Introducing the OED archivist

A blank expression—that’s the usual response I get when I tell people I’m an archivist. That does not include the surprisingly numerous occasions on which people have thought I actually said I was an alchemist! Working for the Oxford English Dictionary, I rarely suffer that problem any more.

I have been archivist for the OED for nearly a year now, a year that has gone by very fast and that has been full of challenge, diversity, and interest. The time I have spent working for the OED so far has been quite different from my previous archival jobs. I did most of my pre-course training in record offices, and then spent two years as archivist for the Open University, before a three month contract at the Ashmolean Museum here in Oxford. In all of these posts I worked on a wide range of smaller collections, always moving from one to the next. At OUP, I have the opportunity to get involved in one collection in great depth, the history of the OED—and what an interesting collection to be working on. As the sole archivist for the OED papers, I get to experience the entire range of opportunities that the job entails, whilst benefiting from being part of the Press archives team as a whole.

The duties of my job are wide-ranging, which makes it interesting for me as an archivist. The majority of my time is spent cataloguing the material in the collection. At the moment I am involved in recategorizing a large proportion of the historical papers of the OED and inputting the data into an archival computer database. This involves working through more than a hundred boxes of papers, describing the contents in detail, and designing a coherent hierarchical structure by which to display the material electronically. These particular papers form the essence of the collection: editors’ correspondence, material on the reading programme, progress reports, proofs, reference material, financial papers, publicity material, and photographs, amongst other things. By the time this project is finished, it should be much easier to search for and retrieve specific items from the collection.

While doing this, I am looking at better ways of preserving the material. This can range from using appropriate packaging, to reducing the negative effects of heat, light, and pollution, to guarding against theft, fire, and flood. I have recently procured hundreds of little archival boxes in which to house the many bundles of Dictionary slips we have here in the archives. This should help to ensure the longevity of such a vital source of information.

I enjoy particularly the interactive side of my job, both with the OED department and beyond. With the Dictionary currently being revised for the first time, I receive many requests from OED staff to view original Dictionary slips and other sources of information as further evidence for the Third Edition. I am often engaged in tracing letters that have been incorrectly or poorly cited in the Dictionary that OED staff wish to update. Enquiries from outside OUP cover topics as diverse as the meaning of words, past members of staff, and the printing of the First Edition. Perhaps my most interesting request to date came from an American gentleman who is writing a musical on the history of the Dictionary: more on that when I have it.

What is really satisfying about this job is seeing the looks on the faces of visitors when they are able to see some of the OED archives first-hand. I often conduct presentations of the archives for interested parties, be they members of OUP staff either from the UK or visiting from abroad, visitors to the OED, such as University and summer school groups, or researchers interested in OED history. Items of particular fascination include the original appeal for readers made by James Murray in 1879, the minute hand-lists of words compiled by the Broadmoor patient Dr Minor, slips for the entry for walrus worked on by J. R. R. Tolkien, and even a letter from Buckingham Palace granting permission for the Dictionary to be dedicated to King George V in 1927. We are fortunate at OUP that we have an in-house museum where I am able to display such items from the archive. Organizing displays and exhibitions is another great facet of being the OED Archivist. Just recently, I arranged an exhibition of OED material for the opening of a new Maruzen bookstore in Tokyo.

Of course it is important for me as an archivist to demonstrate that the Oxford English Dictionary is not just about the First Edition but is an evolving resource. The same can be said for the OED archive. Working on a collection without a finite ending can be more problematic for an archivist because you constantly have to incorporate new material into your collection. You also have to think about archiving current records for future generations. At the moment I am looking at ways of archiving the editing process so that researchers of the future will be able to understand the work that goes into creating the Third Edition. This is especially difficult considering that a lot of revision work is now done electronically and not on paper as it was in James Murray’s day.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of being the OED Archivist for me is that I do not come from a lexicographical background. This can make it tricky when trying to judge the nature of a document or the content of a letter. It can also be difficult to understand the complexities of the OED department, but thankfully OED staff are always on hand to enlighten me. This is what makes the job interesting, though. At the Ashmolean Museum I was cataloguing the papers of the archaeologist Sir John Evans, and quickly had to become knowledgeable about archaeological tools and terminology. Now at OUP I am learning about the history and nature of our language and the construction of the renowned publication that is the Oxford English Dictionary. The great thing about this job is that you never stop learning.

When I was asked to write this article, I had to think again about the nature of my profession. The first thing I did was to look up archivist on OED Online. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the first quotation described the archivist as ‘an officer of great dignity’. Now how could I possibly disagree with the OED?