My time as Heritage Associate

I began my time at Spalding Gentlemen’s Society by volunteering to work on the Parish Library, a collection of books that used to belong to the Parish Church of St Mary and St Nicolas, comprising mainly theological books. I had just finished my time at university, which included work on the philosophy of religion and extracurricular engagement with theology reading groups. I had a fair memory of my time studying Latin at school, so I was well placed to go into this library, which had not been catalogued for nearly one hundred years, to see what was in store.

However, I was surprised to find that some of the most interesting documents were not (merely) theological books, and some not even books at all, but pamphlets circulated in the seventeenth century surrounding the English Civil War. One thing that stood out to me about the writings from this period was that the idea of a secular society was only just beginning to be fleshed out, and so there was still a lot of discussion of religion when it came to political matters. Many pamphlets mixed religion and politics, for example detailing how God had allowed certain victories in battle or describing oaths to God required of people by parliament and by the King.

One pamphlet, however, particularly stood out to me as innovative in that it attempted to offer an account of how governments should be run without making any appeal to God whatsoever, and so this was perhaps a very early example of secular thinking in politics in England. The pamphlet, titled ‘The Priviledges of the House of Commons’ explained how the House of Commons had a right to make law without the consent of the Lords or the King, and established this view using legal precedent reaching back to the thirteenth century. This changed how I viewed British politics, which I studied at university, because I had viewed the constitution as, if even a real thing, something made up by practice and able to change over time. This document, however, showed me that the idea of legal precedent in the British constitution was something that was not a modern innovation of the Supreme Court since the time of New Labour but something that had been important to politicians and constitutional lawyers in England for hundreds of years.

When I officially started as a Heritage Associate at the society, I moved on to work on other collections, in which I have learned less about history but much more about archival and museum management. During my time working on conservation with Mary, I have used Japanese tissue paper to make repairs to torn paper, a very satisfying although fiddly process, and learned about the ominous sounding ‘Red Decay’, a leather disease affecting books, belts, and other artefacts. I have also enjoyed digitising interesting objects such as a taxidermied pufferfish, snuff bottles from eighteenth century China, and maritime compasses and telescopes. The thing I have enjoyed most about my time with the society is learning not only about the past but also how to preserve it, which will be helpful for me if I pursue a career in the heritage sector.

By Adam James Arnfield, past Heritage Associate with Spalding Gentlemen’s Society