We had a great time working with the students listing and packaging material in the Melvyn Bragg and Tony Harrison collections. We hope that some of those students will do follow-on work in the coming months.
Two weeks ago I thought I had pinned down the Bragg collection. I had decided on a cataloguing system and was ready to start a working arrangement with a group of students. Little did I know that I would be thrown off course by the discovery of ten boxes
I do not wish to labour the point – but order is not something I am finding much of in the Bragg collection. However, the pieces are beginning to fall into place.
Collections don’t sit in isolation - they constantly reveal themselves as connected, especially across the cataloguing workroom.
Research will uncover many mysteries in a collection but I have a key advantage – ask the man himself.
It is straightforward to give this item a day and month – but year?
Editorial notes provide insight into writings – as is the case for Bernadette
It is all too easy as an archivist to become consumed with the subject of your cataloguing work.
Cataloguing such a large (and unsifted) collection as Melvyn Bragg’s presents a mass of material to unpick. It is the archivist’s job not only to create a usable research aid but vitally important to assess the value of the material for research.
On 21 November 2011 Special Collections featured in a BBC Radio 4 documentary “The Brotherton Archive and Me”.
