Diary of an Archive Intern

Hello everyone! My name is Daniela and unfortunately I’m writing to say goodbye to museum staff and share with all of you my experience in the archive with the curatorial folks.

Just a quick background on myself. I’m from Italy where I graduated in Science and Technology applied to Cultural Heritage.

You would say..what’s that? I know..it’s not easy to understand that somebody has to analyse chemical/physical/geological samples before starting to restore a piece of our past in order to understand the reasons for the deterioration. However, my passion for museum field started when I attended a course in Museology. Then I started to search for more exciting courses arould the world. Finally, I found the best Masters course in England (at least they say it is), Museum Studies at the Univeristy of Leicester.

Oops, I realised late that I couldn’t speak English at all! So, I decided to leave Italy a few months after my graduation, fly to England and start to learn some english words. And here I am, in the last part of the Masters course, in the Coventry Transport Museum for the work placement.

Initially, I decided to work in the archive because I think it would be like opening a magic window on our past. Yes, it’s magic because everytime I meet an object a new story appears in front of me ready to be uncovered. Indeed, you are able to discover the fascinating stories related to each object, in special way working in this archive I learnt many things about Coventry, as the birthplace of the British cycle and motor industry. As you can read on the museum website, the Museum’s archive is truly a great resource for anyone interested in the history of Coventry’s transport industry and the British transport industry in general.

One of the mini-projects I did was to re-organize the holding bay in order to clear space for new objects coming in. I met so many objects enabling me to understand who were behind some cycle and motor companies from the past Coventry. In fact, I found boxes full of bizarre and fantastic objects I have never seen before, such as old driving licenses, small parts of old cars, old plates, cycle lamps, maps and helmets just to mention a few of them.

Figure 1: some objects from the archive

For instance, I found an old black and white photograph showing a couple from Coventry on their tandem. The presenting letter written from their daughter was very touching. It tells how they coped in the World War II and their love for their tandem. That is absolutelly amazing, through an object you are able to know stories of people and time so far from you. It’s a completely dusty job but it’s definitely rewarding.

However, working in the archive is not so easy as it looks in terms of practical issues. In fact, most of the work in the archive are carried out by volunteers who are full of goodwill. I worked on many different mini-projects. I’ve unpacked boxes full of books (every day there are new objects coming in) and catalogued sales brochures, books, manuals, small objects and even the Thrust 2 (the fastest car in the world!) material purchased from J. Ackroyd (have a look to the Facebook page, they are our objects of the month!). You know my background is not in museum field but my supervisor, Megan, has been very patient and kind to teach me everything how to register an object from paperworks to digital database, mark an object and all procedures to entry an item in the museum.

Figure 2: the register and the special archive pen

Figure 3: technical manual shelves inside the archive

Figure 4: rolls aisle inside the archive

Overall it has been my first experience in a museum and i do really enjoy it! I have to thank all the curatorial team that have been so supportive with me. Now, I would like to carry on my new interest and look for a job!

Goodbye!

Oops i forgot to say one little thing about the archive world: it’s cold! So if you would like to do this job you have to wear a heavy jumper to keep you warm!!


Find out more about the Coventry Transport Museum archive.

Talbot Ledgers Archive Work

Staff in the archive section of the Museum have been working their way steadily through the piles of books, photographs, invoices and drawings. Occasionally something out of the ordinary turns up, and such a find was made recently. Four large ledgers were discovered in a pile of paperwork and although they were thought to be from the old Hillman factory, there were no obvious clues to their origin. However, a bit of detective work in checking the model types listed revealed them to be records of production from the Talbot Motor Company which was taken over by the Rootes Group in 1935.

Talbot started by importing French-built Clément-Bayard cars into Britain in 1902. In late 1904 the factory at Barlby Road, North Kensington, was finished and the company assembled cars from French made components. The first all-British Talbot appeared in 1906, and by 1910 the factory employed 600 men and could turn out between 50 and 60 cars per month. The fortunes of the company varied over the next thirty years, culminating in receivership in 1935 and subsequent takeover by Rootes.

The ledgers are a record of every car produced by Talbot between 1905 and 1938, and list each car in chassis number order together with brief details. These include engine number, wheelbase, wheel size, type of body, coachbuilder, date delivered and purchaser. Each of the entries (over 30,000) is handwritten and by only a small number of individuals – in fact the 7,000 plus entries in the fourth volume have been written by the same person.

Even more interesting are the histories behind some of the cars. Chassis number 5000 is one of the few cars to have no details listed, but in the notes column there is the pencilled comment “Competition Brooklands Racer”, and the date of building given as 7th November 1912. Could this be the 4½ litre Talbot in which Percy Lambert was the first person ever to cover a distance of 100 miles in an hour at Brooklands on 15th February 1913? And chassis numbers 31051 to 31054 are the famous cars raced so successfully by the Fox & Nicholl team in the early 1930s.

No less interesting is the social history. In the early days of production many cars were sold direct to individual customers, many of whom were titled, but even before 1914 most cars were being sold to dealers for onward sale. These dealers include names familiar a hundred years later, such as Mann Egerton and Caffyns, but also more exotic sounding names such as the Bombay Cycle Agency, the Oriental Motor Company and the Madras Stable Company. A number of chassis were exported to Australia. And although some customers were optimistically taking delivery of their new cars as late as 1915, production had been turned over to the war effort by that time. Whole production runs are shown as being delivered to the War Office or the Admiralty, many chassis being delivered for fitting with ambulance bodies. A large number of vehicles were destined for Russia, some fitted with the mysterious sounding “Hot Air Attachment”.

Unfortunately over a hundred years of use have taken their toll on the ledgers and they are too fragile to allow access for research purposes. But they are a significant addition to the Museum’s resources and work will continue to identify and catalogue more such information.

An 'Ace' Special Visitor

Last week we were delighted to be visited by Courtney Edenborough, son of Vick Edenborough who was the original owner of the Ace Cafe in London, on which our current exhibition Coming Of Age At The Ace Cafe is based.

Courtney was good enough to spend time sharing his recollections of the Ace in the 50s and 60s with staff at the museum, as well as being interviewed about his experiences for the Vic Minett show on BBC Radio Coventry & Warwickshire that afternoon.

We were fascinated to hear Courtney’s stories about life at the Ace – whilst he and his father were never hugely involved in the running of the cafe, which was one of five catering establishments owned by the family, Courtney’s weekly visits to collect the takings and have a meal were enough to provide him with a wealth of interesting tales from behind the counter.

It was great to hear that for many years the Ace’s best seller was the humble cup of tea – made in huge gallon tea pots and costing a ha’penny a cup when the cafe first opened, Courtney remembers the outcry from their loyal lorry driver customers each time the price of tea was raised. “They always came back in the end though” he told us.

But as we know it wasn’t all tea and sympathy at the cafe – whilst it was never intentionally promoted as a ‘bikers cafe’, over the years the Ace became a meeting place for young men and their bikes, and with them came some perhaps less desirable clientele. Courtney regaled us with stories of some of London’s criminal underworld who would come to the Ace for a celebratory meal after pulling off a big ‘job’ – but the police soon got wise to this and would come looking for them at the cafe!

Courtney himself was never a biker, in fact he told us about the one occasion he had ridden pillion on an AJS owned by one of the cafe’s customers and had the fright of his life as they burned off up the North Circular. Fortunately he was brought back to the Ace unharmed, but he was less lucky on the night he was coshed by a robber as he left with the week’s takings, causing injuries that have left him partially deaf later in life.

But there were loads of good times too, perhaps because the cafe was started in such a gentlemanly manner; Courtney’s father Vic sealed the deal to build the cafe on a handshake – no paperwork changed hands with the builder, no contracts were raised, but on this ‘gentlemans agreement’ one of the most iconic cafes in the UK was built and so began the fascinating story of the Ace.

When we asked Courtney what he thought of our Coming Of Age At The Ace Cafe exhibition he was extremely complimentary, saying that he thought we had captured the atmosphere and feeling of the old cafe perfectly – we couldn’t ask for higher praise than that.

Coming Of Age At The Ace Cafe, our exhibition which tells the story of the iconic cafe and its customers, is at Coventry Transport Museum until Sunday 2 October 2011. Full details and ticket prices here.

BBC Domesday Revisited

We are looking for Models for a 1980’s style Fashion Show to be held at Coventry Transport Museum on Saturday 27th August as part of the BBC’s Domesday Revisited weekend at Coventry Transport Museum.

We need 10 models to be our fashion stars’ to wear 1980’s fashions for a Catwalk fashion show during the afternoon of Saturday 27th August.
The fashion styles will be judged and there are prizes to be won!

Entrants must be over 18 years and supply their own 1980’s style clothes for the fashion show.

To find out more and to register yourself as a model for the show, you can either telephone Naomi Wilcox on Tel: 02476 234287 or
Email: education@transport-museum.co.uk

Learning Development Officers Update

Hello everyone. It seems it’s been quite a while since we last blogged. Since our 1940s weekend lots has been happening. Firstly, as you may notice, this is no longer the ‘Facilitators’ blog. Krissy and I have changed to the new role of Learning Development Officers. We’re really excited about the change and have been busy getting our teeth into developing lots of new learning opportunities and activities for all our lovely visitors!

We’re continuing with our Through The Decades weekends, and I can’t believe that we’re already coming up to our 1970s weekend (6^th-7^th August). It’s going to be a fun one and we’re dusting off our flares - if you come in you’ll be able to have a go at making some awesome 1970s glam rock masks, among other things.

I’m also really excited about our 1980s weekend on the bank holiday weekend at the end of August, we’ve teamed up with the BBC as part of their Domesday Reloaded project, and we’ve got a whole load of brilliant 80s events and activities happening over the weekend. These will include 80s games, 80s outfits to try on, 80s karaoke and lots more. On the Saturday we’ll be hosting an 80s ‘Bad’ Fashion Show, which we want YOU to be involved in! If you’re brave enough to come in sporting your worst 80s fashion looks and model them on our catwalk you could win an exciting prize - please get in touch for more info about this.

We’re very busy at the moment getting ready for one of the busiest times of the year at the Museum...the Summer Holidays. We’ve got a great ‘Retro Summer’ lined up with craft activities and trails to keep everyone amused all summer long - I did a quick stock check yesterday to make sure we’ve got all the materials we need and it’s looking good! Have a look on the website, or pick up one of our Retro Summer Leaflets for more info about what’s on each week.

Fast approaching too is our next Land Speed Record Weekend, and they just keep on getting bigger and better. We’re really lucky to be building a good relationship with the Bloodhound SSC team and this time round they’re bringing the full scale model of the new car for all to see. The car will be on Millennium Place on Sunday 24^th July, and Richard Noble will be giving a talk about the project in the museum. There will be loads of other fun things going on throughout the weekend, so come down and find out more!

Whilst all of this is going on Krissy and I are also working very hard to develop our schools offer. We get hundreds of schools visiting the Museum each year and we offer a range of different sessions and activities which school groups can book. Coming soon is a new and updated Schools Pack we’ve been working on which will have information about all of our sessions.

Hope to see lots of you in the Museum over the summer- enjoy your holidays!

Naomi

5 Minute Interview With Lesley Robertson

Lesley Robertson, Curator of Cycles at the Museum, is one of the members of staff involved in organising the annual Coventry Cycling Festival, which takes place in Millennium Place in front of the Museum, each Summer.

With just a couple of weeks to go until this year's Festival, we caught her for a chat:

Hi Lesley - firstly can you tell us what we can expect from the Coventry Cycling Festival this year?

Lesley Well, we kick off on Saturday morning with the Tom Sabin ride, which should be leaving the Museum at about 9am, then the Cycling Festival on Millennium Place starts at 10am. There will be mountain bike displays, an organisation called Cycle Magic will be there giving people a chance to have a go on all kinds of weird and wonderful bikes, there’ll be rickshaw rides for the less energetic, face painting, slow bike riding, ‘scoot bikes’ which are bikes for very young children, and there will be activities within the Museum itself – and we’ve also got a cycle-powered stage where local bands will be performing, and an arts and crafts and healthy food fair - so it should be a real feast of pedal powered fun all weekend long!

Which part of the festival are you most looking forward to?

Lesley Probably the Tom Sabin ride – I love to see the riders setting off and understanding why they’re doing it. The point of the ride is to commemorate the achievements of Tom Sabin – he was a cyclist from Allesley in Coventry who was the first person to win a gold medal for cycling at the first modern Olympics at Much Wenlock, so we organise a bike ride from Coventry to Much Wenlock – 100 miles there and 86 miles back.

And you had a go at riding the route yourself recently didn’t you?

Lesley Yes – three of us from the Museum rode the outward route a couple of weeks ago – it took blood, sweat and tears! No, seriously it wasn’t too bad, although we had a headwind for 80 miles, Clive struggled with his knees – when we got to the top of Clee Hill Clive went into the cafe to ask for a bowl of hot water and a tea-towel to wrap round his knee...
We had a few tantrums along the way, but we made it, and were met in Much Wenlock by a lovely Blue Badge Guide called Suzanne who showed us round and gave us a wonderful welcome.

So if anyone reading this fancies getting involved in the Tom Sabin Ride, is it still possible?

Lesley Yes we’ve still got spaces available, the closing date for entries is Wednesday 22 June – I would say though that they do need to be reasonably experienced riders – it’s a pretty tough route but well worth the effort.

We do have another ride as part of the Festival though – a much easier route called Ride To The Romans, which is about 10 miles from the Museum to the Lunt Fort at Baginton. It leaves Coventry at 2pm on the Sunday (26 June) and it’s very much a family ride – we encourage people to bring a picnic and have it when they arrive at the Lunt, where they will get free entry on the day. It’s a really lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and there’s no need to book, just turn up on the day with a bike!

What will you be doing during the weekend of the festival?

Lesley I’m in charge of the Slow Bike Ride! It’s held over both days, and people have to ride a bike round a course as slowly as they can without falling off or touching the floor – the slowest time recorded in each of the three age groups will win a bike to take home! It’s a lot of fun. We’re also holding a raffle to win a bike, so overall there are four bikes to be won over the weekend.

Finally, can you tell us about why Coventry has a Cycling Festival?

Lesley Well there are a few reasons – firstly to acknowledge Coventry’s history with bicycles and cycling generally – the City was at the centre of cycle manufacturing for many years, and some of the most important innovations in cycling were made here, so we love to shout about that heritage. Secondly we want to make cycling accessible for as many people as possible and show them how much fun it can be, which is why we offer such a range of different types of activities at the festival. Finally, we just enjoy putting on a fantastically fun weekend of pedal-powered activities – the festival gives families a chance to get active in loads of different ways and enjoy spending time together, and that’s what we love to see.

Thanks very much Lesley! Coventry Cycling Festival 2011 takes place on Sat 25 & Sun 26 June - find out more here.