On Friday 22nd June, the University will hold a special Jubilee event with the theme of celebrating “60”. There will be various exhibitors at Park campus from throughout Gloucestershire showing a range of material covering the county’s social, economic, cultural and community life. The University and the Lord Lieutenant Dame Janet Trotter will be hosting the Earl and Countess of Wessex at the event.
The University Archives and Special Collections will be present on Friday and have put together a display contrasting student life in 1952 with 2012. We have used material from our University Archive Collection, which documents the history of our institution back to the 1840s, to show and differences and surprising similarities in the student experience over 60 years apart.
This month’s archive item is the Manuscript Chelt 1951 – 1953, a scrapbook compiled by the students themselves in a tradition that dated back to the 1870s. The book is a bound volume charting the history of St Paul’s College students in the early 1950s, and of course covers the accession of Queen Elizabeth II and her coronation on 3rd June 1953.
All aspects of student life are covered by the Manuscript Chelts, from accommodation and student bodies to sports, student work and social life. Looking at the volumes as a set charts the changes in student life, social attitudes and advancing media and printmaking techniques. The 1951 – 1953 Manuscript Chelt is all handwritten but includes many photographs, media cuttings and other leaflets and documents.
After the event on 22nd June, the display will be put in the Crush Hall at FCH Campus for the OSA Biennial Reunion in July, so please come and have a look. We will also be putting an Olympics-themed display in the smaller cabinets in the Crush Hall, covering the links the institution and it’s alumni have with the great sporting event.
