Annual Review 2010
worksheets is an ongoing project, as is the digital catalogue, which should now be completed and on line in the course of the current academic year. As work proceeds on the catalogue new aspects of the collections constantly come to light. It is an exciting process. As one comes into the Lawrence Room the facing case and display board highlight the finds from the Girton cemetery, which lay below the Emily Davies Court and was excavated in 1881. For our first Friends’ lecture during the Roll weekend on 25 September, Christopher Evans, Executive Director of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, will be speaking on ‘Girton’s Cemetery in Context’. Under the auspices of CAU as part of the Northwest Cambridge Survey work is under way in the area on the other side of the Huntingdon Road (see Annual Review 2008, 41). And now the time has come to start work on the next research card which is sent to all our Patrons in acknowledgement of their generosity. We greatly value the support of all our Friends and Patrons. Dorothy Thompson, President Do you have memories of Hermione? 2011 will be the centenary of the arrival of her mummy in College. Imogen Gunn, who has been cataloguing our collections, is now researching Hermione’s time in Girton. She would be interested in hearing from any Girtonians who have reminiscences of, or information about, Hermione Grammatike. Please write to ilg22@cam.ac.uk or Imogen Gunn c/o Girton College.
Friends of the Library Friends and Patrons of the Library attended the annual event at Girton on the day of the Roll Annual General Meeting, 10 July 2010. We were pleased to welcome Dr Lynn Hulse of the Royal School of Needlework. Dr Hulse gave an illustrated talk on the history and design of the embroideries in the Reception Room, entitled “The best embroideress in Society”: Lady Julia Carew and the Girton College hangings’. The Reception Room itself was open to allow visitors to look at the embroideries, and an exhibition of items about the embroideries from the College archives was on display. Dr Hulse kindly answered many questions from the audience. After this event and back in the Library, alumni and their guests were able to enjoy a ‘hands-on/white gloves’ session with three of our rarest antiquarian books, two of which are manuscripts – a 14th century Italian Missal and a French Collection of Offices from 1500. The third is a 15th century Book of Hours, which is an early example of a printed book which imitates a manuscript. All three were donated by the late Mary Baker (Keeling Scott 1925). A small exhibition of books from the Special Collections on aspects of the life and career of Florence Nightingale, including some of her own books and others highlighting her connections with Girton, was on display in the Upper Library. The Archivist was also on hand to answer questions about many archival matters and about the exhibition on the Reception Room embroideries, which was moved down to the Littler Reading Room for the afternoon. She had also prepared an exhibition of suffragette material from the Archive based on the papers of five suffragettes – Agnes Lake, Ellen Crocker, Beatrice and Edith Clayton Pepper and Marion Dunlop-Wallace. We shall hold our annual event at the same time next year, but at the time of writing, the speaker and topic are yet to be confirmed. 104