Happy as a pig in muck – Archives, archives and more archives! Part 1

This week I went very much back to basics and found myself in the archive, both in a physical and digital sense, conducting original primary research. I spent the best part of the week examining documents, some of which were over 200 years old, and loved every single minute of it – well, mostly, but all in good time! There was a sense of urgency in my attempts to plan as many archive visits as possible as I have a couple of big ‘events’ coming up in the next few months and as we all know, early preparation – especially given that I’m starting the PhD in September – is always a good idea! I do slightly feel as if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, however I do tend to thrive under the pressure and I’m really excited about each of the projects!

So, I started this little research binge at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archive which was my first experience of a Borough Archive, unless you equate it to a County archive, then Surrey History Centre would be awarded that accreditation. But I digress. But how did I end up there one might ask? And in fact a couple of people have asked me that very question, as it’s a bit off the beaten track and not the most obvious choice to have made.

Well it was in fact the result of an enquiry placed with the Museum of London Docklands in search of material that might shed further light on the life and business of Charles Jamrach.  As part of my ongoing research I really want to try and figure out which London Docks Jamrach was importing into and whether any manifests survive that might tell us a bit more about the transportation of exotic cargo from ‘source’ to the ‘middle man/distributor’. It was therefore through correspondence with the archivist at the Museum of London Docklands that the suggestion was made that I make enquires with Tower Hamlets Library and Archive, as it was explained to me they hold material that focuses expressly on the Borough of Tower Hamlets. So this is exactly what I did and having received a positive response that they do hold some material, off I went, fortunately on a Saturday which meant no need to take a day of work!

 It transpires that the Archive and Library is open on the 1^st and 3^rd Saturday of the month, which for others in a position like I am is a huge benefit. Generally speaking, most archives tend to run 9-5 hours and so if you’re working, conducting research requires you taking holiday. But not in this case. The discovery of Saturday opening hours, especially in relation to a small and locally funded archive, that I expect only attracts a certain niche of researchers, was therefore a hugely pleasant surprise.

What I found was an archive with a lot of character but one I couldn’t help feel harks back to a bygone age. There was lots of wood cladding and retrograde steel shelfs and I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the cataloguing system or lack thereof - an online version is coming soon which is fantastic, but as a researcher you are completely dependent on the assistance of the archive staff and of course, they can’t always know what you are looking for, because half the time you don’t really know until you find it!

I suppose I’ve been very spoilt in what I’ve experienced in other archives before now, as they’ve tended to be the larger, well-funded ones. For example, I am used to drawing up a list with reference numbers of what I’d like to see before I turn up, or the very least will have arranged this with an archivist beforehand. However that didn’t happen in this case. I was just told to turn up but then when I arrived, I was asked to provide references – catch 22. There is also a further complication which has arisen through subsequent correspondence because referencing on the original material isn’t particularly clear and it’s therefore been difficult for me to supply an accurate reference number for an item I’ve requested a copy of.

I feel pretty useless being so vague about it, as it’s normally something I am very particular about. I want to be able to go back to the original material and re-source what I found, but I also want others to be able to do the same thing if and when they need to – to both corroborate and question my work. And this was also made difficult by the fact that in a number of cases, the material I was looking consisted of newspaper clippings, cut out from the original newspapers and merely stuck to pieces of card, not necessarily with their provenance labelled anywhere. I found this all quite prohibiting as a researcher, so while I may have found some great material, and some pictures I’m very pleased to have found (we now have a face for the name for example), I’m a little hesitant to use them, as I’m not entirely sure where they’ve come from - at least not at the moment. All in all, it felt a little haphazard if I’m honest, but, on a positive note we did get there in the end and the archivist was very helpful in producing a lot more material that I had anticipated being available, so all in all it was a very beneficial visit and I left on a bit of a high it has to be said.

I also had my first microfiche experience at Tower Hamlets Archive which was simply terrifying. Never having used it before I did ask for a tutorial, which the archivist was very happy to provide, but the whole process still scared the life out of me and I had horrible visions of pushing the button too fast and the film bursting into flames and being lost forever. I’m not sure I’d race to use it again – I’d much rather stick to digital archives or those with pages I can turn!

So high on the success from earlier in the week I then headed off to another, arguably more well-known and well used archive, where I spent the next two days. The first day was brilliant. I was very impressed with the archive, the organisation and the staff who were very friendly and accommodating and who helped to create a really nice environment in which to work. As sometimes happens, the material was not all relevant or what I had been hoping to find, but I did find a few nice surprises and had a bit of a refresher in reading 19^th century italicised handwriting. It felt really good to be back in the archive, in a more traditional sense – it had been too long, so all in all I had a really nice and productive day.

However, the second day, or rather, the last half an hour of that second day, was a completely different story. When it hit shift change we ended up with a bit of a jobsworth on the desk and I left feeling completely enraged. The demeanour of that particular archivist is exactly what can put ordinary members of the public off going to archives and what helps to preserve the image that archives are only for the use of the ‘elite’ and members of the ‘academy’. This particular archivist didn’t attempt to educate, but reprimanded in quite an unpleasant tone. Hands up, my original set up wasn’t as it should be, I did have part of the file (a corner) hanging over the edge of the desk, and rightly so she told me to place it more centrally on the desk – fine, I don’t have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is her both doing it for me and the tone that she adopted. Teach me, don’t lecture me.

But the second thing that also really got me was being told that I couldn’t hold up the documents or angle them ever so slightly in an attempt to decipher, what is quite difficult handwriting to read. I am a historian. I appreciate that documents are fragile and I didn’t take the decision to lift that particular document lightly. Had it been fragile, or tearing or weak in any way I wouldn’t have chosen to look it at that way. I assessed what was in front of me and reacted suitably. And I think that particular archivist needs to appreciate that. As visitors to the archive, we’re not all inferior because we don’t hold the title of archivist.

Documents like those I had been viewing, have been kept to be studied and that’s all I was doing. There was no man handling, just holding it lightly at different angles – and the insistence that they could offer a magnifying glass, I’m afraid, wasn’t go to make that task any easier. The size of the text wasn’t the issue, but had I been asked rather than pre-judged, I might have been able to explain that.

I know archives have rules and guidelines for a reason, but I also think the value in their existence is the use people are able to make of them. Provided people are respectful and careful with the material they handle, we shouldn’t be reprimanded for how we hold a document. It’s a bit backward and old fashioned for my liking - I wouldn’t be surprised if this same archivist favoured the white glove approach as well!

Just why I’m on my soapbox - this particular individual even prohibited a visitor taking a picture of the library. Not specific items or artefacts, just the room as an entity. I mean come on?! Archives shouldn’t be closeted, mysterious entities shut off from the world. They can offer so much, but people need to know they are there in the first place. If anything, that’s what I took most from my experience of Tower Hamlets Archive. I needed to know it was there before it could be of any use to me and what use it was?! The whole thing just really grated on me – especially as it didn’t appear to be the archives’ ethos, just the ethos of that particular archivist.

I can’t help but think, if I felt intimidated having used numerous archives in the past, how would someone inexperienced feel? It really would be enough to put some people off and it continues to promote this elitist approach to archival study and that is something I really resent. I think so many organisations have come so far in accepting ‘modern’ historical practice and in welcoming those from outside the academy, but some and some individuals, have yet to catch up with that philosophy. So yes, you could say that particular archivist put a right downer on the day.

To be continued…

The Subterranean Secret Lair of Britain’s Second World War Leaders.

The Cabinet War Rooms

It’s been a long, long time since I last went to the Churchill War Rooms but after numerous visits to London in recent months where I’ve walked past it and said “I really must go back there”, I finally got around to it. It’s the second recent visit I’ve made to a place affiliated with Winston Churchill in the past month; the first having of course been Blenheim Palace which was the feature of another recent blog, and it is perhaps rather apt given that this year marks the 50^th anniversary of his death.

Having first become operational at the end of August 1939, it’s always struck me as a bit odd that the War Rooms remained largely intact immediately after the war, never having been fully dismantled or turned back into the stores and offices they had once been.  An odd view for a proponent of heritage to have perhaps, but also somewhat redundant as we know this didn’t happened.  It was as if someone knew how much of interest they would be in the future, for most of the important rooms have remained preserved and untouched for some 70 years since the end of the Second World War.

Visitor Feedback built into the exhibition

The War Room’s caretaker, Rance, stayed on post- war and after a 1948 press conference revealed the secrets of the Rooms, he began giving tours, enlightening visitors to what had once gone on there. This marked the beginning of a surge in interest in the War Rooms over the next thirty years, resulting in the Imperial War Museum being asked to restore the site and open it as a museum to the public, which it did in 1984. Ever since it’s commanded worldwide interest and remains a highly popular attraction with tourists visiting London – you only have to look at the admissions queue for evidence of this!

They may date from 1939, but it is under the leadership of Prime Minister Churchill, whose term in office began in 1940, that the War Rooms really began being used and with whom they will undoubtedly, forever be associated and remembered.  It was from these rooms that Churchill commanded the war effort of Britain and it’s Empire; held important meetings, as the Blitz raged on overhead; in which he contemplated and planned for the anticipated Nazi invasion; and into the adjacent map room that he brought some of his most important visitors to demonstrate the thorough and high-tech charting of the war. This subterranean network has some fascinating stories to tell, many of which are unveiled on a visit.

The War Rooms consist of a series of rooms connected by a network of narrow passages – what you’d expect really from an underground HQ. But as a visitor what this means is on a busy day it’s a bit claustrophobic and the day I visited, it was very, very busy. A lot of people were tripping over each other to get around and have a good look and I felt a bit harassed at the beginning, it has to be said. However, what I was immediately struck by was the sense of authenticity embodied here. The War Rooms really evoke the ‘sense of place’, that can really entice a visitor to connect with their experience.

Many of the rooms are still ‘dressed’ as they were left and it is like peering into a window in time. It’s not a museum in an abstract setting, the information being told here relates directly to events that went on within those exact rooms; that table is where the Cabinet met and made decisions, Churchill spoke on that telephone, and Mrs Churchill slept in that bed. These things are fact – ok they could be replicas - I’m pretty sure they weren’t but they could be - but you get my point. On the whole, this is a genuine piece of history, a snapshot in time, and in overhearing other visitors’ comments on this aspect; I would conclude that the War Rooms are successful in capturing interest on this very basis.

One of the Rooms occupied during the war

I was actually surprised at how much there was too see and how much has remained untouched; the map room being particularly impressive. The walls are still covered with wartime maps, each of which is punctuated by thousands of tiny pin holes, charting the movements of naval and military conveys across the world. There is even a key pinned to one wooden post providing an indication of which country is represented by each colour. It’s kind of eerie in a way, knowing that most of what occurred in the war would have been fed back into this very room. It sort of bought home the enormity of it all again, just in a different way.

One of the many maps still in situ.

In terms of transmitting information the War Rooms depend on visitors using an audio guide, each room having been designated a number which you then type in to hear the information. I was always a bit anti-audio guide, I much prefer making my own way around and not being dependent on a device to gain information, but in this context audio guides seem to be the best option. Realistically there is little space for information panels or guides and if there were, given how many people you’re battling your way around, I suspect they would be difficult to access and read. Having the audio guide means you can tuck yourself in a corner and have a listen at your convenience, either before, after, or while viewing the rooms it’s talking about. It’s also very helpful in finding your way around, signalling which way to go!

An artefact that particularly stood out for me was the map of Europe which proposed how Germany would be divided up in zones of occupation after the end of the war and which had been used by Churchill at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945. World War Two was the focus of most of my pre university history education in one way or another, so I knew at a conceptual level that this happened, but to see the actual map which had been drawn on, shaded in and annotated really bought it home.

What I hadn’t realised was that the War Rooms also contain the Churchill Museum, a dedicated sub-museum to the man some claim is ‘Britain’s greatest politician and historical figure’ (1) and I was very interested to read in the guidebook after my visit, the intention of this museum. Here’s the passage I found particularly insightful:

Winston Churchill, has become a two dimensional and slightly unreal character. His reputation rests largely on superficial knowledge, constantly replayed images and on one brief –albeit momentous – period of his life. The Churchill Museum has taken on the difficult task: a ‘personality museum’ could so easily slip into the pitfalls of dullness or hagiography. There was a clear need for a museum which could explore the complex nature of Churchill’s life and his long political career…

One they further outline would challenge the existing narrative and reveal aspects of his life and personality that were otherwise unknown or forgotten (2). And what a way to do it. The exhibition puts into perspective his whole life, focusing on five key areas; his childhood, early political career, ‘Wilderness years’, War Leader and Cold War Statesmen. And I have to say, I came away having learnt a great deal, because I too was guilty of having this ‘two dimensional’ view of Churchill that did only really concentrate on his role as a war time leader.

As you enter the Churchill Museum, the introductory panels explain at the outset how ‘This exhibition explores the real man behind the icon’, so early on you are being challenged to reconsider any existing knowledge you may already have. This was something my friend had mentioned to me when we were at Blenheim, and something she argued the War Rooms explored more directly than at the former. I just hadn’t realised how head on they really do deal with it. I dare say they could have taken it even further, but as it stands they have pushed those preconceived ideas we have as a society about Churchill, and even more impressively, have done so without alienating themselves from more traditional 'thinkers' in the process. I didn’t feel like the museum had ruined by perception of Churchill, just encouraged me to reconsider it and I did leave feeling as though I’d been given a more rounded perspective of him; one that included his odd habits and more controversial politics.

Interactive Screens challenge what you know or
understand about Churchill, in this case his views on the Empire

The use of touch screens was also particularly helpful in encouraging visitors to engage with this idea. Through this medium visitors are asked quite thought provoking questions about some of Churchill’s more controversial politics. For example, one screen poses the view ‘Churchill’s views on India were based on race’ and you’re invited to cast your vote (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Not Sure, Agree or Strongly Agree). You’d then be offered access to further information - primary sources and research that you could read and continue to take further until you’re asked again if you'd like to reconsider your original response. Once you’ve made that decision you are then shown the rest of the results and can see what other visitors have thought when doing the same activity. I think it’s a really well done element, tackling something quite challenging. It wasn’t lecturing or pushing a view point on you. Each screen offered you further information upon which to draw your own conclusion – museum visitors doing their very own history - what can be better?!

A large interactive map provides the museum's 'centre-piece'
and allows visitors to interact with far more archive material than could
otherwise be displayed.

A display of personal family photos
and letters between Winston
and Clementine

The techniques used by the Churchill Museum are broad and varied across the space and offer visitors an experience which is something of an assault on the senses which I liked, but also found to be a bit over whelming. A high level of modern technology has been used to make it interactive. There were sound effects, video excerpts, photographs and objects; all exhibited in designated areas that focused on a particular period of his life, with each segment being centred on a large interactive table offering visitors a platform through which to engage with a more extensive range of the museums archive material about Churchill’s life and career. There is really a sense that the museum wants to project a rounded image of Churchill to the public, but also to arm them with as much material as possible to draw their own conclusions and move beyond this overriding image and understanding we have of him as the War Time leader.    

One of many interactive screens - this one picking out
Churchill's famous and lesser known quotes.

I have a vague memory of visiting the war rooms when I was younger but this recent visit has been really thought provoking and has really challenged my pre-existing understanding and knowledge of Winston Churchill. I think the Churchill War Rooms offer visitors a chance to engage dynamically with this area of history, offering a good balance of good ‘academic’ history, as provided by the Churchill Museum, and good ‘popular’ history, as provided by the War rooms. It was a great day out and one I would certainly recommend - I’m very glad I finally got around to spending my afternoon there!

P.S....

....There always seems to be a wild/exotic animal trade/gifting link in the unlikely of places! 

(1)    Churchill War Rooms Guidebook.
(2)   Churchill War Rooms Guidebook.