Recycling Archives

Every year all kinds of individuals and organisations offer us material for the archives. We accept many of these offers gratefully and happily accession the proffered material to the collections; but have you ever wondered what happens to the stuff we do not want? 

Now, this is a controversial topic in some quarters. As an archivist, the minute you say ‘can we dispose of this if we don’t want it, or would you like it returned’ to a depositor, we invite accusations to the effect that we are failing to preserve vital pieces of the nation’s history. What we are actually talking about in these instances are the multiple copies of a particular council report of which we only need one; draft and copy deeds where we have the official signed deed; or the editions of published works which are already on deposit in various libraries, and which do not constitute archival material. Once we explain this, fears are allayed and depositors go away reassured that we are not in fact throwing away unique medieval deeds!

So what do we do with the stuff we do not want? Quite mundanely, we recycle it using confidential waste bags and an external recycling company. How boring.

Me recycling things!

Now, before lockdown, I was working on a very large collection in which I found huge numbers of duplicate pamphlets and reports. Some of the pamphlets were bright and attractive looking. Of course, these all went the journey into recycling bags. But, with 20-27 September being designated ‘Recycle Week’ in the UK this year and September as a whole being dedicated to lifelong learning, it has got me thinking about whether or not there is something more interesting we could be doing; perhaps we could use the items we would usually recycle in the pursuit of learning a new hobby.

We have a fair number of creative types at Hull History Centre so I put this question to them, and I received the following suggestions:

• Origami flowers, animals, envelopes, butterflies, baskets and boxes (for the fun of it)
• Collage crafts with children (inspired by a lockdown entertaining young children)
• Hanging decorations (for the new parent wanting to decorate a baby's room perhaps)
• Paper snowflakes for Christmas (inspired by someone who loves Christmas too much)
• Eco-friendly wrapping paper (through in some linen tape for the full archival theme)
• Eco-friendly drainage lining for plant pots (inspired by Gardener’s World)
• Parchment deed lampshades (bit gruesome when you think about what parchment is)
• Looms and pompom makers made from old record boxes (just like grandma taught us)
• Papier mache balloon masks (as Halloween isn't too far away)

As you can see, origami ideas were abundant!

The upshot of this is that I’m going to challenge my colleagues to make something creative out of the next item they are about to recycle. We will be posting our creations on Twitter @Hullhistorynews as and when they come into being; look out for #recycling!

So I now put the question to you: What interesting and creative things have you done with unwanted paper items? Let us know on Twitter @Hullhistorynews. 

Claire, Archivist (Hull University Archives)