Concordia 2025

Concordia Winter 2024

My First 100 Days as Archivist

Isabel Hesketh

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As the archivist, my job is to organise, preserve and provide access to the collections that date back to founding of the school in 1561, to safeguard these collections from deterioration and to build on the legacy of previous archivists and members of staff. Today, with so much of the school’s activities being recorded digitally, it is vital that the digital archive grows simultaneously. The archive has developed through the donation of generous bequests from OMTs and their families, as well as through the generation of school records that are actively appraised and selected for inclusion. The collection includes administrative records such as estate papers and building plans, inspection reports, pupil lists (blue books or probation books dating back to 1653), admissions records and registers dating back to 1825, examples of old exam papers, speeches and committee meeting minutes. Complete sets of the school magazine the Taylorian (first published in 1878 and now fully digitised), scrapbooks and diaries, press

While sitting at my desk in the school archive, located in the Maths corridor, I often hear the boys, as they pass on their way to class, look at the sign on my door and ask: ‘the school archive…what’s that?’ I am sure that some boys might not be aware that the school has an incredible collection of artefacts, and I hope that during my time as archivist I will tell the story of the school’s rich heritage through this collection, and that the boys will become increasingly familiar with the collections. The role of the school archive is to preserve and make accessible all unique and irreplaceable records and artefacts that have historical and cultural significance to the school. The archive plays a vital role in documenting and contributing to the collective and institutional memory of the school, and recording its administrative and intellectual activities. Reflecting a moment of time, it tells a story of where the school has come from and where it is going. It has been said before that staff and students all come and go but an archive lasts forever.