A Day in the Life of a Student Researcher at York St John

In 2021 I was a part of a Students as Researchers project exploring the York St John University’s connections to colonialism. The aim of the project was to examine the potential value of the University’s archival holdings for promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration and furthering the aims of institutional decolonisation. 

I was drawn to this project because I am interested in making changes to decolonise universities and I wanted to be a part of the process at York St John. This project also gave me an opportunity to work in the University archives, which is something I was keen to explore. With my previous experience working in archives, I was interested in questioning the existence of archives and the narratives they reveal.

As a part-time PhD student, my day-to-day life consists of a lot of different activities. The flexibility of the student research role allowed me to fit the job around other commitments. I want to walk you through a typical day in my life as a researcher and share a bit more of my research with you.

7am – Wake up

My day usually starts at 7am when I have a cup of tea and read a little bit before leaving my flat. Just before I leave, I will check my emails to make sure I have requested the right documents. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, I have to request the material in advance so it can be quarantined and left for me to collect once I get to the library.

The archival material is delicate so can only be viewed in the Quiet Area on the ground floor of the library. When I am working with the material, I bring my laptop so I can catalogue the contents of the work I am looking at and I will bring my notebook and a pencil to make notes on my findings.

8:30am – Go to the library

My usual work pattern is 8:30am until 12:30pm. When I arrive at the library, I request the key for the cupboard in the quiet room where the archival material is stored. After disinfecting the study space I set up the material, open my laptop, and get to work.

My time in the library consists of two activities: cataloguing and transcribing. One aspect of the role is to create a digital catalogue of some of the archival material to make the archive more accessible and easier to navigate for future researchers.

For this project, I focused specifically on the Ripon College Association Magazines from 1898 to 1935 and documented York St John alumni’s missionary work. Alongside cataloguing the contents for each magazine, I selected a few recurring contributors to the magazine and transcribed their letters about teaching abroad. Since York St John and Ripon colleges formed, York St John alumni have travelled the world to continue their teaching careers — whether that be independently or as a member of a missionary group. I documented the entries of three missionaries across three continents: Miss Ethel Marston in Ontario, Canada, Miss Mary Mander in Tokyo, Japan and Miss Mary Whitaker in Ranchi, India during the years 1913 to 1928.

The entries for the alumni magazine are best described as pieces of travel writing. This method of documenting missions promoted alumni to apply and actively engage with their institution’s missionary work. Their entries also created imagined and often romanticised versions of the cities they worked in, which were influenced by imperial progress. The entries also paint a biased picture of colonial subjects which feed into an imperialist narrative. By reviewing such articles and analysing their contents, the magazines provide insight into York St John alumni’s role in the cultural and practical work of British colonialism.

The alumni magazine acted as an advertisement for teaching and missionary opportunities abroad. When home on furlough, missionaries aimed ‘to raise money and recruit volunteers to support their work abroad’. [1] The Ripon College Association Magazine supported missionary work through its requests for donations and promotion of missionary work. The entries authored by alumni working abroad, presented a curated and edited account of these experiences for the readership. Writing about missionary work in the magazine was successful as later edition show other alumni working in the same areas.

The writings from the magazine discussed little about teaching and work. Rather, these entries acted as travel writing and sell the idea of working abroad. Ripon College was a part of ‘the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church’, which ‘brought education within the reach of the children of the poor’. [2] To extend this teaching to the colonies would theoretically benefit children abroad as well as the poor children in Britain.

Once I have finished cataloguing and transcribing, this work will contribute to a conference paper I will deliver at the end of the project. This will showcase that York St John does have connections to colonialism and our colonial links are present in the University’s archive.

12:30pm – Finish working in the archive

At 12:30pm I take a break from researching and make arrangements for the material I need for my next visit.

After leaving the library, I have my lunch and go to my job.

6pm – Research

Once I have finished work and had a break, I will do some further reading to aid my research for future weeks. For this project, I decided to focus on three missionaries across three colonies. In the last fifteen minutes or so of my time in the library, I will look up journal articles and books about missionary work in the countries I was focusing on. After reading a couple of articles, I would make some brief notes and bullet point some things to action for my next library visit. I will usually spend an hour reading and making notes before concluding my day as a researcher.

Reflections

Once I had completed my research hours, I had produced a catalogue of the Ripon alumni magazines from 1897 to 1935, transcribed the letters of three missionaries and presented my findings at the Talking About Teaching Social Justice conference at York St John University in July 2021. The research I conducted brought more questions than answers and further investigation should be done in the archives. Due to the time limit on this project, the work I had done only scratched the surface and a collaborative effort from staff and students would uncover much more information. An investigation into the missionary groups that alumni joined, and their connections with other colonial institutions, could give a deeper insight into York St John’s contribution to colonialism.

Having the opportunity to present my research to staff and students at YSJ was incredibly valuable and made me a more confident researcher. Since completing the project, I have read more widely on decolonising universities and want to continue actively applying what I have researched. The University’s archive holds a fountain of information about YSJ and the Diocese of York’s history and I hope more people will unravel more narratives in the future.

References

[1] Thorne,
S. (2011) ‘Religion and empire at home’ in: Hall, C. and Rose, S. eds. At
Home with the Empire: Metropolitan Culture and the Imperial World. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp.143-165. (p.153)

[2] Badcock,
Rev. C., (1892) ‘Origin and the Early Days of the Ripon Training College’,
Ripon College Association Magazine, FBA 1, 1892-1894, pp.11-19. (p.11); Newby,
C. (1922) ‘The Teaching of Religion in Day and Sunday Schools’, Ripon
College Association Magazine, FBA 27, vol.89. 1920-1923, pp.25-27. (p.25)