Acquiring and dealing with new collections is very much part of our day-to-day work – last year, for example, we took in 47 new archives amounting to some 429 boxes of material. Once a formal agreement has been reached with the donor, and the material has been transferred to LSE, we usually do an initial assessment of the collection so we know what is there, identify any files containing potentially confidential or sensitive information, and weed out low-level administrative files aren’t worth keeping permanently. We also add a collection description to the catalogue, and for larger collections, compile a brief box or file list to provide basic access.
Our collection policy is defined but broad, reflecting the wide research interests of LSE, so when I am timetabled to process new accessions, I never know what I will end up with! This last month has brought me, amongst other things:
The historic records of the European Movement, a pro-European campaigning organisation. This archive – 25 boxes in total – dates back to the Movement’s foundation in 1948, and includes minutes, financial accounts, administrative correspondence and publicity materials.
Five boxes of field notes and photographs relating to the Vinayaka Chaturthi festival in Tamil Nadu, compiled as part of a research project led by Professor Chris Fuller in 1999-2000. This festival is a celebration of public devotion to the popular Hindu god Vinayaka, also known as Ganesha, the god of beginnings and obstacles, who is worshipped at the start of important ventures to ensure their success. It is also significant because it has been developed by Hindu nationalist organisations as a vehicle for disseminating their political message.
And, on a lighter note, three LSE Mountaineering Club journals from the 1950s. These include reports of Club expeditions to Borneo, the Atlas Mountains, the Alps, Brazil and even the Himalayas. Not everyone was an expert though. Ernest Gellner enjoyed his outing with the Harvard Mountaineering Club in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, particularly the old hearse they used for transportation (‘combining economy with a sinister sense of humour’). But he felt his mountaineering skills let him down: ‘I was as usual, a disgrace to British climbing. Someone better come out here and restore prestige.’
Tags: Ernest Gellner, European Movement, LSE Mountaineering Club, Vinayaka Chaturthi