The School Archive will soon have a permanent home – in two interconnecting rooms in the Annexe. One room will be the Museum in which the history of The Abbey School will be displayed; the other room will be the Archive in which objects will be worked on and available for research.
The Chairman of ASROGA, Jane Burrell, has established an Archive Group of old girls to help support the Archive. The primary aim of this group is to provide information about objects (furniture, pictures, foundation stones, etc) which are part of the history of The Abbey School. It is also to provide information about the habits and traditions at the School. Both sets of information will be invaluable in many ways. Not only will intrinsic and associated information help when we start to catalogue the collections, but our knowledge is what will bring those objects to life. Furthermore, our memories are priceless; we could say they are the best gift we can make.
The primary aim of this group is to provide information about objects (furniture, pictures, foundation stones, etc) which are part of the history of The Abbey School. A close second is to provide information about the habits and traditions of when you were at school. Both sets of information will be invaluable in oh so many ways. Not only will intrinsic and associated information help when we start to catalogue the collections, but our knowledge is what will bring those objects to life.
The Archive Group is currently in animated and extensive correspondence about the Chapel and the Triptychs either side of the door.
When the old building fronting the School was recently replaced by the new building (to be named The Jane Austen Wing) the Chapel was a sad but inevitable casualty. However we saved the door, the wood panelling and the Latin frieze and have re-instated it in the corridor approach to the new Chapel. It still engenders the lovely, calm feeling of the old Chapel and is wonderfully in harmony with the new, modern and equally calm decor of the new Chapel.