15/12/2011
Today Sarah and I took a trip to a chilly old Grammar School building in Redruth to visit the headquarters of Miracle Theatre Company. We were met by Bill Scott, founder of the Company, who took us up to a large, but rather chaotic space; it turned out that the offices were being relocated to downstairs and the walls of the small room we were to work in were also to be demolished that afternoon! Bill would like to have the thirty-odd years of the Company's history preserved, and has therefore decided to donate the collection to our archives.
We arrived, not knowing entirely what to expect, but armed with archival boxes and folders, and cellophane sleeves of various sizes. Our aim was to make a start on packaging and to type up a box list as an example for Bill, so that he could finish the rest in his own time. It is really important for us to have clear box lists for our accessions, since cataloging may not happen for some time, so we try to work as closely as possible with donors. This way our accessions are still accessible, since we can find records relatively easily on our box lists, and as accessions are listed in our locations database, we can locate them easily as well.
Miracle was started in 1979, and was then known as the Cornish Miracle Theatre Company. Although growing over the course of its history, the Company has always employed local actors, crew members and staff, and plays to small venues across Cornwall and the South-West. They tour original works as well as comic adaptions of classic works. Since we hold records for Kneehigh and Wildworks Theatre Companies, this was a thoroughly appropriate collection to take on, and we hope it will be of value for Performing Arts students in particular.
While we were there, Sarah and I made sure all loose posters, flyers and programmes were in sleeves, since a lot of building work was taking place and we were concerned about dust. We kept back two copies where we could for preservation. Once sleeved, they were put in an archival box, for which we created a simple box list which gave the box number at the top, the type of records they were underneath (in this case posters, flyers and programmes), and finally a list of the productions represented. We also came across some promotional postcards, newsletters, presspacks, and press cuttings. These we put into separate archival folders. Any oversize posters were also sleeved, and will go into our plan chest. We went through the process carefully with Bill so that he can carry on in his own time; there were several more boxes containing performance photos, mini-DVs, and files relating to productions. The posters we saw were brillaint visually, really eye-catching and most had really quirky and interesting illustrations. I'm sure the rest of the collection will be just as interesting, both visually or in terms of content, and will be a great addition to our current Performance archives.
We helped Bill move the items he had placed in the small room we had been working in, which were just some of the things destined for preservation, down to the new office space, and left just as the builders began to demolish the walls!
Today Sarah and I took a trip to a chilly old Grammar School building in Redruth to visit the headquarters of Miracle Theatre Company. We were met by Bill Scott, founder of the Company, who took us up to a large, but rather chaotic space; it turned out that the offices were being relocated to downstairs and the walls of the small room we were to work in were also to be demolished that afternoon! Bill would like to have the thirty-odd years of the Company's history preserved, and has therefore decided to donate the collection to our archives.
We arrived, not knowing entirely what to expect, but armed with archival boxes and folders, and cellophane sleeves of various sizes. Our aim was to make a start on packaging and to type up a box list as an example for Bill, so that he could finish the rest in his own time. It is really important for us to have clear box lists for our accessions, since cataloging may not happen for some time, so we try to work as closely as possible with donors. This way our accessions are still accessible, since we can find records relatively easily on our box lists, and as accessions are listed in our locations database, we can locate them easily as well.
Miracle was started in 1979, and was then known as the Cornish Miracle Theatre Company. Although growing over the course of its history, the Company has always employed local actors, crew members and staff, and plays to small venues across Cornwall and the South-West. They tour original works as well as comic adaptions of classic works. Since we hold records for Kneehigh and Wildworks Theatre Companies, this was a thoroughly appropriate collection to take on, and we hope it will be of value for Performing Arts students in particular.
While we were there, Sarah and I made sure all loose posters, flyers and programmes were in sleeves, since a lot of building work was taking place and we were concerned about dust. We kept back two copies where we could for preservation. Once sleeved, they were put in an archival box, for which we created a simple box list which gave the box number at the top, the type of records they were underneath (in this case posters, flyers and programmes), and finally a list of the productions represented. We also came across some promotional postcards, newsletters, presspacks, and press cuttings. These we put into separate archival folders. Any oversize posters were also sleeved, and will go into our plan chest. We went through the process carefully with Bill so that he can carry on in his own time; there were several more boxes containing performance photos, mini-DVs, and files relating to productions. The posters we saw were brillaint visually, really eye-catching and most had really quirky and interesting illustrations. I'm sure the rest of the collection will be just as interesting, both visually or in terms of content, and will be a great addition to our current Performance archives.
We helped Bill move the items he had placed in the small room we had been working in, which were just some of the things destined for preservation, down to the new office space, and left just as the builders began to demolish the walls!
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