This week we meet outside Parkstead House, which gave me another chance to see the Whitelands campus in more detail. We looked more closely at the interior of the house, and I especially enjoyed looking at the ‘servants’ entrance and the decoration there compared with the decoration in the lecture halls and rest of the house.

The part of the lecture I enjoyed the most was exploring the Whiteland’s archives, it was like stepping into the past. I loved seeing the dresses that were all hung up from the May Queen Festivals, and the difference in the styles through the years. I also liked looking at the different items we have in the archive, besides the documents and files. Hearing the history of the college while looking at aspects of the college’s physical history.

The information that the archives hold on students of the college, allow the girls and young women to be treated as individuals within the vast amounts of data and records.

In terms of thinking about a question, I am still interested in looking at an individual within one of the colleges. The Whiteland’s archive and the history of the college really interest me, especially when considering the integration of the pagan festival within the heavily Church of England college.

Dr Richard A. Keogh’s lecture on the war memorial within the walls of the university campus looked at the personal stories behind the names on the memorial itself.  The representation of non-soldiers on the memorial created the sense that this was a more personal memorial that meant something to the people of the Digby Stuart College at the time.

This creates a  link between the war memorial and the sisters or students of the college at the time of war. With the potential to consider this further focusing on the war effort back home vs the war effort on the front. This is especially prominent when you consider the impact of St George’s Hospital with dealing with the wounded especially regarding prosthetics. There even appears to be a link to the hospital as one of the inscriptions states that a woman died due to heartbreak from the loss of her sons and due to her work in the hospital. It is refreshing to see the memorialisation of a woman present on the home front and the impact the war had on her in terms of her family and the work she undertook.

Another interesting aspect is the hidden nature of the memorial, after only recently being given listed status. The fact that the local community has very little if any interaction with the memorial diminishes its former glory and removes the function, commemoration and memorialisation of all the people present on the memorial.

When thinking about questions and aspects to potentially consider for project ideas, I would be interested in considering the relationship between the names on the memorial and their connection with the people working within the college at the time. Or potentially looking at the impact if any of the Digby Stuart College on St George’s hospital.

This lecture was led by Susan Deacy in the Adam room of Grove House. It was an interesting session as the topic linked more with my degree than some of the other lectures we have had.It was amazing to see the impact of Classics on the design and interior decoration of the Adam room along with the other examples of this type of artwork in similar houses.I was particularly interested in the temple that is currently located on Mount Clare. The fact that there was a temple that had a relief that copies part of the Parthenon frieze before the Parthenon frieze came to the UK is unbelievable. It is quite upsetting that the Temple has fallen into disrepair due to a lack of money to restore it especially because it is such a unique aspect of the architecture of Roehampton.

When thinking about project ideas, this week had me again thinking about the restoration and care of the buildings that we have on campus. We have all these wonderful buildings that no one knows about and due to this, they are falling further into disrepair. I am hoping that through my project I can hopefully spark some more people’s interest in the history of our university and more towards the conservation of the unique buildings we occupy. Also, it would be quite interesting to consider why these temples and representations of mythological stories were represented and if they had a specific link to the people that occupied the house at the time they were installed.

Below is a video of Susan Deacy giving a talk on the fireplace in the Adams room and the classical reception behind the image of Hercules at the crossroads.

Exploring the Campus with Gilly King was really interesting. I enjoyed envisioning the changes on the campus throughout its long history. The amount of historic buildings we have seems unreal, especially since you don’t even notice some of them (especially the ice house).

I really enjoyed hearing the stories of the people who lived and owned the buildings. This was especially interesting regarding the Mausoleum of the Lyne-Stephens ‘family’.

I also enjoyed learning about the restoration work which has taken place so far and what still needs restoring. Another part of today’s lecture that sparked my interest was how important Digby Stuart College was considered to the Nazi Regime. The fact that it was radio broadcasted that Elm Grove would be bombed and the reality that it was hit 4 times.

Thinking in terms of research project ideas, I think I am more interested in the personal experience of people within the colleges. So, potentially looking at a series of accounts of women that were residents and students during a specific time-period. Potentially looking at some students from the post-war period within the Digby Stuart College, considering the archive accounts.

Growhampton with current students working in the allotment and gardens of campus

This was an informative week, especially as we were inside an archive and could see the types of resources available for us to use and how to access them. The online database seems an important resource for searching for sources that will be useful for the final project, although this is only relevant when looking in Froebel’s archive as the other archives are yet to have full online access.

Children playing outside in the Froebel College

In terms of project ideas, I really enjoyed reading about the daily routine of the girls of Froebel college, and how they woke at 6am and then had to clean their rooms before breakfast. This was especially interesting when you compare the daily routines of current students with the routines of past students, with many students refusing to get up for 10am lectures let alone tidying up before heading to lecture.

The Roehampton Hockey team in a recent Facebook post

The archives allow for the presence of an individual to be seen within a larger institution. This is what interests me in terms of drawing parallels between the work of an individual within the University and the effect one person can have on a larger institution. Or reversing this and looking at the effect the institution could have on an individual.

While in the archive today I thought about the parallels between the outdoor and gardening education happening under the Froebelian framework of the 1900’s with the ongoing work of the hive and GrowHampton. Also looking at the difference in the sporting activities between the Froebelian college

The Froebel College Hockey Team

and Sport Roehampton today. All these differences and similarities have given me an idea in doing a comparative study of extra-curricular activities in the 1900’s with those of today’s university.

This week was all about looking at the roles of individuals on the history of Roehampton. This had me thinking about how individuals can form part of my project or the whole project. I like the idea of comparing the lives of several women and seeing how their time at Roehampton has influenced their future lives and careers. Potentially even looking at the effect that individuals had on education and college life. Or potentially looking at the presence of other nationalities within the colleges. All these questions are interesting and I could see myself doing any one of them for the project but they all depend upon the resources I can find within the archives next week, and the kinds of sources they have available for me to access.

The lecture was also useful in thinking about the type of thing I want to do along-side the essay. But at the same time, it is hard to decide on the project type when I am still trying to firm up a topic and question.

Women in education is an important topic to understand the struggles that women faced in getting the education that a lot of girls and young women today take for granted.

Thinking about questions for the project I was thinking of looking at the situation of women in education and how this changed over time. So for example, in Southlands, there was at one point in the early years over 150 women sharing 2 bathrooms and looking at the effect events and experiences like this had on the women in this training college. Or looking into the strict codes of conduct and rules they had to follow especially in comparing these to women’s colleges in Oxford, Cambridge and London to see if the regulations imposed on one of our colleges was off the same level as other colleges and universities.

Or looking potentially at individuals maybe within the sacred heart organisation and the links between the religious aspect of their education and the teacher training education they received. Maybe even comparing the educational practices of the women with the way they were treated and the results ( for example the number of women that finished their education.)

Whilst I could also look at the prejudices that women faced and how they dealt with this adversity on an individual level as well as within the college community.

The religious foundations of the colleges were something I had never really considered or thought about before. I knew that all the colleges began as women’s teacher training colleges but I didn’t know that three of the colleges had such a religious background or how they came together to create Roehampton University.  I loved learning about the religious interest and involvement in education as had not made a link between religion and education before.

Learning outside of the classroom was also a lot more interesting as seeing the places that are the centre of religion on campus almost made the history of the university come to life that little bit more.

This was my first insight into the denomination of the society of the sacred hearts and it really sparked my interest in the women that roamed these hallways before me.  Thinking about potential project ideas I think I might want to look at the legacy and continued involvement of the sacred sisters within the university. Or looking at when they were here initially linking it with individual stories of women and exploring their motives within the church as well as the impact they had on education and the church.

This week’s lecture was interesting as it is an aspect of history that I have not considered before. I enjoyed the linking of history and architecture and the extent of influence that the Greek and Roman world had on the architecture of the English Country House. The terminology of all the architectural aspects was hard to get my head round at the beginning of the lecture but towards the end, I was enjoying pointing out the typical aspects of the architecture and was feeling more comfortable with the time period.

With my interest being firmly placed in the classical period this lecture made me think about the different types of classical reception in the 18^th century and question how much of the classical world is still around us. Walking around campus and noticing the small details that I would not have noticed before have made me feel like my eyes have been opened to an undercurrent of antiquity that I didn’t know was there before.

I am looking forward to walking around campus next week and looking in more detail at the origins of the university and the changes it has gone through.

Monday’s lecture raised a lot of interesting questions relating to what it means to be a student. What the role of a university is and what do we expect as students? Alongside this, we also discussed the evolution of the university and how it has evolved to become a more inclusive environment. While still having the same fundamental role within society as a place that creates ideas to be shared and evolved.

During the lecture, it was interesting to think of all the possibilities for potential research questions looking at the diversity of students and how this changed over time, with the potential to look at the relations between the different religious sects.

I choose to research Jane Digby this week, due to an interest in the effect an elite woman could have during the 18th century. I first read the online Oxford biography and deduced a timeline for her life. Then using this,  cross-referenced her links to Roehampton. I will continue researching to gain a deeper understanding of who she was as a person and the influence she had on Roehampton.

Overall I am looking forward to developing my question ready to start researching.

Click Here for Information about the Life of Jane Digby