This archiving project started at the beginning of 2003 with at letter which was sent out to all of the retired workers in the British Union Conference. The text of this letter follows:
24 February 2003
JOINT LETTER TO:
RETIRED WORKERS WITHIN THE
BRITISH UNION CONFERENCE
Dear Friends
Since starting my work as Communication director here
at the BUC office back in 1996 I have been fascinated by the
possibilities which exist for the archiving of information. Some months
back I went through the loft and collected a cardboard box full of old
photographs. Mostly black and white, these photos seemed to span a
period of at least fifty years. Although I recognised some faces,
including those of my own parents, most of the images were meaningless
to me. However I knew that many of these pictures were historically
important and realised that if I could find someone to identify at least
some of the faces and occasions I could at least start on the journey to
producing a useful and valuable photographic archive.
My first discussions were with Mrs Valerie Pearce,
who works in this office and has done so for some time. She looked at
some of the photos and wrote some helpful notes about the people she
knew before returning the box to me. I then tried Mrs Gill Huzzey, who
still works here on an occasional basis. Again a number of photos were
reclaimed from anonymity. The last person to look at the photos was Mrs
Dorothy Taylor. As she no longer works at the office and lives some
distance away I persuaded her (actually it didn't take much persuading)
to take the whole box home and work through it at her leisure. When the
box returned some weeks later it was a bit heavier, and glancing inside
I realised that she had done a considerable amount of work. Looking
inside it again just now I see copious notes, labelled envelopes, and
other helpful slips of paper which will be invaluable when we finally
get round to properly documenting the collection.
Unfortunately other matters have taken my time since
the photo box returned but one day soon I am planning to scan the best
of the old photos and make them available to the public in some way,
probably on the BUC web-site.
Archiving may not be a subject which many people get
excited about, but if you think about the way God has led in the growth
and development of the Adventist Church here in the British Isles over
the last one hundred years or so, you will realise that there are
thousands upon thousands of stories to tell. A quick scan back through
your own memory will probably highlight scores, if not hundreds of
fascinating Church-related stories from your own life - stories which
reflect God's leading and purpose for His people. You may not have
photos to help in reconstructing these stories, but you do have the
images that remain in your memory and it is these that I would like to
turn my attention to now.
When you get together with people of your own
generation, people you perhaps worked with in days gone by, what do you
talk about? Isn't it true that you reminisce about the good times you
had, and remind each other of how God led in your life? Why do you have
such conversations? Is it simply nostalgia, or for the sake of the
historical record? I suspect that in such conversations there is an
"inspirational" element as well. We tell, and re-tell the
stories to each other because they lift us up and strengthen our faith.
The way we know about God's leading in the past, and
therefore what His will is for us today, is through the writings of
people who experienced God in some way. It would of course be wrong to
compare our conversations, notes, diaries, and memoirs, with the
inspired writings of the scriptures, but there is perhaps something of a
parallel. If we could tell all of our stories, relating to others the
way that God has led us in the past, think of the inspiration, hope and
encouragement it could give to future generations. Maybe you don't
consider your own story important enough to tell, but if that is the
case is there not a risk that your own modesty may stifle a genuine
revelation of God?
OK, perhaps I'm getting carried away here, but my
point is that if we do not organise our memories, record them and
transmit them in some way, they will be lost forever. The world's
knowledge of history will be poorer, the Church's knowledge of its own
past will be hazier, and just perhaps, people's knowledge of God will be
slightly less complete than it could have been.
Well, I'm doing my bit. I've kept a diary since I was
thirteen (though mostly it makes exceedingly dull reading), I'm
attempting to develop an archive of old denominational photos (as I'm
sure a number of other Church institutions are doing as well), and I'm
looking into ways of making archived Church information available to our
members and the wider public. But there's only so much I can do. You are
the ones with the vast store of experiences, the encyclopaedic and
first-hand knowledge of Adventist Church history, and the personal
knowledge of wonderful Christian people, many sadly now deceased. Some
of you have memories of God's leading over fifty, sixty or even more
years. The question is, what are you going to do with that knowledge?
Having read all of this I do hope that you will at
least think about doing some writing in the near future. It may take
some time before any of it finally makes it in to print (or other
media), but getting it written is the most important first step.
May you continue to see God's working in your lives
as you have done in the past.
Yours sincerely
John C Surridge
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR
