Archivist Megan Wallbutton in the Whanganui Girls' College archives. Photos / Paul Brooks
Archivist Megan Wallbutton in the Whanganui Girls' College archives. Photos / Paul Brooks
Megan Wallbutton has surrounded herself with the past of Whanganui Girls' College.
An "Old Girl" herself, she and fellow archivist Glenda Smithies have taken it upon themselves to invest in the history of the school and create a large archives collection, which will be open for public viewing during Heritage Month.
At the Heritage Awards their efforts were recognised with an award for Outstanding Contribution.
There's not a square centimetre of space in the WGC Archives.
The archives are displayed in a room next to the hostel at the school, but there's barely enough space for all the photographs, uniforms, memorabilia, books, records, documents and much more that make up the collection.
So much is still stacked in cupboards, including a priceless collection of glass negatives, going back to the foundation of the school in 1891.
A peek into an old time boarder's room.
Originally stored — but not displayed — in a room they shared with the PTA, the archives had to be moved when the building was demolished. Their new space is the former uniform shop.
Prizes for students of long ago.
A lot of things are displayed on racks and tables and Megan has created a boarder's bedroom at the back of the room where there had been a kitchenette. She sourced an iron headboard and foot board from a farmer: they weren't a matching pair but she took them home, sanded them down and painted them for the display.
The bed is the centrepiece of the bedroom display. She managed to get original muslin undergarments which were so fragile she had to frame them to prevent them falling apart.
"They are so delicate ... they're probably from the 1920s."
The little room has a definite St Trinians feel about it and is completely furnished with authentic artefacts, right down to a notice with all the house rules.
Years and years of WGC class photos.
The archival photographs are impressive and a real eye-opener.
"There's the gymnasium ... with a dirt floor," says Megan.
Her grandmother is in some of the photos.
Megan attended the school from 1955 to 1958.
No room here for a tidy bedroom.
Much of the material Megan and Glenda saved from being dumped. Now it is part of a precious and informative collection. Some of the items have been donated and much has come from Megan herself.
The evolution of schoolwork.
There's a book of sewing samples.
"We used to have to do those in dressmaking as part of School Certificate," says Megan.
There are newspaper clippings, sheet music, a school bag complete with timetable taped to it, a hymn book, typewriters, pens and pencils, an old Philips computer monitor, textbooks, mannequins dressed in school uniforms, hats ...
"There's a lot more but you can only display so much."
There's a complete set of the Ad Astrian magazine, from the first to the last and the original school roll from 1891 is intact. Many of the surnames are now remembered in street names.
A collection of the school's crested crockery.
In a class of its own is a large blueprint from World War II, with the location of air raid shelters on the school grounds when Girls' College was in Liverpool St. In one of the Ad Astrians there is an account of air raid drills where girls had to evacuate to the shelters.
In World War I the school sponsored a military hospital ward in Cairo and there are records of what home comforts they sent to the wounded soldiers.
School furniture was made on the premises and there are designs and plans for desks and more.
A board remembers the school's suffragists. A wall shelf is filled with old leather bound books, given as prizes to students and returned to the school.
The addition of the "new" wing in Jones St was commemorated with a plaque. When it was demolished, Megan scored the plaque for the archives.
"We were the first school in New Zealand to play 9 a-side basketball. But it only lasted a year (1899) because it was thought unladylike."
The sport resumed at the school in 1918.
For the Heritage Month tours of the archives, Megan will be in full costume.
"Black skirt, white blouse, black stockings and shoes, my original school tie, and I'm going to wear the boater hat."
