Every month I write a local heritage-themed column, on behalf of The Treasury, for the
Grahamstown Gazette. Here's my piece for the July edition.
From The Treasury:
From The Treasury:
How many volunteers does it take to run an archive?
The Treasury is run entirely on volunteer power, and at last count there were
about sixty different tasks our volunteers carry out every week to keep the
archive moving. While many volunteers live locally, our archive and Reading
Room collections cover the original Hauraki gold field area – from the top of
the Coromandel right down to Waihi and Te Aroha, and across the Plains – and
our volunteers are from all across these regions too. We even have a few
international volunteers; our website and database are maintained by volunteers
in America.
Our volunteers are researchers and receptionists,
indexers, oral history interviewers, trustees, webmasters, scone bakers and
much more. The Indexing Group meets one morning a week to find references to
places, people and events within the thousands of books in the Reading Room.
These references are later collated to form our database, meaning you can
search for your last name on our website and find a list of books mentioning
your family. The Indexers find fascinating facts, hot gossip and little-known
stories between the pages of our collection. They’re definitely the people you
want on your pub quiz team!
We also have a lively group of volunteers in our Oral
History group. These are the people who head out into the community with
microphones and tape recorders at the ready, in search of stories and local characters
that make up Thames’ history. Sometimes our interviewees share their life
stories or family anecdotes; other interviews have focused on local businesses,
special events and school memories. If you’re an ex Thames South School
student, you’ll see us at the school reunion in November. The full set of interviews
the team has recorded are available on CDs in the Reading Room.
If you’re interested in volunteering at The Treasury,
pop in for a chat with us and pick up a volunteer form from reception.
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