Pins and Needles…and Paperclips
The aviation world is full of acronyms, but the acronym RAeC- the Royal Aero Club-must be one of the oldest. Originally set up by balloonists in 1901 and gaining its ‘Royal’ prefix in 1912, The Royal Aero Club became aviation's governing body.
In 1998 the Royal Aero Club Trust was set up. Looking forward, the Trust is tasked with promoting an interest in aviation to the next generation of aviators
Looking back with justified pride, the Trust also has the historically important job of preserving an amazingly detailed archive of material that dates from the earliest days of British aviation and encompasses events of our aviation history such as the Schneider Trophy.
Having an historically important archive is one thing: cataloguing and preserving it for posterity is quite another, as I discovered when I joined Trust chairman Fred Marsh at the archive's current home at the RAF Museum, Hendon.
"When the Royal Aero Club vacated its Piccadilly premises in the early 60's, the entire archive went into tea chests which were loaded on to a three ton lorry and carted off to the RAF Museum. There, the tea chests were decanted into some 900 storage boxes where they've stayed for forty years because we haven't had the resources to catalogue the collection, let alone stabilise or preserve it for posterity. We also have a substantial number of paintings, albums and trophies of varying historical or artistic importance that are somewhat easier to catalogue and display."
It's a familiar situation: a large job to do but no public funding. But Fred Marsh is a man of both action and ideas who has assembled around him on the Board of the Trust a number of 'can do' people who seem able to make an awful lot happen on a shoestring through goodwill, voluntary work and a highly effective network.
On picking up the NADFAS Review one day, it suddenly occurred to me that conserving documents wasn't very much different to conserving works of art, and that there might be people out there with an interest in heritage and time on their hands who could help us achieve something that was simply impossible to pay for," recalls Fred. "We contacted the Chairman of the NADFAS Heritage Volunteers in the Greater London area and wondered if the phone would ring."
The result of this inspired idea was that the Trust has been able to field two teams, each comprising four volunteer conservators who between them have the job of working through all 900 boxes of the archive doing the basic work necessary to catalogue and conserve the archive.
When I visited the RAF museum, one of the volunteer teams was hard at work. "One of the biggest threats to the survival of this material is actually the rust from corroding pins, staples and paperclips," explained team leader Andrew Dawrant. "Our main job is to work methodically though each box, removing all the paperclips, pins and staples, placing documents in new archive quality card folders and writing a summary of the contents on the cover."
Andrew said "It is mundane taking out paperclips, but every so often one can stop to smell the roses. We're reading about events in progress 50, 75 or even 100 years ago where we know the outcome. What's really interesting is that the language is so different, and I often find myself surprised by the plain speaking and tone of some of the letters which in many ways is more direct that what we see nowadays. But apart from the obviously important stuff, one comes across material which no-one ever thought would be kept: things like laundry bills and booze bills. These are things which may seem mundane, but who knows what will be deemed to be of social or historical importance in 100 years time?"
The two Heritage Volunteers working that day were Peter Blunt who works two mornings a month on the Trust archive and Charles Crawley. Charles went to work on a 'new' archive box one morning, and on opening it found it contain his own application, submitted through the London Gliding Club.
Unusually for NADFAS, only two of the nine Trust volunteers are ladies.
But what is all this paper clip removal (worthy though it is) actually achieving, and is it really doing anything for the longevity of the documents? "About six months into the project, we decided that we really ought to check that we weren't wasting everyone's time by doing things that were well-intentioned but fruitless," recalls Fred. "We brought in an adviser from the Parliamentary Archives to audit the quality of the work that had been done thus far and advise on changes to our working practices, and I'm glad to say we passed."
The project which looks like being completed on time and the Trust and the RAF Museum are working closely together on plans for the future. What our NADFAS volunteers and our own committee members have achieved with the archive is fantastic and we're now working with the museum on formulating a Heritage Lottery Fund grant application for future projects. We've also got links with the National Aerospace Library Project and are looking at joint funding for research projects."
The archive is row upon row of boxes, neatly stacked on sliding shelves. We all look forward to the day when this material is digitised and available for searching, but that day is some way off and dependent on funding.
Among the treasures wrapped in archive quality paper and tied carefully with an archivists knot (of which I discover there are many different types) are three beautiful leather albums embossed with the name 'Charles Rolls', documenting his aviation career from balloonist to pilot: licences, invitations, awards, photos. These are the treasures that we must stabilise, conserve and display. This is the goal to which the Royal Aero Club Trust has dedicated itself.
For further information on the work of the Royal Aero Club Trust and its bursary scheme, or to make an offer of financial or other assistance, please visit http://www.royalaeroclubtrust.org.
© photos Tony Newton 2005
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| Team leader Andrew Dawrant (left) with volunteers Peter Blunt (centre) and Charles Crawley | Trust Chairman Fred Marsh with the RAF Museum’s Peter Elliott inspect one of the 900 or so boxes that make up the Royal Aero Club archive | Original telegrams recording Alex Henshaw’s record breaking London to Capetown flight | The original album containing the first ever Great Britain aviator certificates. No.1 is Moore-Brabazon, no.2 is Charles Rolls |
