How do Archives Function as Repositories of Knowledge?

An archive is a collection of documents useful for explaining and or giving an insight into what events, people or departments were involved in specific things relevant to history. The Jersey archive was established in 1873 as well as the museum and library. It is a unique collection of information. The Jersey Archives has collected over 250,000 records from the government and parishes. The Archive holds documents from 1378 to present day. The Jersey Archive contains information that can be accessed online. This includes records from Churches, Civil Registers, the German Occupation, Court Records, the Government and even Care Records. The range and availability of the information gives a key insight into the day to day life in Jersey throughout different periods in history.

An archive contains information that provide history, knowledge about the history and power of knowledge. A singular photo in an archive is useless however it is extremely useful if it has context that helps gain knowledge about the content of the photo. Photos are extremely useful as they provide a snapshot of a mere moment in time. For example, the Archive has over 31,000 registration cards from people who lived through the German Occupation of Jersey during World War 2. The Archive holds criminal records as well as court records showing what criminal offence had taken place and what punishment was given in turn for the offence.

William Collie was an Immigrant from Scotland and came to Jersey in the late 1840s. He used to dress his family up as French Women but in fact they were made to look like something they weren’t. He created his images using a process called calotype. In this process a piece of paper is coated with silver iodide and then silver nitrate in a dark room. After dry it is exposed to light creating the image.

Collies image was taken 174 years ago and has kept its detail quite well. It shows a woman in a dress with some baskets and pots next to her which can all be seen clearly. However the image is quite faded which can be linked to it being very old. The image even picks up details like the lines on the woman’s dress. Overall this image is important at seeing what life was like back then and can be used to date one of the first recorded images to be taken in Jersey.

The Jersey Archive has 157 photographs from Collie most are portraits however, a few are dated between 1845 – 1880 which are the furthest back surviving photographs taken of Jersey. However, the 157 images the Jersey Archive have of his aren’t accessible online. He also has some landscape photos including a photo of Mont Orgueil Castle and one of Queens road. These photos alone are useless but when put in series with current photos showing change of people, structures, landscapes and technology are extremely useful.

Thomas Sutton was another photographer who spent time in the UK and France before coming to Jersey. Sutton was a pioneer through the 1800’s and developed new camera equipment and photo techniques. Sutton is better known as the first colour photographer and typically focused on landscape.

Emile Guiton was a photographer in Jersey between 1910 and 1950. He is well known for producing one of the first colour images of Jersey. This provides knowledge and social memory of how the world was when he took the photos of Jersey.

Photography dates back to 1839 however photographic salts were being used from 1790 onwards to capture images. The chemicals used were sodium chloride and silver iodine and this basic process created mercury vapours which were later found out to be dangerous. The original shutter speed of the camera was 30 minutes meaning the image would be blurry unless an object was being photographed.

The next type of photography used a paper negative so to get a large picture you needed a large negative. For this process silver bromide was used with an egg white to capture the images. Later on a gelatine dry plate was used in 1878 which made the image last longer.

When at the Archives we were reminded of a Roman phrase which talks about memory and knowledge “immortal memory is held in archive”. This proves that knowledge lasts lifetimes. This phrase can be used to judge how well archives to as a repository of knowledge. The Roman phrase was archived and now it can be read and understood today. Archives are clearly vital to the understanding how things happened at a certain time in history. They also help with understanding how technology has developed and how far we have come since the photo was taken. Archives help us find out information about our family history and where we came from and why but mainly they bridge the link between where we are today and how we got here.

Overall I believe archives are a great repository of knowledge and provide knowledge by giving us an insight into life when a photo was taken. The photos from the archive could help me with a project ide like comparing an old photo to a new one or merging them to create a past vs present image group.