Ephemeral Documents
Saved for Posterity
How many of us have received newsletters over the years - read them then thrown them away, or in this age of digital communication, deleted the email that contained the content, once read?
Yet some of these newsletters can provide wonderful insights into the lives of our ancestors.
As an example, the Rees Scott Archive have a set of newsletters relating to the working life of my father, David Alan Rees (1932-2009).
Known to all as Dai Rees, he spent most of his working life as a Groundsman. For the majority of this time he worked at the BP Sports Ground in Kangley Bridge Road, Lower Sydenham, London, where he became the Head Groundsman.
Dai became an active member of the professional body that represented Groundsmen, the National Association of Groundsmen (NAG) which was subsequently renamed the Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG).
He was a member of the South-East Region / South-East London Region and held the office as Treasurer for a time for these regions. He also, at various times, held most of the National Officer positions as well as taking on the role of Exhibition Manager for the IOG’s annual trade show. His final role within the IOG was as Managing Director of Adam Publishing, the company that produced the IOG’s prestigious journal, The Groundsman.
Dai wrote a series of articles and reports for inclusion in the newsletters written for NAG / IOG. Whilst part of NAG the newsletter were for the South-East Region, once it became the IOG the newsletter was for the South-East London Region. The articles Dai wrote have been published by the Rees Scott Archive.1
The Rees Scott Archive also holds several copies of complete Newsletters2.
One publication, RSA R2 reproduces the NAG Newsletters that relate to the period 1954 to 19683. A second publication, RSA R3, reproduces the IOG Newsletters for the period1974 – 19764. These complete newsletters have Dai’s articles within the context of the rest of the newsletters
One of my favourite articles that Dai wrote for the newsletter was one that he wrote, explaining why he hadn’t managed to write an article!5
The article gives us a fascinating insight into Dai’s family life. Because the busiest times of the week at the Sports Ground were Saturdays, and Sundays in the Summer, Dai always worked those days, so always had Tuesdays off. So although we don’t know the exact date he wrote this - we can be sure it related to activities one Tuesday.
So next time you get a newsletter - think about what it is telling you about your interests or work - and maybe keep a copy for your descendants.
References:
Series RSA-OCC-0004. The complete run of newsletters are numbered RSA-OCC-0004-1 to RSA-OCC-0004-20
Series RSA-OCC-0004. The NAG newsletters are numbered RSA-OCC-0004-1 to RSA-OCC-0004-12. Available here as RSA R2
Series RSA-OCC-0004. The IOG newsletters are numbered RSA-OCC-0004-13 to RSA-OCC-0004-20. Available here as RSA R3
Newsletter 10: RSA-OCC-0004-10, contained in Series RSA R2. Published May 1967.