Imperial’s archivist and winner of the lifetime achievement prize
In February 2025 Anne Barrett, Imperial’s Archivist and winner of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Archives and History lifetime achievement award invited Imperial Technicians to present at the SERCH Conference held in SAF. We wanted to find out more about Anne and where her interest in the technical community stemmed from.
What is your role at Imperial and what does it involve?
I'm the University Archivist and Corporate Records Manager, which means that I look after the records and therefore, the history of college. It's quite difficult sometimes for people to understand what we do in the Archives because it is so different from what everyone else does. We're not just basic admin, we have many enquiries and researchers, internal and external and overseas. We have to interpret their requests and supply relevant information, sometimes a lot of lateral thinking is required – perhaps that’s why I enjoy working with technicians – they have to puzzle things out too! We look after the records in a huge range of materials; paper, photographs, CDs, scientific objects and network, and we have to catalogue and store this huge range of items.
My main role is to seek out and retain the history of college so that in the future people will know what has happened here. That means I collect today, so am looking currently and forward, not always back. Innovation is key to good record keeping, and I have introduced a secure digital preservation system for both digital or scanned documents which one of my team is responsible for. We can all add to it if we find relevant data and I like ephemeral which shows what social things happen here. Of course, we still receive much in hard copy, (helpful if systems go down, as we can still retrieve things and also, it's quite handy for exhibitions and displays.) Longevity in materials is also key to retaining for posterity, so we keep them in the best conditions possible. We do work to a retention schedule, part of the processes which set out keeping material until no longer necessary to Imperial’s business needs, and then we will dispose of it confidentially.
What working achievements or initiatives are you most proud of?
In 2008 I was awarded the ‘Associateship of Imperial College’ for my work at Imperial, which is a great honour. In 1994 I received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Archives and History’ by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Archives and History (career lifetime to date that is.) I've also had awards from the Royal School of Mines Association and the Royal College of Science Union for my contributions to the Imperial community, and from the Graduation Team because I help at both graduations every year, which are all great honours and lovely recognition from colleagues.
One of the things that I am proud about is that I'm co-chair of the Artwork Group with Prof Richard Jardine of Civil Engineering, and we have commissioned several portraits for people who are underrepresented. The first one we did was of Narendra Singh Kapany who was here in the 50s. He was one of the first to develop fibre optics, then a portrait of the first Chair of the Artwork Group, Sian Harding. Emeritus Professor of Cardiac Pharmacology. We included another much lesser-known woman in Civil Engineering, Letitia Chitty, her work from WWI onwards was very important to Civil Engineering.. The latest one that we are really pleased with is Sir Tejinder Virdee from Physics who works at CERN, and created the CMS experiment which helped locate the Higgs Boson. Tejinder’s is a really large portrait; the artist that we use is very good at technical details and could see so much that he felt had to go in. CERN is a physics facility in Geneva, the huge underground ring circles through Switzerland and France. CERN was started after WWII war and is international in its workforce.
Why is it important to preserve records?
Because otherwise the memory is lost and if you don't have memory and you don't know what went before, you can't learn from your mistakes and you can't see how you might go forward. Importantly you can celebrate your achievements knowing that you know what you've done! For example, Imperial celebrated its centenary in 2007, because the memory was there to bring achievements to the fore. This background has been built on in terms of collaboration and further advances. There are many examples of developments in science, engineering, medicine and business throughout our 108 years.
Can you tell us something that people will be surprised to find out about you?
I love dancing and paddle boarding.
How did the collaboration with the technician’s commitment come about?
I was asked to give a talk on the history of technicians at Imperial and have kept that interest and involvement going. I think technicians are unsung generally. They are really very important and very skilled and we couldn't do any work at Imperial without them.
Are there any key highlights that stand out for you during your time at Imperial?
I suppose being awarded my Associateship of Imperial College in 2008. However, I think just being able to do my job and develop it as it needs to be developed and to be involved in innovations here, is a highlight. And I've got a good team to assist with this! I'm a peer elected Fellow of the Records and Information Society. I also work on British and international standards committees for records and archives and preservation. I have been able to be involved with a lot of work internationally with archives and promoted Imperial through that.
What do you enjoy about your role at Imperial?
I enjoy the possibility of being able to talk to anyone in relation to what they do, and how Imperial’s departments work, and collaborating with colleagues across Imperial. For example, I helped with the Abdus Salam exhibition and renaming of the library. I think it is a very important thing that that we can celebrate the work of previous scientists and bring them to the attention of later generations. I was involved in developing an understanding of the history of White City; people talk to me about naming of buildings, space and how I see things have worked in the past and what might work in the future. The Archives also work with Estates on the Queen's Tower and its history, arranging tours for the Queen's Tower and we also give tailored campus tours. I work with Alumni and various Alumni groups such as the Constituent College Associations. I've been helping with the historic fire engine, Jezebel for the RCSU and the RCSA, and I've had the antique fire engines uniforms cleaned and repaired by a wonderful dry cleaners in Chelsea of all places!
Final thought on the history of technicians and why they are an important staff group
Technicians are very practical and have an awareness of the different elements they need to do their job for example the materials they need to use, the systems they use, the equipment they need to make whatever they need. They are very inventive! They have an emphasis on the health and safety aspects of their work, essential whilst managing lab and workshop classes for students and of course liaising and working with academic staff. We could not work well as a scientific institution without technicians.