Borthwick Newsletter - April 2023

Posted on 3 April 2023

Welcome to the Borthwick's April newsletter

April in the Archives - delve into our catalogues with this month’s featured description

Including price lists, 1938-1939, draft and final circulars to representatives and wholesalers, 1938-1939; sales figures for each range of easter eggs, by sales region, 1939; correspondence and minutes of meetings concerning easter eggs range for 1940, 1939-1940.

[John Mackintosh & Sons Ltd Archive, Correspondence Relating to the Development Costing, Price and Marketing of Easter Eggs, M/S/ELF/36]

What’s new?

Over the last fortnight we’ve been having some work undertaken to repair the pointing in our roof. This work will continue until 28th April and is taking place just above our searchroom. Unfortunately this means that we can’t guarantee a fully silent study space at the moment. We’d like to thank you researchers for their patience over the past couple of weeks. If you’d like to book an appointment between now and 28th, please do get in touch on borthwick-institute@york.ac.uk and we’ll be happy to advise more specifically.

The end of March saw the completion of the cataloguing work on the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust archive by project archivist Sally-Anne Shearn. The early part of the archive was catalogued back in 2018, but this most recent work explored the JRRT’s records from 1960s onwards, documenting the shift in the Trust’s focus towards more political causes and their funding of campaigns supporting constitutional and electoral reform, devolution, press freedom, and civil liberties. The first part of the published catalogue is available now on Borthcat, with further sections being made available shortly. Watch this space!

We’re excited to say that the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Trust, whose archive we took in at the end of last year, have launched a new appeal to gather memories, artefacts, and documents of past performers, hirers, volunteers and theatre-goers, to preserve the community history of this community theatre. Volunteers from the theatre, which will celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2025, will be running a special campaign to collect much-loved personal items such as photographs, programmes, posters and press cuttings, with the aim to preserve them for future generations. Volunteers are in place to collect items between April 17th and 30th and to find out how to donate items please email friends@jrtheatre.co.uk or write to Community Engagement Director Graham Mitchell at the theatre with your contact details and an outline of what you would like to have deposited. Read the full story

New Accessions

Since the start of March we’ve taken in additions to the archives of the York Georgian Society and the Bishopthorpe Papers. We have also received the archive of the John Burrill Almshouses. The homes are located just next to Homestead Park in York. The archive dates from 1852, and includes the original deeds and probate records documenting the establishment of the almshouses, alongside minutes and other administrative papers. The archive also adds to the existing records we have of several York almshouses, including the Walker Barstow homes, Ann Harrison’s charity, Ellen Wilson and Dorothy Wilson charity, and the Wandesford Hospital archive.

New Catalogues

A painting showing a rural scene, with a cottage tucked behind some bare trees, with a pond and hedgerow

Since our last update, we’ve added new catalogues for the parishes of Bugthorpe, Wharram le Street and Nunburnholme.

Today we’ve also launched over 3,000 new catalogue entries relating to over 50 Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserves, including Askham Bog, Potteric Carr, and Spurn. The archive is an important source of environmental data about the unique and varied habitats of Yorkshire, as well as a rich collection of the voices and personalities that have played a key role in the shaping of the conservation movement locally and nationally. Explore the catalogue

Number of archival descriptions on Borthcat on 1st April 2023: 122, 263

Borthwick Out and About

Some of you might have spotted our Keeper of Archives, Gary Brannan, appearing with Dan Snow in an episode of the Channel 5 series The Black Death. Gary was sharing stories from probate records contained within the Archbishops' Registers, showing the impact of the plague on individuals and families in York. If you missed it you can watch it back on Demand 5, from about 16 minutes in!

Two men (Dan Snow and Gary Brannan) standing behind a manuscript volume

Our Art Curator Helena Cox chaired an exciting panel discussion on the future of curating at the Aesthetica Magazine Future Now! symposium, which also featured the University’s art collection.

We also have some events to look forward to! Later this month, in collaboration with the multidisciplinary postgraduate forum York Cabinet of Curiosities, we’re hosting two archival skills workshops here at the Borthwick. These light-hearted introductory sessions aim to give students and researchers the chance to familiarise themselves with archival material and how archives work - and offer the opportunity to have a look at some of our unique early modern print and manuscript sources. The first session is on 20th April at 5pm, and the second on 28th April at 2pm. No booking required!

This year’s Digital Creativity Week, running between 12th and 16th June, will be exploring the University of York’s Art Collection as well as material from the both the Borthwick and York Minster Library, with participants getting hands-on with cutting edge technologies, including immersive technologies in the Creativity Lab in the Library. You need to be a student or postgraduate researcher here at the University to take part and you should apply by 21st April. Find out more

Archive of the Month: York Health Archives Private Deposits

What is it? A 25-box collection of various photographs, documents and artefacts recording a more personal side to the health records we have here.

Where can I find it? The collection is listed on our online catalogue Borthcat

Why is it Archive of the Month? Covering 1722-2001, the archive is a fascinating and varied collection of material from a wide range of donors and depositors. There are deeds and photographs of the County Hospital, items relating to the administration of various health committees, and also records relating to individual nurses, doctors, and patients donated by families and individuals. There are records relating to Private Gordon Hulley, who was wounded in action in 1916 and treated in York, papers of pioneering physician Dr Sydney Smith, who came from a family of doctors and was a leading authority on the use of ultra-violet light in the treatment of skin conditions, and photographs and a nursing medal relating to Mabel Berry, MBE, who was Matron at Clifton Hospital and who played a large role in the introduction of occupational therapy for the patients there alongside the Medical Superintendent Dr Russell. These records, though they may seem ephemeral taken alone, are a valuable addition to our collections as they’re not only fascinating in their own right but offer a personal perspective on the main institutional archives we hold here.

We’ll be back with more news next month!