DJs puts a new spin on 175 years of history with finds from archivist's wonderland
Catalogues from the 1890s, vintage ball gowns, dusty antiques, grainy photographs and dog-eared pages of board minutes have a final resting place here, each item notated and filed away by Horton's tidy hand.
No other store: Mannequins being unloaded circa 1930s. Photo: Supplied by David Jones
''It's not only a very valuable business record, it's a social record,'' she explained in an interview with the Herald some years before her death in 2011. ''It is used constantly by film and theatre designers who want to recreate faithfully the style of previous eras for big-budget productions.''
David Jones: 175 Years' author Helen O'Neill describes ''walking through a Christmas-tree forest'' in search of material - trees used to spread festive cheer were redundant 11 months of the year. ''It's the most amazing place, a labyrinth of history,'' O'Neill says. ''They understood how important what they had was, so they hired an archivist to look after it properly. And the work [Barbara Horton] did was brilliant; she fiercely protected this archive.''
A mail-order catalogue 1930. Photo: Supplied by David Jones
In fact, Horton's dedication led her as far as the rubbish tip to recover items discarded during a former chief executive's reign.
When work began on the book, DJs put out a call to all who had worked there, or had memories or mementoes to share. One of many to respond was 95-year old Hubert Spike, who worked as a window-dressing assistant, the budding designer surreptitiously hanging his own creations in prime view.
Spike's experience has been mirrored by many local designers, the department store serving as a launch pad to success. Models, too, have been brought to public attention - Maggie Tabberer's first break came courtesy of David Jones. Other famous connections include Dawn Fraser and Paul Keating, both erstwhile employees. But while the former enjoyed success as an assistant buyer, the latter was quickly dismissed, deemed an ''unsatisfactory'' salesman.
Founder David Jones. Photo: Supplied by David Jones
In a history likened by CEO Paul Zahra to an episode of Dallas for its dalliance with ''family dynasty, money, sex, scandal and romance'', the store's sumptuous past - and Horton's own story - makes for fascinating reading.
''It's very sad that Barbara isn't here to see the finished product, but she knew we were working on it,'' creative director Andrew Henderson says. ''She was a true professional and took her work incredibly seriously. She has contributed to this book in so many ways, it's her legacy as much as anything, and I think that's a really lovely thing for her family.''
Comments
Nick I wish I could click 'Like'! Without wishing to malign our historian friends overly, oh how often they (unknowingly?) try to steal our archival thunder, through their own ignorance of our discipline. They never say (I think): the archivist told me that X is available; no, it is always 'I discovered'.....and as you say, the media just make it worse, by implying that this old stuff is just lying around all unknown and uncared for, just waiting for the stalwart and heroic researcher to find them.
If you look at the David Jones original SMH article (above), it is cringe-worthy:
"Catalogues from the 1890s, vintage ball gowns, dusty antiques, grainy photographs and dog-eared pages of board minutes have a final resting place here, each item notated and filed away by Horton's tidy hand."
Shudder at the clichés about records: dusty, worn out, hard to read, dead; and of course the 'tidy' archivist. Do they expect an archivist to be messy? And what about A&D database?! Is it all hand-written finding aids? Don't get me started on the dodgy nomenclature of 'filed'.
With this David Jones story the historian and the media just compound their errors every time they seek to communicate. Alas, they are not alone!
Louise, I love that often mis-used phrase 'unearthed', the same occured with the publishing of the 'Censor's library' last year, which was pitched by the publisher and all media outlets as the author 'discovering the long-buried censor's library' - except that the NAA had registered the series almost 25 years ago and it had a quite detailed online series description.
Today (26 April 2013) on the Radio National Breakfast programme Fran Kelly interviewed Helen O'Neill, author of "David Jones: 175 Years". It is an interesting interview, and great to hear about the results of research using archival records.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/175-years-of-david-jones/4652610
But alas Helen O'Neill made some core mistakes in nomenclature.
She referred to Barbara Horton as an 'ark-ive-ist' as opposed to 'arkiv-ist'.
O'Neill also referred to (what surely must be) compactus as 'credenzas'....
O'Neill is described by Kelly as having 'unearthed' interesting and beautiful records. It is far more likely that Barbara Horton, the professional archivist, arranged and described the records, and provided O'Neill with information about their existence and provided access to them.
Finally, there was no mention of the fact that Barbara Horton died in 2011, and no mention of anyone occupying the current role of David Jones Archivist.
What this article does NOT mention is the elephant in the room.....Who is the current David Jones Archivist? Is there anyone in that role? At the time of Barbara Horton's death (28 July 2011), nobody had been appointed.
It is also very disappointing to see that this journalist embraces the tired clichés about librarians and archivists a) being the same thing, and b) wearing spectacles and being unassuming persons ('slight').
Barbara Horton did her Arts degree at Sydney University, and then her Diploma in Librarianship/Archives at the University of NSW. She worked for a number of years at the State Library of NSW in their manuscripts department. Barbara was then employed for over 35 years as the archivist at David Jones.
If you would like to know more about the life and career of Barbara Horton, the ASA NSW Branch published articles about Barbara (from the perspectives of her colleagues, employers, and family) in two NSW Branch newsletters, August 2011 & September 2011, available on the NSW Branch page on the ASA website:
http://www.archivists.org.au/page/Community/Branches/New_South_Wale...