Heritage Open Days 2020 – Join us in the virtual archival garden…

With so many places struggling to maintain safe operations at this time, ourselves included, you might think that the Heritage Open Days programme would have to be cancelled this year. However, the organisers have urged heritage venues up and down the country to be inventive and to do as much as possible online. To co-ordinate this new approach, the local organisers for Hull and Beverley have created a website where you can find out more: hullandbeverleyheritagecollection.co.uk. For our part, whilst the History Centre cannot run our usual talks and tours programme, we can use the magic of social media to share the beautiful collections in our care. 

This year’s Heritage Open Days theme is ‘Hidden Nature’, and what more appropriate a theme could there be after 6 months of being cooped up in our homes? 

Archival collections themselves might be considered as ‘hidden things’; closed off, safely stored away in little boxes, behind the steel doors and concrete walls of the strongroom. Without knowing the reasons for this, you can easily be forgiven for thinking that archivists, the people who look after these collections, are mean, possessive and controlling individuals who do not want anyone to use ‘their’ collections.

However, archives do not belong to anyone set of individuals; they belong to society. Archives are a unique and significant record of our shared history; they record the events and issues that have affected us and shaped our identities and actions. Archivists are responsible for ensuring that this record is not lost or damaged. We seek to provide physical access to archives in reading rooms, and we are always looking for novel ways to share the collections with as wide an audience as possible. We do this whilst still trying to preserve the collections so that future generations have the same opportunities to access and benefit from them. 

At a time when society is grappling with questions of inclusion, redressing imbalances, and coming to terms with how we treat different groups of people, these same questions have pervaded the archives sector. Issues exist around limited access and poor rates of inclusion and engagement with non-traditional archives users. A virtual HODS 2020, therefore, gives us a fantastic opportunity to democratize the archive in a small way, to share our collections with a far wider audience than we could ever hope to in person.

So take your laptop, tablet or phone out into the garden, listen to the birds and be at one with nature, as we take you on a tour through the secret garden of the archives.

To start us off, this photograph of an enticing footpath leading through a gloriously flowery garden comes from the U DX336 collection, a lovely little treasure trove of 1920s photographs documenting various places in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

[Reference No. U DX336/80/41]

Here we have what must be one of the biggest hedgehogs I’ve ever seen. A regular visitor to the garden of noted poet and amateur photographer, Philip Larkin, this little guy is thought to have inspired one of his most famous poems.

[Reference No. U DLV/3/222/11]

Victor Weisz, better known as ‘Vicky’, was a well-known political cartoonist. He wrote many notes and letters to his wife, Inge, and illustrated each one of them in some way. In this example, we see Vicky and Inge sitting in a garden enjoying nature the naturist’s way!

[Reference No. U DX165/7]

What a surprise we had when, opening a notebook recording genealogical notes, we found this adorable and strange little creature lurking between the pages. Apparently, it is a Brazilian porcupine. 

[Reference No. U DKY]

Another contribution from the Larkin photograph collection captures the lesser-spotted shoulder bear, thought to be resident in the grounds of large Pearson Park houses, it has only been caught on film this one time. 

[Reference No. U DLV/3/19/1]

We can’t do a blog about hidden nature without including a feature of East Park that has so delighted children and adults across the decades; the folly and rockery have long since been a great place for hide and seek games.

[Reference No. U DX336/35/8]

Hidden by time and redevelopment, West Park was once as beautiful as East Park and featured an ornate bandstand nestled on the banks of a small lake.

[Reference No. U DX336/33/9]

The usually green and verdant grounds of the University campus are here hidden in snow during the cold winter of 1963. But the next few posts will reveal the brighter side of campus life…

[Reference No. U PHO/A275-3]

Some of our University of Hull students seem to have found a novel way of bringing nature to them in order to brighten up the boring walls of their student accommodation.

[Reference No. U PHO/A2151]

Once part of the University of Hull, used for accommodating students, Thwaite Hall is a hidden gem in Cottingham. Imagine looking out on those grounds whilst working on your essays.

[Reference No. U PHO/Album/Thwaite]

Needler Hall was another accommodation building used by the University of Hull. This beautifully laid out hidden garden must have provided some much-needed serenity for many a student during exam term.

[Reference No. U PHO/Album/Needler]

And finally, in a variation on our theme, this time we see nature doing the hiding, with the brutalist buildings of the University’s ‘Lawns’ accommodation being hidden from view by huge trees.

[Reference No. U PHO/Album/Lawns]

We will be posting these images on our Twitter and Facebook accounts over the course of the next 10 days, so keep an eye out and let us know which is your favourite!

Claire, Archivist (Hull University Archives)