I don't think the kind of comment that Richard made was really prevalent
among archivists, but it was the sort of statement you heard among their
employing management. I remember a Personell Officer telling me that he had
had difficulty finding somebody suitable to employ because "they all looked
like Hinge and Brackett - and that was just the men"!
One of the things that struck me as a youngish man when I came to this
country (from Rhodesia) was just how many senior women archivists there
were. Something you didn't find in the Library profession or in the PRO. In
fact going from memory at that time (1965) women were the bosses in the GLC
(previously LCC), Middlesex, Bristol, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Bedfordshire,
Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Surrey. They were a formidable breed and one
didn't take them on lightly. Mind you they had to be because I don't think
they earned as much as men county archivists. The courses at London and
Liverpool tended to train roughly equal numbers. I remember Ida Darlington
(GLC) telling me that women graduates before the war could get only jobs in
Personell (where large numbers of women were employed), in social services,
or as teachers, but there were very few 'intellectual' jobs open to women.
And archives offices gave them that chance. She started in the LCC in 1922
to research the blue plaque project and found herself using the archives.
That is how she became an archivist!
Len McDonald
L.J. McDonald
46 Weaver Ave
Rainhill
PRESCOT, Merseyside
Phone: 0151-426 5273
Mobile: 07775 914796
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 1:32 PM
Subject: gender in the archive profession
>
>
>
> Hallo
>
> I am currently working on a dissertation on the development of the
archival
> profession and to what extent it is gendered, as part of the MA course at
> Liverpool.
>
> I would be very grateful to anybody who would be willing to spare a few
minutes
> to share their thoughts and experiences on this issue with me, e-mailing
me
> privately. I am primarily interested in three main questions:
>
> 1. Do archivists, and the public at large, consider the job of the
archivist
> and records manager to be a male or a female one, or do they not see it as
> gendered?
>
> 2. What might the reasons for this be?
>
> 3. Has this always been the case or has it altered over time?
>
> I would be especially interested to hear from male archivists with their
> thoughts on the issue, and what attracted them to the job (or indeed
discouraged
> them from taking it up at any point!).
>
> I realise that requests like these are very frequent at this time of year,
and
> apologise for interrupting more serious questions that the list was
intended to
> discuss, but any thoughts would be gratefully received!
>
> Thank you in advance,
>
> Debbie O'Brien
> (e-mail to [log in to unmask] or to this address).
>
>
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>
>
>
> **********************************************************************
> This e-mail and any attachment contains information which is private
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> If you are not an addressee, you are not authorised to read, copy or
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