Bringing the past to life

Most of us have collections of old photos and document stored away, awaiting the time we will finally get our act together to scan and preserve them. Kensington Neighbourhood House is no different. However, our collection is a lot bigger than the average household’s and spans half a century.

With the help of a Local History Grant (thank you Public Records Office of Victoria) we engaged Dr Jill Barnard – local historian extraordinaire – to sort out our very chaotic archives. Jill has spent the past 18 months painstakingly reviewing and cataloguing an enormous collection of photographs, newsletters, activity brochures, annual reports and various other historic materials.

Our archive cupboard has gone from being an overflowing collection of random boxes, envelopes, files and bags to a shining example of order and neatness. Items have been catalogued and stored in archival quality files within clearly labelled and dated boxes. It’s a minor miracle!

We’re not stopping with a neat cupboard. KNH staff are now digitising items and uploading them to Victorian Collections, a digital archive where you can search thousands of items held by different organisations across the State. At this point, we have digitised many of our photos, dozens of annual reports, and KNH activity brochures across the decades.

My personal favourites are the “Shoulder To Shoulder” newsletters. These were handwritten and “Roneo-d” (look it up if you’re under 50) by the Kensington Women’s Group from 1979 to 1985. For $5, locals could get a newsletter once a month for a whole year. These magazines are an absolute treasure trove. They document the evolution of our house as well as provide a voice for the many women attending at the time. Writing ranges from hard hitting articles about social justice to reports of family camps, book reviews and star signs. There are also some brilliantly helpful articles about the history of the Women’s Group and the formation of the house.

If you would like to explore our collection, go to: https://victoriancollections.net.au/ and search for Kensington Neighbourhood House in the “Organisations” section.

Remember, it is a work in progress and we will continue to add items over coming months.