School Archives' Day at Merchant Taylors' School
On 12 March 2025 the School Archivist held an open day to coincide with School Archives' Day. Significant treasures are held in school archives across the country and the event is aimed to increase awareness and engagement with this sector. At MTS, the day brought over seventy people into the archive and the constant flow of students and staff created a renewed buzz and level of interest in the archive and school’s collections.
The day started with Mr Bull (Head of Classics) running an interactive session for two classicists in the Lower Sixth looking at a selection of objects from the School’s archaeological collection. Founded in 1907, the Merchant Taylors’ Archaeological Society was once very active and managed the contents held within the school’s museums at Charterhouse Square and Sandy Lodge. Objects were donated and collected over its fifty-year history, many of which are still at Sandy Lodge.
A Kore figurine from 550 BCE
Under close supervision, students were able to handle a Greek female figurine which dated back to 500 BCE as well as a glass jar which was excavated from Pompeii. The jar, with its long cylindrical neck, was buried after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE and was probably used for carrying expensive cosmetics. This session presented an incredible opportunity for the students to get up close and personal with objects that are normally locked inside a museum case or behind closed doors. More sessions are being planned for students to engage with objects like these from the archaeological collection, and an exciting new cataloguing project of this collection is being planned. We are interested to connect with OMTs who were once part of the Ark (Archaeological Society) so please do get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
Throughout the day, pupils and staff visited the archive armed with lots of questions about the School’s history, the rare book collection which is housed in the archive and some of the items on display. Copies of old examination papers drew lots of attention. Were the maths exams in the 19th century really that hard?
An example of a Mathematics Examination from 1845
Another item of interest amongst the boys was a black and white aerial photo of the school’s grounds taken around the 1950s. It shows the eastern lake and a gravel pit to the south of the cricket pitches. The connecting low-lying land by the River Colne at this time had not yet been excavated to form the bigger lake that is used today for water-based activities. A further reference to this has been found in the archive from a committee meeting on 21 October 1953 ‘With reference to the resolution of the Committee on 8th July, read a letter dated 10th July of Mr Franklin-Adams to the Master reporting that following a further discussion with the Surveyor he approved in principle the proposal to permit the Rickmansworth Gravel Company to excavate part of the low-lying ground at the School and to form a lake on the site.’
Aerial photograph of Merchant Taylors' School from the 1950s before the network of lakes was enlarged
The day ended with a visit from a small group of OMTs, former teachers and parents who were given the opportunity to browse the displays in the archive and also to consult folders of photographs that the archivist had assembled. John Short (OMT 1947–1954) was delighted to be reacquainted a Palaeolithic flint axe that he discovered in a gravel pit in Mill End when he was a boy, and has since donated to the school.
There will be another opportunity to visit the archive on June 25th after the OMT Afternoon Tea, so please get in touch by email with Isabel if you would like to see anything in particular, or if you have anything that you wish to donate to the archive.