summerland’s symptoms to promote the Retreat’s therapeutic methods. This well-intentioned exaggeration has gone largely unquestioned by history, leaving poor John Summerland with a bad reputation. Happily he was discharged after only four months and suffered no relapse. Yet it was hardly the miracle cure that Samuel Tuke claimed, ten years later in Description of the Retreat; as he was sent on his way to the Retreat, John Summerland’s brother William wrote to William Tuke that John ‘seems much better and I make no doubt with your regular treatment and attention he will soon be well.’

Continuity and Change at The Retreat

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 29 January 2015

Written by Jenny Mitcham, Digital Archivist, Borthwick Institute

Arranging a tour of the grounds of the Retreat for a morning in January was a bit of a risk. We were truly at the mercy of the elements! We were fortunate however to have picked a day when there was no snow or ice on the ground and nothing falling from the sky. Saying that, this was one of the coldest weeks for a while and the temperatures only just peaked at a chilly 1 degree celsius as we were shown around the extensive grounds of the hospital.

We have been lucky enough to receive funding from the Wellcome Library to digitise the archive of The Retreat (a psychiatric hospital that is situated right next to the University of York where the Borthwick is based). We are several months into the project now and are in the process of delivering the 3rd of 10 batches of digital images to Wellcome for ingest and processing before inclusion in their library catalogue.

Last week our in-house resident expert on the Retreat archive, Kath Webb took the project team around the grounds of the hospital and gave us a talk on its buildings, history and on some of the key figures involved with shaping the institution since it was opened in 1796.

It really is a fascinating place and has a key position not only in the history of mental health care, but in Quaker history and the history of York. It was great to see the full extents of the grounds, and hear how the land and its buildings have evolved and developed over time. Lots has changed but there was also a surprising level of continuity. Landscape features and plantings that are visible on early plans and images of the Retreat and are now being re-established. Some of the ‘newer’ additions to the archive held at the Borthwick Institute are a set of large 20th century plans of the Retreat grounds, showing planting and marking positions of trees, and allied to these there are some Retreat ‘tree books’ noting trees and plantings – a rich source of information for the modern gardeners.

Black and white photograph of a cricket match in progress — A cricket match in progress in the Retreat grounds in the early 20th century (reference RET 1/8/4/16/2)

We were taken to the sports fields at the back of the Retreat and later in the day were shown old black and white photographs of the staff cricket and hockey teams that played there. We went into the burial ground where local Quakers and Retreat residents had been buried. Very simple headstones stood in rows, but recognisable names from the archives were all around us.

The project team are used to the cold (working as they do in an archive where we try and maintain temperatures that will cause the least stress to the documents within our care) however by the end of the tour we were starting to lose feeling in our fingers and toes and were glad to get back to the office and get the kettle on. It was great to have some time out to understand and appreciate the character of the Retreat and put the work we are all doing on this project into context.

The Wellcome Library will be releasing the digital surrogates that we create on a rolling schedule as we deliver them. We are excited to be able to announce that the first small batch is already available via the Wellcome Library Catalogue.

Black and white photograph of the women's hockey team — The women’s staff hockey team in 1902 in the grounds of the Retreat (reference RET 1/8/4/15/1)

We are working through the Retreat archive in the order it appears within our catalogue so the first small test batch falls within the general administrative section and consists primarily of minute books from directors meetings from 1792 to 1928.

See for example the first item within the catalogue (archival reference RET 1/1/1/1), a minute book from 28 June 1792 to 24 June 1841. On the Wellcome Library catalogue we can see both the catalogue description of the item and the digital surrogates produced by our digitisation team and displayed within a viewer that allows you to move to the page of interest, zoom into the text and pan around the document.

This is just a taster of what is to come. We hope to highlight other interesting items from the archive as the project progresses so watch this space.

Slow and Steady Wins the Pace

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 27 November 2014

Written by students from the University of York on a work experience placement.

The renowned ecclesiastical architects Pace and Sims were prolific. Both were involved in a wide range of projects, from restoring Castle Howard, to designing memorials at churches and cathedrals, and constructing imposing new buildings such as Keele University chapel. During our work experience project, we unfortunately did not see any of the plans for the new builds. However, we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to catalogue renovations and extensions, which showed their subtle skill in combining modernism with medievalism. Indeed, Durham University’s Palace Green library bears witness to this. Another aspect revealed through the archives is the careful, methodical way in which they worked; it often took many years for projects to be completed for they were known for working at a slow pace. In fact, George earned the nickname ‘Snail’s Pace’ for this very reason!

The firm became one of Europe’s most productive ecclesiastical architecture practices, with over 700 churches and cathedrals being built, extended, and updated by Pace and Sims. This is certainly reflected in the Borthwick’s collection. Whilst they did work for larger and more famous churches such as Armagh and Newcastle cathedral, the majority of their work focussed upon the parish church, like St Mary’s, Beverley, St Giles’, Copmanthorpe, and St Mary’s, Northchurch.

St Mary’s Northchurch has an ancient history; the church claims to be one of the oldest in Hertfordshire. It is believed that a Saxon church was on the site and some Saxon stonework can still be seen in the west and south walls. The majority of the building is related to the 13-15th century, which matches the parish church expansion pattern seen nationally, as well as some Victorian additions (a vestry, a porch and a new north aisle). Sims was involved in quite a radical alteration of the interior of the church: the choir stalls and organ were moved from the north transept to the west end of the church. This significantly altered worship as it affected the acoustics and the procession. However, the changes did not end here as a new nave altar was built underneath the crossing. The Victorian interior was thus heavily impacted upon by Sim’s efforts. The simple but robust style effortlessly blends into the sensitive Victorian-cum-Medieval décor.

Copmanthorpe Church in York has a similarly extensive history with its Roman and Saxon roots. It began life as a Norman single cell church but slowly expanded over time; its plain outside does not continue inside as the elegant beamed roof adds a touch of symmetrical sophistication. St Giles’ church required some more modern features and hence, Sims was called upon. He designed a new vestry and kitchen. Whilst searching through the archive we discovered extensive sketches and photographs of what the interior was to look like as well as being treated to a photograph of the finished product.

In Beverley stands the beautiful church of St Mary’s, called by Sir Tatton Sykes in the 19th century, ‘Lovely St Mary’s, unequalled in England and almost without rival on the continent of Europe!’ It has undergone numerous building phases. Indeed, in the mediaeval period building work was almost continuous. This is reflected in a plan, from 1895, catalogued by us whilst on the placement, which dates each section of the church. Both Pace and Sims worked on the Beverley church but the archive contains plans from Leslie Moore and John Bilern too. Therefore, we were able to see the metamorphosis of the interior and exterior over a period of 100 years. The new roof for the south chapel in its rich blue effortlessly works alongside the stained glass and other decorated ceilings.

The Pace and Sims archive therefore allows the transformation of churches to be investigated, illuminated, and inspected. By just briefly analysing three parish churches, it is possible to notice how much of an impact, whether subtle or sublime, both architects made upon the ecclesiastical fabric of England.

Keeping Up the Pace (and Sims) at the Borthwick

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 24 October 2014

Written by students from the University of York on a work experience placement.

Death and Dairies at Castle Howard

Our week began with a brief introduction and tour of the Borthwick Institute’s archives and stores. The collection is massive and the works are housed in strong rooms which we were certain could survive the apocalypse! The collection varies from maps and photographs to books, wills, church registers and architectural plans which is what we focused on for the week. The Pace and Sims collection includes plans and sketches to English landmarks like Castle Howard. The works we were assigned are relatively contemporary, primarily dating between the 1960’s and the 1980’s with our most recent plan dating to 1999. The plans include designs for everything from entire buildings to notice boards and toilets. We even came across a full size sketch of a pillar in the Castle Howard Mausoleum which, at nine metres, stretched the length of the large Lifelong Learning Room!

The sketch was not very detailed and we believe this was because the architect may have been attempting to get a better idea of the height of the column.

The collection also included sketches of the Mausoleum on the grounds, originally designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. These photos are copies of the original plans by Hawksmoor. These were interesting in that they included a stamp and address of where they were kept as well as, presumably, a signature from the person who kept or collected these plans. With these copies we were able to see the differences and similarities between older and more modern plans. Here, we observed likenesses in handwriting between eighteenth-century architects and twentieth-century architects. Most interesting was the stamp from the National Buildings Record Office in Swindon. This was interesting as we discovered that the office in Swindon housed records and archives from various collections that were thought to be at risk from bombing during the Second World War.

Memorials and Mysteries at Newcastle Cathedral

Amongst mountains of architectural plans emerged designs in a language which we could not decipher….Danish! These were plans for the organisation of text for Danish memorials at St.Nicholas Cathedral in Newcastle at which Ronald Sims was Cathedral Architect for a time. In researching, we discovered that the memorials are still displayed at the cathedral in recognition of the Danish merchant navy which made Newcastle its home port during World War II. We found these plans to be poignant as we were not expecting to handle documents for World War II memorials, especially to those outside of England.

The plans for Newcastle Cathedral also included sketches for a stolen noticeboard which was replaced in 1999. It was interesting to watch the progression of designs from the original board to the creation of a new board. This included many revisions which allowed us to experience the evolution of something that is seemingly insignificant.

A Canadian in England!

In the first roll of plans from Clifton Campville Church we found plans for memorials and various inscriptions for the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Prince Edward Island. We have tried to make a connection between Prince Edward Island, Canada and Clifton Church in Staffordshire (a tiny parish in English midlands) but have not been able to find its relevance. This was particularly significant for one member of our team as she is a Canadian. It was fun to come across something that was tied to Canadian heritage and history within mounds of rolls of English architecture.

This week has been particularly useful and full of surprises. Not only were we given the opportunity to handle and catalogue archival materials but also learned how to clean these sketches (rolls from the Atkinson Brierley drawings). We were given the opportunity to view and handle doodles, names and scribbles within the margins of these plans giving us insight into the personality of the architect and the day-to-day management of a major architectural firm.

Photograph of a male student unrolling an architectural plan on a table. — One of our volunteers in action!

The Borthwick Move 10 years on – Gazing back at St Anthony’s Hall

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 15 October 2014

Written by Gary Brannan (Access Archivist and formerly Archives Trainee 2004-5)

I was just 21 (horrifically young, with a taste in fleeces and baggy cargo trousers – it was the early 2000’s, we did things differently there) when I arrived at the Borthwick Institute for Historical Research at the start of a warm September in 2004.

I was the new Archives Trainee, and I was nervous. St. Anthony’s Hall on Peasholme Green, York, was somewhere where I had spent a few happy months researching my undergraduate dissertation the previous summer, and during that period something had got under my skin that had made me come back.

I knew that I was starting at a pivotal time in the Borthwick’s history. The Institute, as the sign on the door reminded me, was closed, about to move to brand new premises on the Heslington campus.

Photograph of door sign saying 'The Institute is Closed' — Well, that’s me told.

It’s strange to think that it’s just about 10 years today since the first documents were carried from the old building to the new. The moving process had started in early October with the move of a lot of furniture and library stock, but the 15^th October 2004 was the last day for the collections at St. Anthony’s. Monday 18^th was The Day the Documents Moved. And they didn’t stop moving for well over a month and a bit, to 2 miles of new shiny shelving.

I was there that day, with my tiny digital camera – a very small (but at the time, really quite cool) item– hence the quality (or lack of) of the images. The camera didn’t have a flash and had a ridiculously long exposure, so a steady hand – and subject – was required, especially when shooting in low light levels. Really, the lens and processing in the camera will now be beaten by the cheapest smartphone – but I’ll wager that they don’t come with a cool like LCD screen you can slide over the viewfinder!

Obviously, 22-year-old-me was a bit snap happy, but the images below give a flavour of that heady time, of the old Borthwick, its creaking floors, draughty windows, beams soaked in history, and mysterious, untraceable footsteps in the distance.

Lots of people were taking photos at the time, so I’m sure over the next few months other photographs will emerge, but these images mean a lot to me. For once thing, they mark the start of my journey in this career.

10 years later I’m back as Access Archivist, and it’s really quite an odd experience – as an Archivist – looking back on the images. Day to day I’m dealing with our mediaeval collections dating back to the 11^th century, but the images I made then remind me that we’re all making, shaping and recording our personal life stories and sometimes, it’s fun to look back – before looking forward.

The images below are only a small part of our story – you can find much more on our website

The York Lunatic Asylum Scandal

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 10 October 2014

Written by Alexandra Medcalf

The York Lunatic Asylum opened in 1777, at a time when little was understood about mental illness. Without organised institutional care available, families were left to deal with the mentally ill at home as well as they could. It was usual to chain lunatics to the walls and to leave them naked (it was not thought possible for mentally ill people to feel cold) and alone. Madness turned people into animals.

Although there were grand ideals when it was first conceived of providing ‘relief to those unhappy sufferers who are the objects of terror and compassion to all around them’, York Lunatic Asylum soon fell onto a darker path. In 1790 a Quaker woman called Hannah Mills died at the York Asylum. No Friends had been allowed to see her during her six-week residence, to support her faith or to see the conditions in which she was being held. This led William Tuke to encourage the foundation of the Retreat in York, an institution built upon the Quaker idea that everyone should be treated kindly, and as an equal.

Concerns about the York Asylum continued to grow. After William Vickers was badly treated by the staff at the asylum, a Justice of the Peace for the West Riding called Godfrey Higgins interested himself in the case. Vickers had been released from the hospital bruised, lousy, dirty and so weak he could hardly stand. Other poorly-treated patients were discovered: Reverend Schorey who had been kicked down the stairs by his keeper, and Martha Kidd whose hip was dislocated during her stay. A meeting was called to examine Higgins’ accusations and nearly 40 local gentlemen (including members of the Tuke family and a number of their friends) took advantage of an old rule and paid £20 in order to qualify as governors of the asylum and effect change.

Investigations discovered that the number of patients at the Asylum had been growing, but poor financial management meant that the institution was struggling and conditions for the patients were poor. This should have caused a higher death rate but the figures published in the Asylum’s annual reports did not reflect this. Closer examination of the steward’s books made it clear that deaths had been concealed. In addition, it was discovered that the physicians at the Asylum had misappropriated significant sums of money from the institution. Before further assessments could be made, a fire began which destroyed one wing of the asylum and all of its early records. Four patients died. Rumours said it had been set by the steward deliberately to conceal the truth but this was never proven. Dr Best was never charged for his fraud but was forced to resign due to ill health.

Affluent patients at the Asylum were generally well treated. It was the poor who suffered. On a surprise inspection in March 1814, Godfrey Higgins insisted that the staff opened locked doors near the kitchen. When the key could not be found he threatened to break open the doors with a poker. Finally he gained entrance and found ‘a number of secret cells in a state of filth, horrible beyond description’, full of female patients, ‘the most miserable objects I ever beheld’. Elsewhere, ‘you might see more than 100 poor creatures shut up together, unattended and uninspected by anyone’.

In August 1814 at the governors’ annual court, new rules were made and the officers of the asylum were all dismissed. The staff were replaced with help from the Retreat Hospital.

In the aftermath, there was a full parliamentary enquiry to which Godfrey Higgins, Samuel Tuke and others contributed. The report was published in 1815 and can be read for free via GoogleBooks.

New website reveals the story of the lost Aero Girls (and boys)

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 25 September 2014

Written by Kerstin Doble, Project Curator: Who Were the Aero Girls?

Nearly a year after the search for the real life Rowntree Aero Girls began, I am delighted to announce the launch of a website dedicated to the remarkable stories of the women and men behind this collection of postwar paintings.

As many as 40 Aero Girls portraits appeared in Rowntree Aero chocolate advertising between 1950 and 1957, in British newspapers, magazines and early ITV commercials. An accompanying slogan proclaimed, “For her – AERO – the milk-chocolate that’s different!”

These representations of modern young women formed part of a successful campaign to relaunch the Aero bar onto the UK market following a break in production during the Second World War. Since the early 1990s, 20 of the portraits have been stored in the Rowntree & Co. Ltd Archive, with little known about the artists or the sitters. While the advertisers J. Walter Thompson wanted the portraits to stand out as being ‘different’ – like the chocolate itself – they kept the female sitters anonymous, and the product firmly in the foreground.

THE SEARCH

After launching a public appeal for information and hosting a landmark exhibition at York Mansion House in October 2013, we were contacted by our first living ‘Aero Girl’, Pamela Synge. Synge, now in her 90s, is a visual artist, performer and writer. Her portrait was also the only Aero painting to feature in a television advert, on the newly-launched ITV in 1955.

Another of our early successes was tracing the last living Aero artist, Arnhem veteran Frederick Deane, whose recollections provided the names of two more Aero Girls, former JWT Art Department employee Rhona Lanzon and the Vogue model Myrtle Crawford. Then, in March 2014, we discovered that the renowned contemporary painter (and soon to be winner of the John Moores Painting Prize 2014) Rose Wylie had been an Aero Girl. Wylie reflects that she was a “rebellious art student” at the time, adding that her true image was “more punk than Mills & Boon cover.” In fact, many of the other Aero Girl sitters also worked in the creative industries, as painters, lithographers, film directors and dancers.

Relatives of the Aero Girls and Aero painters have been tireless in helping us to piece together countless fascinating stories behind the paintings, which lead from the battlefields of the Second World War, through polite society in post-war London, to present-day celebrity, touching on art, social history, fashion, the changing role of women and even the Profumo Affair.

A new website gathers together archive images, footage, biographies and first-hand accounts about the Aero Girls collection for the very first time and you can explore it all at York Digital Library.

Over the last few days we have been contacted by another Aero Girl, the subject of Anthony Devas’ Art Student (c.1950). Painter and former art teacher Barbara Pitt was aged 17 and studying at Goldsmiths College of Art, London, when Devas painted her portrait. She moved to South Africa in 1965, and contacted us from her home in Cape Town with some colourful reminiscences of bohemian London and invaluable material from her own archive.

We would love to continue adding information to our online resource. If you would like to contribute to the ‘Who Were the Aero Girls?’ project please contact us at borthwick-institute@york.ac.uk

Dishing the Dirt on the Atkinson Brierley Conservation Project

Posted by sallyanneshearn on 22 September 2014

Written by Ruth Mather, Volunteer on the Atkinson Brierley Conservation Project

Archivists might baulk at the old stereotype of the ‘dusty archive’, but it is an image that rings true for some of the items in the Atkinson Brierley collection. When the collection was assessed in 2011/2012 of the 6414 architectural plans there were only 99 that did not require cleaning. This is where we volunteers come in. Thanks to generous funding from the Shepherd Charitable Trust, we meet every Wednesday morning under the supervision of the Borthwick’s conservation technician, Tracy Wilcockson. There are four regular members of our team – our longstanding volunteers, Catherine and Dave, and more recent (August 2013) arrivals, Kate and myself. We also occasionally have additional students or volunteers who want to find out more about conservation. At the start of the project we received training in handling the plans and in careful cleaning with special brushes and smoke sponges, and since then we have cleaned architectural plans of all shapes and sizes and in various degrees of disrepair. We get through about 1.5 smoke sponges per two-hour session and, as of June 2014, have now cleaned 25% of the plans identified for attention.

It might seem like a fairly mundane task, but cleaning the plans is a really important part of ensuring the Atkinson Brierley collection remains accessible to the public. Even when the plans don’t look particularly dirty, they can carry ingrained dust and grime which then rubs off on archive user’s hands and can be transferred onto other documents. Over time, the dirt will cause the document to deteriorate, so it’s really important that we clean as many of the plans as possible. Doing so means that people can continue to visit the Borthwick and use this fascinating collection, which includes plans of many of the public buildings in and around York, providing a wonderful source for local and family historians as well as those interested in architectural history from the Georgian period onwards. The collection includes documents as well as plans, and covers schools, churches, war memorials and country houses, not only in Yorkshire but as far afield as Ypres in Belgium.

As for us, the volunteers, we’ve gained a vital insight into what goes on behind the scenes in an archive. Every week, we handle a number of interesting documents and learn more about how they are cared for. We’ve also had talks on more intensive conservation procedures from the team, and learned about a digitisation project which used some of the plans we had cleaned to create an exhibition about the war memorials designed by the architectural firm. Last but not least, there is always good conversation during our sessions, and even occasionally cake and a coffee once the plans are safely back in storage! Our current list of plans to clean stands at 4618 documents, and we are hoping to secure funding to continue with the project after our current grant expires in October. The best thing about working on the project is the sense of helping to preserve a collection so that it can continue to be enjoyed for a long time to come, and possibly be digitised for even wider use.

We’d love to hear from others who’ve used the collection – what do you love about the plans and why?