‘Everything is interesting: losing yourself in the archive and knowing when to stop’

I am looking forward to running a lunchtime CPD session for my work colleagues at my day job, the Co-operative College, a small, specialist educational charity in Manchester which also houses the National Co-operative Archive, on Tuesday 29 September. I am aiming to introduce colleagues to my PhD research into Pictures for Schools and get their feedback and perspectives on this area of post-war history, culture and education.

The session is part of a series of research sessions open to all members of staff at the College (around thirty), as it seeks to raise and promote its research profile.

I am aiming to give an overview not just of Pictures for Schools and its history, but of some of the methodological approaches and decisions I have had to make, including the use of biography to discuss Pictures for Schools founder Nan Youngman. The majority of my research has been archival, and I will be sharing some of my findings, particularly those with a visual appeal. I will also highlight one of the difficulties I have encountered: narrowing down the avenues of exploration and knowing where to stop when everything is so interesting and there is so much surrounding context to explore! For this reason, I have entitled my session ‘Everything is interesting: losing yourself in the archive and knowing when to stop’.