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Cataloguing the Camberwell Archive

454959
2 prospectuses dated 1914 and 1951, and one minute book dated 1898 from the Camberwell College of Art
2 prospectuses dated 1914 and 1951, and one minute book dated 1898 from the Camberwell College of Art
3 items from the Camberwell Archive. Photograph by Lucy Parker
Written by
Morwenna Roche Published date
17 October 2024
1 woman with long hair standing over a large historic register with other women looking at it
Morwenna Roche shares an early student register from the Camberwell Collection, from 1898, to members of library and archives teams. Photograph by Lucy Parker

My name is Morwenna Roche, I am an Assistant Archivist. I’ve recently finished cataloguing the Camberwell College of Arts archive. I did so thanks to the support from the Archive and Special Collections Centre (ASCC) and also Camberwell's Special Collections Librarian, Grace O'Driscoll. Day to day, I’ve been working onsite at Camberwell. The catalogue is now available to browse and search online.

The archive holds a range of items, including minutes and administrative material. It also holds prospectuses, photographs, information on events and some student work. The oldest item in the collection dates back from 1898. When College was first set up, it was known as Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and was next door to the South London Gallery. At that time, the School offered many different classes. These included embroidery, cabinet design,  stone carving, stencil cutting, painting and decorating, plumbing, typography and drawing. The most recent item in the archive is from this year. It is a poster advertising some of the degree shows which occur every year on campus.

Listing the material

The archive has grown since the School first began. It has been housed in the library special collections room for several years.

When I arrived, I found three cabinets of material, which were not yet listed or sorted. So before cataloguing could start, I had to find out what was there and list everything. Through this process, I was able to work out a suitable archival arrangement. This was to balance maintaining the original order of material with allowing it to be most usable for researchers.

During the listing process, I also started researching the School’s history. I found Geoff Hassell’s history, Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts: its students and teachers very useful.

Items from the Camberwell Archive in boxes with post-it notes on them
Listing of the Camberwell Material in progress. Photograph by Morwenna Roche

Cataloguing

When I had finished looking through the material and working out an archival arrangement, I could start cataloguing.

I used an Excel template that ASCC had created for import. During cataloguing, I repackaged the collection. We used archival standard boxes using acid-free folders and envelopes. This will protect the material from any damage and when handled in the future.

We then imported the cataloguing data to the university’s archive database, powered by Axiell-CALM. It is now accessible on the front end of the archival catalogue for everyone to search.

Bonus material

In 2023 the Camberwell Student Show Slide Collection was catalogued. Since then, extra slides had emerged from other storage spaces. So I was able to finish this collection as well. During cataloguing, I found slides including some of the years that we had previously thought were missing. Some of the earlier slides are now digitised and accessible on the Digital Collections platform on UAL’s website.

Highlights

Historic Register with names and professions of people listed
Historic Register with names and professions of students listed, from the Camberwell Archive. Photograph by Lucy Parker

I enjoyed working on this collection. It contains some early items from the School including a register of students from the very first year . This register shows a range of occupations people had, whilst studying. It shows there were a good mix of people attending the college from South London. Their occupations varied from ‘cricket ball maker’ to ‘bank clerk’ and a ‘sign writer’ as well artists who had attended other art schools. Ages also varied from 8 all the way up to 64.  (It is worth noting, the archive does not appear to hold any other student registers. It also does not hold any individual student records, so it makes this early register extra interesting.)

I also found some fascinating items from during the Second World War. You can see that teaching continued, and the School tried to carry on normally, as far as possible. However, it had to work around the blackout restrictions.

Historic poster from the Camberwell Collection, Blue and orange ink on cream paper.
Historic Poster advertising evening classes during 1941 at Camberwell College of Arts, during the Second World War. Photograph by Morwenna Roche

The archive can show how both continuity and change in courses at Camberwell over the past 126 years.

In the beginning, there were more technical courses, such as plumbing, plasterwork, decorating and cabinet making. However, there were also artistic courses including drawing, ceramics and painting on the curriculum, which are still taught today to degree level.

Black and white photograph of students around a poster that reads 'LCC Camberwell College of Arts' with details of different courses that the students are drawing themselves
Close up of an historic photograph of students from the Camberwell College of Arts Archive. Photograph by Morwenna Roche

Find out more

This collection is stored at the Camberwell College of Arts Library and to book an appointment to view the material please email Camberwell Special Collections Librarian, Grace O’Driscoll g.odriscoll@arts.ac.uk

For any other questions about Archives and Special Collections more generally, please email archive-enquiries@arts.ac.uk