Just like last week’s blog post, this post focuses on some individual items from our wonderful community archive collections (and yes, I am biased- but I hope you’ll soon see why I think they’re so wonderful!). Don’t forget- you can click on any of the images in this post to see a larger version of them!
A collection I’ve been focusing on a lot at the moment is the York Scouts collection (BSA). It is a lovely collection and features lots of camp log books, like the one pictured below. These detail excursions, activities Scout members took part in, and even what food they ate! This one in particular features this little hand-drawn camp map…
You may have heard us mention the York Cemetery Company collection (CEM) in previous posts, as it’s a collection that our volunteers worked away at earlier this year. It is predominantly made up of bulky volumes, but the volume I want to show you is one that particularly stood out…
This volume, titled ‘Designs for Sepulchural Monuments’, contains plenty of intricate drawings of gravestone designs. Whilst cemeteries may not be the nicest topic, this volume certainly sheds some light on what it is like to design and produce gravestones.
More favourites of mine are these photographs, taken from the Cundall family collection (CPP). They show women (some presumably from the Cundall family) climbing a glacier in the Swiss Alps.
What I love most about this photo is how the women are dressed- in skirts and shoes that look rather impractical (and chilly!) for climbing, let alone climbing a glacier! Whilst the collection provides no background information on this particular photograph, I like to imagine the back story behind it; were this women climbing the glacier for a cause, or just as a fun holiday excursion?
Those are my highlights for this week! I’ve decided to make blogs posts showcasing what I like to call community collections ‘gems’ a regular thing, so expect to see similar posts over the next few months!
If you’ve come across something from our community collections that you think is particularly special, whether you’ve seen it in our Archives Reading Room or on our social media sites, we’d like to hear about it! Tweet us @YorkArchivesUK using #voicesofthearchives or email me at jennifer.mcgarvey@exploreyork.org.uk. Don’t forget- you can head over to our Pinterest page to see more community collections, or even book into our Reading Room and take a look for yourself!
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