Archive Item of the Month – April 2010
To highlight some of the items in the archive, and to show the range of different material held, I will be selecting one item a month from the archive collection to feature on the blog.
The first item, well two really, are from the Saint Ultan's Hospital Papers, as that is the collection I am currently cataloguing; two photographs albums covering the first decade of the hospital's existence from 1919 to 1930 (SU/8/3/1 and SU/8/3/2). The albums contain a series of photographs chronicling the earliest of the hospital patients, all are carefully labelled with name and date (very useful for an archivist) and many also have details of the children's weight on entry and discharge from the hospital.
The hospital opened in May 1919 with only 2 cots and the album shows some of the first patients;
Seamus - "the President" - Liam, June 11th 1919
It also highlights the conditions of the building when the hospital moved in, the house had been an orphanage but it had been empty for fifteen years and in some places was near derelict;
Ruins of the old laundry house March 2nd 1921
The album clearly shows the pride of founders of the new hospital, and their care for their patients. These two photographs show the very ill and emaciated Thomas on his arrival at the hospital in January 1921, and a much happier, fatter Thomas three months later;
Thomas 9 months January 17th 1921 and Thomas 11 months March 11 1921
Unfortunately both albums are beginning to show their age and are in need of some conservation treatment, as this images shows. (Page labelled 'Saint Ultan's "At Home" 22nd May 1920', the first anniversary of the hospital.) The pages of the album have suffered from foxing and many of the photographs have been damaged by exposure to light. In addition photographs are coming detached from the pages and so are losing the information written underneath. The later of the two albums has also sustained a large amount of manual damage and the pages have all come detached from the spine. The albums have both been put on the conservation priority list, so will hopefully be receiving attention soon. 