Conservation Conundrum

Written by Helen Kendall, Conservator, Teesside Archives

Notes on U/S/1300 collection

This collection of receipts was discovered in a storage box still attached to the collecting spike that was commonly used to keep the papers in order and in one place. It almost looks like a work of art!

Unfortunately this style of storage does not help the historian to see what is written on each sheet, or protect it from creasing and losses, so that a story can be told about the contents.

The sheets of paper which seem to be receipts, bills or notes have been carefully removed from the spike, kept in order but numbering them on the back in pencil, and placed in acid free envelopes in small batches. They are now supported in the envelopes, still in order and then in an acid free storage box.  This process has now made it easier for our archivist to catalogue to make them available to the public.

And what happened to the spike? I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away so I still have it for now!

Receipts starting to be removed and stored in acid free archive envelopes for better preservation

As a postscript to Helen’s account of what conservation work was required, a search in our catalogue revealed more information about what the spike of papers represent. They are part of a collection from the late Sidney Jackson and comprise a variety of receipts, invoices and documents dating from the 1940’s to the 1960’s, relating to Sidney, his wife Madge and daughter Ann. The family lived at 48 Cumberland Road, Linthorpe and this spike of documents gives a wonderful insight into their lives and interests. Sidney appears to have been a journalist connected with the Evening Gazette and owned an Austin 7 which frequently needed repairs judging by the number of garage receipts found! He was a member of Middlesbrough Golf Club and was asked to become editor of Teesside Chamber of Commerce Journal. There are several bills for bed and breakfast places and hotels in Chester, Sheffield, Anglesey, Largs, Grasmere and London; were these from family holidays or work related or both? The pet dog was put in kennels in Hutton Rudby when they went away and the main shops frequented by the family seem to be the Middlesbrough Co-op, Clinkards, Barker and Stonehouse, Binns, Lockeys and Strikes. Ann went to dance classes and possibly to Sheffield University while Madge went to evening classes and enjoyed knitting. They had a 9″ Bush television at one point and were obviously house proud as there were quite a few invoices from decorators. And all this from a stack of old receipts and invoices, a window in to a family’s story of every day life during a formative time in Britain’s post-war history.