Over a couple of weekends late last year, a group of enthusiastic and dedicated alumni came together and volunteered their time to make a start on creating a History Centre at Emmanuel College.
The History Centre will look to preserve and care for the many artefacts that tell the story of the College’s rich 150-year history while creating a place where these items can be safely displayed and shared with our students, staff and alumni.
Under the experienced direction of alumni (Class of 1991), and past Curator and Collection Manager at Flagstaff Hill, Helen Myers, our volunteers learned some of the key practices used by museums to care for items so that they may be shared with future generations. Helen covered areas of conservation, from cleaning and handling, to packaging and storage, to research and cataloguing.
The team involved are Michelle Cust (Class of 1987), Jane Gorman (1966), Karen Jongebloed (1975), Geraldine Melican (1976), Marie Morgan, Marita Thornton (1965), Kim Tobin (1979), and Anna van Rooy (1976). Already they have made some fabulous progress, organising and preparing the storage spaces, and packaging and cataloguing our artefacts. Along the way, they have been finding photos and articles containing friends and events of their school days. These treasured items provoke a beautiful diversity of stories of the people and the places they hold.
We look forward to building this place of learning and reflection, and will keep you up to date, as we come across rare finds and the stories attached.
An item we do not currently have in the collection is a CBC cap. Although remembered by most CBC boys as itchy and annoying, we’d love one for our collection. So if you have one hidden in a box somewhere and would like to donate it - get in touch!
