Wednesday 30 January 2013

The Mary Berry Story - an archive view

Last night, BBC2 screened the first part of 'The Mary Berry Story', which described the life of the nation's favourite baker. Not only that, however, as it seemed as well to tell the story of a specific generation of women. These are women the we all have experience of, as they are our mothers, grandmothers and aunts.

The generation who grew up during the Second World War reached maturity in the 1950s. A world of opportunity was opening, yet they were rooted in fairly traditional roles, determined by schooling and gender. Many of the women who have come to the BSU Archive for oral history interviews have told us that they perceived limited career opportunities when they left school in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, and were directed broadly towards teaching, nursing and clerical work.

Although there must clearly have been exceptions to this, the perception was clearly prevalent. However, having trained in one field, the qualification led those women forward to make the most of their opportunities. This is exactly what 'Bezza' did, and in style!

What also struck me, watching the programme, was the range of practical skills so many people had, born of the necessity of wartime and post war restrictions. I was reminded of my mother-in-laws perfect jams, my grandmothers puff pastry (home made, and in catering quantities for the family hotel) and my mother's and aunt's needlework and knitting skills.

In the programme, Mary described her time at Bath College of Domestic Science, and we saw her viewing her student records. The college amalgamated with Newton Park Teacher Training college in the 1970s. They were joined by Bath Academy of Art in the 1980s, and became what is today Bath Spa University. Our Vice Chancellor, Professor Christina Slade, was featured in the programme. Did you also spot the lovely Main House staircase? (as featured in this blog two weeks ago!)

Mary also reminisced about some of the things she learned at the Domestic Science College, specifically the instructions for cleaning a toilet. The advice to 'Flush, brush, flush' seems to have stayed with her! I recently came across the same line in a student's workbook from twenty years before Mary's time. The instructions on cleaning go on for pages and pages.
I hope Kathleen Long also enjoyed some down time!

'No visible dirt or dust'? Is that EVER possible? Or indeed desirable?


Enjoy reading a sample, and consider whether these things are lost arts, unnecessary torture, a patriarchal standard, or something else...a lot will make you laugh - or is that just me?!

I wonder who uses these methods now? (Although the housekeeping staff at Claridges may, according to another recent BBC programme!)

Please let me know if you, or perhaps your parents' or grandparents' generation did. I remember my father telling me how to iron cuffs, which was different from the way my mother and grandmother had shown me.

And the other day, I cleaned the glass of my fireplace with damp newspaper dipped in ash, which worked better than anything else I've tried, and was totally free - I've passed the good news on to the children, too!


More about the history of the Domestic Science College next week....

The 'Flush, brush, flush' instruction. Also note that one should make a 'Careful choice of brush' when cleaning the stairs.


Four steps to dusting...




Who knew it was this complicated?


A vacuum cleaner advert from c.1959. From the Domestic Science College papers. Student houses, for the practical experience of running a home, were equipped with these. Students worked to fixed budgets as part of the course.



Tuesday 15 January 2013

Sweeping down the stairs

Several recent oral history interviewees and former students at Newton Park have mentioned the Main House staircase.
Main House staircase (photograph K. James, 2013)

It appears today much as it did when the house was built in the mid 18th century. Architect Stiff Leadbetter included this grand sweep of pretty wrought iron, set beneath a central dome. The dome gives the first floor landing a bright and airy feel, showing off the cantilevered staircase as it descends to the ground floor below.

First floor landing and Principal's room, c 1950 (from Miss Dawson's collection)

In the 1760s, when the house was new, guests of Joseph Langton will have paraded up these stairs, and in a circuit around the principal rooms through the connecting doors. As they did so, Mr Langton's fine collection of furniture, paintings, silver and porcelain, the best which the nation's manufactories could produce, were on display for all to see and envy. In pride of place, either side of the drawing room doors, hung a pair of full length portraits, of Joseph and his wife, painted by the famous Mr Gainsborough, Bath society's favourite artist, then resident in the fashionably bustling city.

We have to imagine all of this however, since none of these things remain. During the Second World War, the valuable objects in the house were transferred to a storage warehouse in Milsom Street, Bath, for safety. Ironically, it was completely destroyed in the Bath Blitz of April 1942. The remaining contents were sold around the time of the Estate sale shortly afterwards.

When students moved into Newton Park, they were not permitted to use the stairs, despite several being in residence in a room just beside it. They had to use the back stairs, except on one day a year. (from the memoir by Joyce Day, student 1948-1950)

Students on the stairs, c 1950. As the college was then women only, the men had to be 'imported ' for the evening


On the day of the annual ball, dressed in their finery, they were permitted to sweep down the stairs. Sheila (1949-1951) recalls being in awe of the grandeur of it all, and particularly enjoyed parading down the stairs in a 'turquoise satin gown, off the shoulder, quite daring for those days.'

Wrought iron and cantilevering (photograph K James 2012)


Today, staff pass up and down the Main House staircase throughout the day. Is it just a route to an office, or do they too imagine a glamourous and glittering past?















Wednesday 9 January 2013

Oral Histories - voices of our past

A large part of the work of the BSU Archive involves talking to people who have had an association with parts of the institution over the years.

Old students and staff past and present have come to meet us. Others write and send their memoirs, by email or by post.

Many people have generously given materials to add to the archive itself, and in this way we have added to our knowledge of the way things were done in the past.

It is always a privilege to meet and spend time with those who have known life here over the years. I have loved hearing their stories and memories, all of which add layers of detail to the bare bones of papers and documents. The paper resources are the bones, and the stories are the flesh and blood.

As a university of several thousands of students and hundreds of staff, looking back at the small beginnings of Newton Park, or the Domestic Science College is quite a leap of imagination. Newton Park began in January 1946 with 45 young women students, who lived in and around the centre of Bath as the college was not ready for use. It was a college in name only, and would not move to the estate itself until three years later. The Domestic Science College by contrast, began life in 1892, increasing the skills base of Bath residents, until one student, a Miss Heygate, asked to be trained as a teacher. Some of the memories of these early students are recorded in the archive documents from the 1950s.


Rural Science students in the early 1960s. This photograph was scanned for the archive by Mr & Mrs Entwistle, who were interviewed in July 2012.


The majority of the oral history interviews we have date from the late 1940s, 50s, 60s and 1980s. We also plan to interview those who have been here in more recent years, although of course their memories will reflect a different place in their lives, in addition to experiencing a changed phase in higher education. We have been struck by the ways so many rules have changed over the years, as well as the unchanging nature of first impressions of our buildings and landscapes.