Woolly Scrapbooking – Research at the ARC

We were very pleased to help Sarah who contacted us recently, saying:

‘I am a Master’s Folklore Studies student at the University of Hertfordshire and am currently undertaking a short piece of research about how members of the Girlguiding movement have created their own folklore, preserving their memories by fixing badges and other memorabilia onto their camp blankets.’

Sarah spent several hours at the ARC taking photographs of some of our blankets; she was very grateful for the help from Marian, Ann and Angela in supporting her work.

‘It’s quite amazing looking at a part of someone’s life story lying in front of you on a table – I found it quite a humbling and emotional experience.  I also came away with a new-found appreciation of how tricky it is for archivists to work with collections in small spaces – it  must certainly present you with some unique challenges!’

Subsequently Sarah interviewed the County Archivist who then circulated a survey. Sarah was delighted with the response:

‘In the end there were 206 responses to the survey in total.  Before you circulated the survey I had 35 responses, so it’s very likely your efforts resulted in an additional 170 surveys coming in, which is amazing in such a short period. It gives me a much broader picture to analyse, so I’m extremely grateful.’

Finally, Sarah has been working through the responses and said there are some lovely people out there!

We are delighted to have been able to support this research, and thank all those who contributed via the survey. So pleased we’ve helped people share all their woolly scrapbook stories!

Marian’s top illustrates the story of her time at the ARC.

A campfire blanket which belonged to Nancy Briggs, previous County Commissioner.

A unique design…. As they all are!

And see how Hannah’s blanket tells her Guiding story!