Obituary: Jean Ayton, B.A., A.L.A. (1929-2013)

摘要

Educated at Stretford High School for Girls, Hull University and Manchester Library School, Jean came to archives through the library route. She devoted her whole career to Manchester Libraries, working earlier for example on Central Library's extensive collection of parliamentary papers. Manchester Public Library had opened in 1852 and its first Librarian, Edward Edwards, specifically recommended the collection of local materials, a policy followed by his successors. For example, the Women's Suffrage collection was acquired in 1922. The process continued after Central Library was opened in 1934 and indeed after Lancashire Record Office was founded in 1940. Responsibility was given to the newly created Local History Library in 1957. In the following year, Central Library was approved as a repository for manorial records and, in 1961, as a place of deposit for public records. By the early 1960s Manchester Libraries had also acquired significant collections of business and family papers, often - as with those of the Gregs of Quarry Bank Mill, Styal - for areas beyond the city boundaries. The proximity of University staff and students and the Library's extensive printed collections of related material were both factors in this process.