Winchester College Publication Treausry: Collections Bulletin 2019-2020 | Page 3
Outreach
Treasury Outreach and Engagement
This has been an exciting year for outreach in Treasury, with significantly
increased numbers and a broadening of our engagement with external
organisations. We now have firm links with educational institutions at every
level, and are exploring the use of digital platforms to make our collections
accessible to the widest possible audience.
Our commitment to local primary schools
has been maintained this year, and we have
welcomed some new visitors from this
sector. Winnall School came for a workshop
on stained glass, and we provided activity
sessions on Life in Ancient Greece for
Itchen Abbas Primary, Harestock Primary
and Stroud School in Romsey. Horris Hill
Preparatory School near Newbury came for
a general introduction to our collections,
including the Fellows’ Library. The highlight
of our work with this age group was the
annual Kids in Museums ‘Takeover Day’: 30
children from All Saints Primary School in
Winchester visited Treasury to sketch
objects in the collection, and then staged an
exhibition of their work in the museum on
22 November. The display remained in place
over the following weekend and was
enjoyed by their families and friends.
Local children and their families also came
to the ‘Family Fun Day’ in the February half
term. Craft activities and a museum trail on
the theme of ‘Amazing Animals’ attracted
247 participants. Following its popularity, we
plan to hold similar events once safe to do so.
The Collections Team is keen to broaden
our engagement to include pupils at local
secondary schools. We created a pack of
resources for teaching History at this level,
and are working with the Henry Beaufort
School to develop this further. In the
autumn term, sixth-form pupils from several
local secondary schools visited our
temporary exhibition as part of a study day
on Keats. We had also planned to participate
in Eureka!, a Classics festival to be held at
St Swithun’s School in July, but this was
cancelled due to the restrictions imposed by
the coronavirus outbreak.
At university level, we provided a study
session on Greek vases and coins for
Archaeology undergraduates from
Winchester University. In December,
participants from Oxford University’s
‘Heritage Pathways’ Programme spent an
afternoon exploring and discussing the
collections. A visiting graduate student from
the University of Pennsylvania, Lila
Goldenberg, curated a selection of 15 th -
century printed books, which were on
display in Treasury during the autumn. A
Masters student from Winchester University,
Ingrid Tofteng, and an undergraduate from
Oxford, Milly Jonas, worked with us earlier
in the year to help prepare descriptions of
the Greek vases for our online database.
We have continued to welcome adult
groups into Treasury, which this year
included the Society of Catholic Priests, the
Friends of the National Libraries, the
Friends of Kings Somborne Church, the
parishioners of Fulflood and Weeke, and a
Winchester U3A group.
On March 17, Treasury was closed to the
public and many of our planned events had
to be postponed or cancelled. In the time
since, we have continued to enhance our
digital outreach and build our online
database. For more on how you can explore
the collections from home, read about our
online resources at the end of the bulletin.
Suzanne Ceiriog-Hughes
Teaching in the Fellows’ Library
The Fellows’ Library saw an impressively busy start to the year. In our first term, more
than 20 classes were taught, in addition to individual visits from pupils and teachers, and
several of the school’s clubs and societies. We hosted pupils from Kings’ School, Winchester,
two groups of graduate students from Oxford University and a class from Yale. There were
nine group tours of the library, including four during Heritage Open Days in September.
From January to the beginning of March 14 classes visited before term came to a premature
end, and there were six groups of external visitors. Just days before the closure, we welcomed
our regular visit from the Bibliomaniacs of Papplewick Preparatory School, and honoured
our tradition of showing them the Library’s 15 th -century genealogical scroll (MS 13A, see
left), which is just under six metres long.
Richard Foster
Treasury is open daily from 2pm till 4pm and access to the Archives and Fellows’ Library is
available by appointment. If you would like to bring a class or group to visit our collections,
please contact [email protected] or [email protected]. Due to the changing
restrictions concerning coronavirus, please check the opening times on our website before
visiting.
Winchester College Collections 2019 – 20 3