The Queen's College Record 2020

Reports and College Activities
A YEAR IN THE ARCHIVE
This report really should be titled ‘Half a Year in the
Archive’ as the Archive closed down entirely from April
to September 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic
forced the main College site to close and I was put
onto furlough.
Michael Riordan
Archivist
This meant that, sadly, one of the projects I described
in last year’s Record was unable to proceed. We
planned to appoint an Assistant Archivist to allow
us to re-catalogue the entire Archive. Obviously, this
was impossible while I was furloughed, and even on
my return the need for more flexibility in working from
home would make it difficult to carry out a project
where physical access to the records is essential.
It also seems unwise to add an extra member of staff into the New Library, which
already has five members of staff sharing office space. We hope it will be possible to
start the project in 2021.
We were, however, thankfully able to start our second project: the cleaning, repair
and rehousing of the College’s medieval deeds. These had been kept since 1930 in
the Bodleian and are now in the Historic Collections and Archive Store in the New
Library. They have been kept in the same, rather decrepit, boxes since 1930 and are
now being rehoused in specially designed envelopes and boxes which will ensure their
long term preservation. So far 690 of them have been cleaned and rehoused; this
is less than we hoped as the Oxford Conservation Consortium also had to close for
three months due to the pandemic. However, work has begun again and a further 182
deeds are currently in the conservation studio.
For the first half of the year the Archive’s normal activities continued, including an
exhibition of documents showcasing the College’s relationship with the North. I also
gave a talk on College history to Old Members at the Jubilee Matriculation Lunch and
a (very wet and bedraggled) tour of the College for those attending the study day on
the Chapel’s 300 th anniversary. Before we closed the doors there were 18 researchers
who visited to carry out research in the Archive, and I answered a further 121 enquiries
by email which included queries about Thomas Hardy, Reginald Jacques (whose
‘green’ book will be familiar to carol singers!) and the College’s cook in the 1820s who
was running a hotel in Cheltenham on the side!
44 The Queen’s College | College Record 2020