Archives

Ruyton School Heritage Collection 2010

The School’s Archive was established in 1999 and since that time has gathered a significant collection of records and museum objects. The archive comprises the formal records of the School while the museum collection is those items donated to the School by past students (these can be paper or three-dimensional). In order to represent better the importance of the collections it was decided, this year, to rename the archive and museum collections as the School Heritage Collection.

The purpose of the School Heritage Collection is:
• to preserve the archival records and artefacts of Ruyton Girls’ School and its associated bodies
• to provide access to this material for a variety of reference and administrative purposes
• to promote an appreciation of the history and organisation of the School.

The School Heritage Collection is open for use by Old Girls and historians by appointment.

Donations

The Archive continues to receive transfers of significant records from the School’s administration but material that supplements the archival records also comes from outside the School. An important collection of Board papers was donated by a former Board member and we have received speech night, theatre and sporting programmes, and schedules of fees that fill some of the gaps in the archival series.

Sporting trophies, presentation volumes, an important group of late 1960s photographs and students reports, and various badges have also been donated. A Girl Guide badge provides a visual link with the two Guide companies that ran at the school from 1922 to 1945. A hand-knitted woollen scarf in school colours, nearly three metres long, and a tee shirt for the School’s entertainment Allegro Al Fresco were amusing additions to the collection.

We welcome any donations of items relating to the School, its staff and Old Girls.

Donors

Donors in 2010 were: Margaret Davis (McHaffie 1947), Patricia Douglas (Vaile 1927), Fee Evert (Dreiheller 1972), Kaye Francis (Wolstenholme 1960), Helen MacDonald (Wildenberg 1959), Fay Marles (Pearce 1943), Joan Osment (1970), Jillian Noy (Causen 1961), John & Grace Nolan, Averil Toyne and Catherine Wallace.

General Operation

Forty-four enquiries have been received during the year, thirty of these relating to ‘in-house’ matters and show the usefulness of the archive to the School’s administration.

A small number of enquiries (fourteen) has been received from outside the School from persons not associated with the School’s management.

The Retention Schedule for School Records referred to in the last report has now been implemented. This schedule, which is an important management tool, will more easily enable identification of archival records and allow for the timely destruction of temporary records with no archival value.

Trevor Hart School Archivist