Devotion to archives (From York Press)

Devotion to archives

10:33am Thursday 20th December 2012 in Letters By Reader's letter

I WAS pleased to read Philip Johnson’s support for our archivists in retirement (Letters, December 17).

It was their expertise and devotion to the documented history of York which has set a shining example for present archivists to emulate.

There are thousands of visitors who could testify to the excellence of this service, the richness of the documentation, and the disgraceful paucity of accommodation provided.

How the archivists managed in such cramped and pinchpenny quarters is a minor miracle.

Indeed, without former archivist Rita Freedman we might not today have York Archives where they belong: here in the city centre.

Indications are that we shall soon have the kind of archives our former archivists worked tirelessly to achieve.

William Dixon Smith, Welland Rise, Acomb, York.