Case Study – History project

From a chance encounter with an old plaque in a cupboard, the ArtCare history project has grown to over 200,000 items and been used to engage with thousands of people locally, regionally and across the world.

Background

In 2002 Lesley Self, ArtCare’s History Project Lead, was rummaging in a storeroom looking for picture frames when she stumbled upon what looked like a block of concrete. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a plaque from the old Outpatients hall at Salisbury General Infirmary (the previous hospital for the City). When the Infirmary closed in 1990 somebody had cut the plaque out and brought it up to this hospital because they thought it was important to keep it before the building was converted into flats. The plaque said “In memory of T E Lawrence, SS” – Lesley was immediately intrigued by what the connection was between T E Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and the hospital.

A bit of research revealed that the SS on the plaque was Lawrence’s friend, Siegfried Sassoon, who had donated money to the Infirmary in memory of Lawrence when he died. This captured Lesley’s imagination and sparked an idea of doing something with this and with the other historical artefacts already in ArtCare’s collection. Over the years more and more items were brought to ArtCare for safekeeping. As Lesley says: “Over time, things started coming out of the woodwork. Somebody would find something in an old storeroom or in a filing cabinet, and for want of a better person to look after it, they’d bring it to ArtCare and say, Do you want this?”

As curator of the art collection at the hospital, and now as curator of a growing history collection Lesley realised that she needed to gain the professional skills needed to care for all of the items. And not only on their conservation but how to record it, engage the public with it, and fund it. She completed a Masters in Museums and Collections Management with Bournemouth University, at their school of conservation sciences, as well as gaining experience in social history collections from volunteering at Salisbury Museum. Ready to put her new skills to good use, a successful bid was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in 2015 for sorting, recording, and sharing the historical archives and collections relating to health care in Salisbury.

A vital part of the HLF project was the recruitment and training of volunteers who would undertake the painstaking and methodical work needed to catalogue and digitise the collection. The volunteers are a dedicated group of people who have done a huge amount of work. Many of them are still giving their time to the project, a decade after the original start of the HLF grant. They do, of course, derive a lot out of it for themselves, with volunteers saying they feel valued, and that it is a friendly, rewarding thing to do in a supportive environment. More recently some have expanded their skills to include oral history and archiving. They are ambassadors for the collection too and are able to represent ArtCare at public events.

The digitisation of the archive items paved the way for the creation of the wonderful website Salisbury Healthcare History which brings the collection to the whole world – something that is vitally important given that ArtCare doesn’t have a museum space. The website means that enquiries and feedback come in from all over the world!

The collection today

The history collection is fascinating in its own right, but it’s what it is used for that really adds value. These include:

• Creative Health Conversations
Artefacts and documents can be used to spark conversation, and this is often requested by hospital wards or by community groups. A lot of people are frightened of doing something “creative” but they will happily spend time reminiscing or just chatting over something from the collection. This feedback was following a session at the Hospice: “Thank you so, so much for coming down and spending time with us again yesterday and bringing such an interesting range of photographs and stories from Salisbury District’s past. We all really enjoyed it and it was lovely to carry on and chat about it over lunch too.”

• Community Events
ArtCare are frequently invited to bring a display or to do a talk for a community event. Lunch clubs, coffee mornings, and friendship groups have all benefitted from having a visit. Often this sparks all sorts of lovely reactions, as Lesley recalls: “Last year I was in Wilton giving a talk on the history of the NHS in Salisbury. There were three ladies sat in the front row clutching bags. After the talk they came up to me and they all had their nursing photographs in their bags with them, and their medals, and they wanted to share that with me. They had come to the talk to listen all about the history, but they also wanted to share their part in that history, which was just delightful.”
The groups really benefit from having ArtCare there: “Having Lesley or one of the ArtCare volunteers at our coffee mornings for carers is brilliant. It can sometimes be hard for people who don’t know each other to get talking, especially when they are stressed out and tired. Giving them the opportunity to look at old photos or handle some interesting objects is a great way for them to chat, and people often get really enthused, which is lovely to see.” Carers Lead from Three Chequers Medical Practice, Salisbury.

• Individual Research
There are often enquiries from individuals, usually relating to family history research. They are given the opportunity to look at the archives in the history resource room in the Culture Club (insert link). Any research about family members who were patients less than 100 years ago can’t be completed because an archive item with personal information has to go to the county archive at Chippenham where it is closed for 100 years.
A lovely example of a personal piece of research took place when ArtCare was contacted by a man whose brother was treated at the burns and plastic surgery department as a young boy in the 1950s. His brother wanted to visit the hospital again and find out more about the pioneering treatment he had received to reconstruct his hand after an injury. The family visited the hospital, looked at some of the old books, and talked about the maps and the buildings. He also spoke with a consultant from the current plastic surgery team, and they exchanged information about the difference between treatments then and now – a lovely interaction and dynamic to have come out of the existence of the history collection.

• The Coffee Club
Once a month the Culture Club hosts a “Coffee Club” which is open to all. There is a different theme every month, and it gives people the opportunity to engage with the collection as well as having a sociable and educational time!

• Teambuilding and other staff events at the hospital
The collection can be used in surprising ways, as Lesley describes:
“We have all these x-ray films of an Egyptian mummy that the Swindon museum sent it here in the 1990s to find out what’s going on inside. I took these x-rays to the radiology department who were having a wellbeing day for their staff mental health. We set out all these old glass plates and films and things. Some of the students came in and just had never seen an x ray film, because everything now is digital. And so they were learning about some of the processes that used to go on, and the history of their work, and they were all absolutely fascinated. Then some of the consultants came in, and they were looking at the X rays of the Egyptian mummy, and they were giving a diagnosis of what they thought was going on inside the wrappings. So all these kind of interactions are unexpected, but really interesting as well. At the same time.”

Drop-in sessions and displays can be a really good way of getting people to enjoy the collection. One of these was a day where film of the old Salisbury General Infirmary was shown. This was run as a drop-in at the Culture Club and was very popular. Some of the lovely feedback included:

“I would thoroughly recommend this, we went today and it was a very informative and moving set of films”

“Great memories working at S.G.I . and Odstock in the kitchen 1976 until 1985 some great characters special times ”

“Went up to watch film and archives today, so interesting”

“Wow! Blast from the past. Lovely to see all my old colleagues!!”

• Work with Schools
The archive can be a fascinating resource for working with schools. The display board about Florence Nightingale with its associated artefacts (medals etc) are particularly popular!

Moving Forward

The collection continues to expand. Recently there have been donations from the finance department who were clearing out lots of old ledgers. Dating from the 1920s, the ledgers tell you the wages that were paid to all the nursing staff in the hospital. As Lesley says “What could be a fairly dry document is actually really interesting, because you’ve got things like the names of the staff. So if people doing their family history that’s really useful. Or if we’ve got a photograph in our collection of Adeline Cable, for example, we can see how much she was being paid to work there, and some details about what her rank was and how long she worked for the hospital, all those sorts of interesting things.”

Another very happy incident took place where, like the T E Lawrence plaque, a staff member’s quick thinking saved something of historical significance from being discarded. Old staff members from the Old Manor Hospital (previously Fisherton Asylum) had spoken about a plaque that used to be in the chapel, dedicated to Cecil Chubb (former owner of Stonehenge and benefactor to the asylum). The chapel has been derelict for many years and the plaque was thought to be lost.

ArtCare Technician Phil also works for the grounds and waste team, so he keeps his eye out for anything that is being discarded. The chapel at Salisbury District Hospital were having a clear out of their storeroom and Phil spotted a brass plaque, which he brought over to ArtCare. Large, heavy, decorated with old English script, and beautiful enamels the plaque turned out to be the missing Cecil Chubb plaque! Lesley adds “What’s really lovely is our technician said at the time it had made his month. Then he came in later to say he had gone away over the weekend and researched Cecil Chubb and the history of Stonehenge and the Old Manor. This is an example of how an historic item has sparked that huge enthusiasm in somebody and they’ve got really excited about the work that they’re doing here and the impact that it has.”

The Old Manor features in Lesley’s plans for the history project. She is hoping to work on an oral history of the hospital and its staff, and to do some research into its past. This will definitely spark interest, bring out fascinating stories and promote engagement, which is the driving force behind the whole thing.