Hull History Centre

 

Hull Truck Theatre Archive Project
Act I: Box listing

 

The first stage in most large archive cataloguing projects is box listing. Box listing is exactly what it says on the tin: making a list of the records in a collection by box. Listing provides the archivist with an overview of the collection and, hopefully, helps reveal how the records were originally stored and arranged. This original order is the basis upon which the final hierarchical structure of the collection catalogue is shaped, thus leaving the context of how records were used by the creating organisation intact. This context can be invaluable to researchers. A clear cataloguing structure also ensures that a collection is easy to navigate for anyone interested in the records.

Poster for children's play 'Joe Flash and the Singing Caterpillar from Venus' (1973)

Now that the box listing for the Hull Truck Theatre Archive is (almost) complete, a structure has become apparent. Over the decades the responsibility for Hull Truck’s archives appears to have been held by various members of staff, leading to a slightly muddled use of various filing systems. However, generally speaking, the records have been stored by type: production files, photographs, promotional material, audio-visual material, and stage plans. Amongst these records, there are also some administrative records and a small number of objects (including props and promotional items). Consequently, the series within the collection will be organised by record type, to reflect the records’ original order:

U DHT/1 Administrative files

U DHT/2 Production files

U DHT/3 Photographs

U DHT/4 Promotional material

U DHT/5 Audio-visual material

U DHT/6 Stage plans

U DHT/7 Objects

Individual items will then be arranged in chronological order within these series. Once fully catalogued, researchers will then be able to use the individual item reference numbers to order items to view in the Hull History Centre searchroom or to request copies via our Copying Service.

The Hull Truck Theatre truck (n.d.). Photographer unknown

Box listing also provides the archivist with their first discoveries! Sifting through records, some left untouched for decades, is always exciting. In the Hull Truck Theatre Archive I have already come across so many wonderful items, particularly from the Company’s early years after it’s foundation in 1971. In those first few years, the Company produced a wide variety of adult and children’s plays (with extremely interesting names - see the poster above!) and provided work for actors who would become big names in film and TV. The Company would tour the country in a truck, only taking up residence at Spring Street Theatre in 1983.

Spot the Hollywood actor - see below for the answer*

As I start on the detailed work of fully cataloguing the collection, more discoveries will be made, so watch this space to see what I find next…

 

 

Verity Minniti

Hull Truck Theatre Project Archivist

The Archives Revealed programme is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and The National Archives.

*Jim Broadbent