Chloe: what I did on my work placement with Wakefield Museums and Castles

Chloe recently did a work placement with us as part of her university course. She's kindly written this guest blog about her experience. 

Read on to discover some of the interesting objects she catalogued for us!

During my work placement I was based in the museum store. I catalogued a small collection of items from the Sykes / Slazenger factory. The Sykes / Slazenger factory is mainly known for manufacturing sports items and equipment.

When I first started my work placement I was given a tour of the museum store. I was shown some of the objects and items they have and told about their significance. I was then shown the objects I would cataloguing throughout the eight weeks of my placement. I was also shown the history file. This contains everything needed to be kept with the collection, like the forms to say what needs to be catalogued or just used for reference. It also says how they got the items as well as the ownership of the items.

The objects I catalogued

The items I was to catalogue were:

• a pile of black and white photographs

• a photo album with more black and white photographs

• a head press (this was used to help make sure the tennis racket kept its shape)

• a tennis racket with a head press

• some rifle furniture (the wooden parts of a rifle) produced in the Sykes / Slazenger factory during the Second World War

The photographs

After looking through the objects, I decided I would start by cataloguing the black and white photographs. I started by putting the photographs into groups. I wanted to keep and catalogue the ones that were similar together.

A lot of the photographs were quite similar in nature. Cataloguing them was difficult, as it was hard to tell the difference between them.

Some of the photographs were pictures of some of the different manufacturing processes. These included how a tennis racket or a golf club was made. Others were of people using the machine, or just of the machines themselves.

This was very similar when I had catalogued the photo album. Some of the photographs were similar or the same to the ones I had already catalogued.

 This photograph shows a man looking over a finished golf club. He is making sure that everything has been done correctly. He is also putting on the final touches to the golf club.

Cataloguing the 3D objects

Cataloguing the rifle parts, tennis racket, head presses and the film reel was different. These objects have depth, whereas the photographs do not.

When measuring the length of the objects, I had to use a tape measure. They were quite long and it would have been difficult to do so without. I also had to look closely at the objects to make sure the condition they were in was fine. 

I was also looking to see if there was anything that was engraved or marked on to the objects.

The racket, still in its head press

The Sykes factory started to manufacture the wooden rifle parts during the Second World War. They would have slowed down the manufacturing of the sports items they produced, along with some of the machines in the photographs.

Pieces of wooden rifle furniture made by Sykes

There were some books amongst the items within the collection I was able to use for referencing. This was useful as I was able to match the photographs to the pictures of the machines within the books. 

There were some small pieces of paper that also had the name and description of what the machine was used for and how it worked. I was able to match the pieces of paper to the photographs as some of the machines had their names engraved on the front.

'Sykes and the War' and a thesis I used to research the objects

I had lastly catalogued some letters within the collection. They were in correspondence with the Sykes / Slazenger factory (more importantly the people within the factory). The majority of them had the dates in which they were sent. This made it easier for me to catalogue them in time order.

A lot of the letters were in response to Briggs receiving the British Empire Medal that was awarded by the King. This was due to his hard work in the war effort. Briggs sent letters back saying that it was a joint effort with the people he was working with and only done with the support of others.

This small collection I have catalogued is a part of a bigger collection Wakefield Museums and Castles has. There is loads more to find out about other sports items and equipment that were made at the factory. There's also lots to learn about the history behind the factory and how they stepped in to help with the war effort.