Beth Williamson | Cataloguer
The Players Foundation is a registered charity working to support professional footballers, both current and former, who find themselves in charitable need. The charity provides invaluable information, advice and support to those who need it, working with important partners such as DISC Dementia Support and MWS Consult to restore some hope in times where it may seem like there isn’t any.
The Players Foundation are also the owners of an impressive collection of football memorabilia that is currently on loan to us. The collection consists of 521 impressive items, each and every one of which gives an insight into the history of the beautiful game. The collection comprises a variety of items, ranging from artworks to medals, shirts to programmes and caps to extremely rare photographs and other items of printed ephemera. Since January it has been my job to catalogue and care for this extensive and impressive collection at our Preston Resource Centre site, located in Deepdale Stadium.
Before being sent to us from The Players Foundation, every object was wrapped up and packed professionally with lots of care, so my very first job with each item was to unwrap it very carefully and try not to panic that I was somehow going to break it! I would then identify what the object was and try to get as much information as possible about it to then catalogue/put the item on our collections management database.
Every object has to have its own number and own record on our database, and so once I had given an object a number, I would make a new record and fill out all the required information. Finding out as much information as possible about each object is really important as the detail in the records can make it a lot easier for someone else to then find specific objects on the database.
For example, the Billy Meredith scrapbook, featured in my previous blog, would come up as a result if you were to search for anything we have that relates to Meredith. It is also important that it comes up as a result when someone is searching for early 20th century football too, as the scrapbook contains many newspaper clippings that offer a great window into that specific period that have not survived in other archives.
Therefore, adding as much relevant information as possible is a great way to ensure that when searching for specific time periods or things, objects that we may not necessarily think can give us answers can be given the chance to. That way, we can use the importance and rich histories of these objects to their full potential.
Another important part of this process is condition checking each object and flagging any items with issues that may potentially require conservation or perhaps just a light cleaning as a means of preventative conservation. Thankfully, many of the objects were in good condition overall and there were none which needed conservation. Even more thankfully, there were absolutely no pests lurking in any of the objects, which certainly made my job a lot easier and enjoyable! When an object was checked for all this, I would then get the object’s specific measurements upload these onto our collections management database along with all the relevant and useful information.
Another important aspect of cataloguing is adding pictures which, again, are very important in helping people to find the correct item. We have thousands of objects in our stores, so it is important to be able to visualise what you’re looking for when searching through the many bays and shelves often for a small object!
I would then wrap the items back up in proper museum standard packing materials, like acid-free tissue paper, and label each object with the correct number before placing them very carefully into archival boxes that are the correct size and can hold the correct weight. It is important that our boxes are labelled with what is in them, so once this was done, I would take the completed boxes into their own area of our main store where they are now stored in the correct museum conditions.
Whilst the 521 objects are now catalogued, the process is certainly an ongoing one. Records are frequently being updated with new information and new locations as they go out on display or are being used by researchers. This whole role certainly requires meticulous organisation skills and could potentially be quite repetitive, but when working with such impressive and fascinating historical objects, every day has been very fun and rewarding.
The next part of this project will involve writing more blogs on particular star items, but also digitising the items and putting them on our website in order to make them more accessible for all. This will also include taking some high-quality scans of ephemera items and even taking some professional photographs with new equipment, very kindly funded by The Players’ Foundation, so you can see these items in all of their glory and learn more about the collection from the comfort of your home.
Huge thanks to The Players Foundation for making this incredible collection accessible for many more people to enjoy, and for enabling the National Football Museum to harness the power of the beautiful game through objects, stories and memories.
To find out more about The Players Foundation, you can visit their website here – https://theplayersfoundation.org/