Many list members will be saddened to know that Anna Greening has
died. She passed away peacefully at home in London on Sunday 23
September after a long illness, and the thoughts of her friends are now
with Anna’s husband Andrew, son Luke, and the other members of the close
family.
As noted in today’s Guardian, the funeral will take place next Thursday
(4 October) at 1.30 p.m. at the Church of All Hallows by the Tower, EC3.
Anna gained her Postgraduate Diploma in Archive Administration at
Aberystwyth in 1998-9, as a vocational choice after working in publishing
and administration following a first degree in European languages, also
taken at Aberystwyth. She had a true vocation as an archivist, as
demonstrated by her high level achievement during the Diploma course and
her immediate rapport with manuscript material and with all the knowledge
and skills required by an archivist. She was also interested in the
international dimension and the importance of safeguarding archives of
all kinds, and she extended this view to mixed collections that included
evidence of material culture, all of which she saw as fundamentally
important to a society which needs to know its origins, both today and
tomorrow. Painstaking work was her strength, and no archival issue
was unimportant.
Anna’s professional work was London based, where she fulfilled a range of
archival duties, first at The Women’s Library, where her enthusiasm for
mixed media collections was used to advantage, but she also contributed
part-time commitment to a range of other archival responsibilities,
including a long period as honorary archivist at All Hallows by the
Tower.
During this time her activities diversified to include an excellent and
mature Master’s dissertation on professional training issues in the field
of archives, libraries and museums with an international perspective, for
which she used her language skills to good advantage and was awarded the
MScEcon in Archive Administration (Aberystwyth 2003). She also
showed great kindness to many who followed her as Archives students at
Aberystwyth by providing hospitality and support during the annual
'London Study Tour’ – and she kept in close touch with those of us who
had known her for a long time.
Susan Davies
Dr Susan J. Davies
Department of History & Welsh History
Hugh Owen Building
The University of Wales
Penglais
ABERYSTWYTH
Ceredigion
SY23 3DY
Tel. +44 (0)1970-622722 (direct) or -622662
Fax. +44 (0)1970-622676; email [log in to unmask]
