Maya

"Working with letters and identity cards all relating to one-person means you are building their story and helping them to be remembered."

‘If we fail to collect with foresight and inclusivity, elements of our society will feel alienated and slighted.’ Gurian. E. H, Civilizing the Museum, Routledge (USA and Canada), 2006

I am working on the Ephemera Project, which involves sorting and cataloguing hundreds of miscellaneous boxes into its relevant categories. The box I had contained an old rulebook and lots of ‘amendment to rule book’ sheets. The constant variety and assessment of items means that the range of areas the Ephemera Project covers will lead me to find some very interesting objects with equally interesting histories.

I am making a personal file for a Mr. A.V. Turner who had worked as an engine cleaner from 1929 until his retirement as a station foreman in 1975. It was a very similar process to accessioning the other ephemera, but more intriguing as working with letters and identity cards all relating to one-person means you are building their story and helping them to be remembered.

I am finding that every item I accession has a meaning and relevance to London transport and therefore to the wider reaches of the historical background of London and what makes it what it is today. Unless you look at it at a very close level I think it would be hard for people to understand how the odd bus ticket relates to the wider reaches of London transport history. Therefore I want to show this through the more relatable topic of the people that worked there.