Caleb Howgego tells us about the work he’s been doing to make the collections of this AfSM Associate Member more accessible:
“I began working in the museum and archive at Ipswich School in November 2020, when I was initially engaged by the school to inventory the collection. Since then, my part-time role has expanded to include various other aspects of managing the archive, including responding to enquiries from former pupils and researchers, managing archive volunteers and helping with the development of the school’s archives website. In this article though, I’d like to introduce you specifically to the work that has been going on to make the collections at Ipswich School more accessible.”
“The archive appears to have been collecting things since the 1970s by dedicated volunteers. This time frame means there is a huge amount of material to make sense of and unfortunately – as is the case with many small (and sometimes even large) museums – the historic documentation of these objects was not as thorough as we would like for the efficient accessing of the material.”
“When starting this work, I appeared to be facing recording and organising thousands of densely stacked, unprovenanced objects, which did at times feel a little overwhelming! However, when dealing with a project of this size and complexity, one of the best bits of advice is to break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. I began by making digital floor plans of the different rooms in the archive; assigning names and numbers to shelves, show cases, tables and cabinets. I then made physical labels that were attached to these locations, so that when I began inventorying I had clear locations to refer to physically in each room as well as on a spreadsheet.”
“The initial basic inventory focuses on key information about objects such as: number of objects, object name, brief description and current location, so that we can begin to work towards Spectrum standards. One huge bonus to undertaking an inventory of the collection is that it is helping to build up a fairly comprehensive and accessible understanding of what is in the collections than I think has previously been the case. It’s also a great way of working out what could work well in future displays.”
“I’ve been assisted in my work in the archives by a team of volunteers, including some former pupils. They’ve helped with inventorying photographs and books as well as improving the packing of archive material in a way that will ensure better conservation.”
“The more of the collection we work through and the better the inventory gets, and the quicker we’ve been able to answer some enquiries. So far, I would estimate we’re around two thirds of the way through the initial inventory of the collection.”
“The museum and archive faced a challenge with storage of the material it holds. Put simply, there was not enough space available to store the number of items in its collection, which led to stacking of dense amounts of archive material and objects into crammed spaces. This creates two fundamental problems: Firstly, location management is difficult, which reduces the accessibility of the collections and secondly, the preservation of parts of the collections are threatened by unsuitable storage conditions. So, while we’ve been inventorying the objects, the volunteers and I have also been improving the condition in which the objects are stored.”
“We’ve been using materials such as Plastazote foam, sheets of Correx, acid-free tissue paper and acid-free cardboard boxes to re-pack many objects as well as spacing objects out more so that they are not so tightly packed and stacked on top of each other. This also makes it easier to locate objects when they are needed.”
