The_Archive
The Archive
Our archives stretch back through generations of pupils from Culford and the East Anglian Schools, encompassing the history of Culford and its parkland.
Decades of school photographs, commemorative cups and trophies, old school uniforms, volumes of school magazines and journals - our collection constitutes a unique and fascinating resource. For many years it has been stored away in our cellars, inaccessible to alumni, pupils and local historians. Now we plan to bring it to life by transforming a new, dedicated space into the Culford School & Estate Archives, where prized items will be on display and material will also be accessible online.
The Digital Archive Project
We have begun to digitise our archive materials to make them available online. This will include old school magazines, photographs and other memorabilia. It includes material dating back to the East Anglian School's origins in 1881, as well as the establishment of the girls' School in 1935, when the boys moved out to Culford.
Eventually, we aim to produce a fully searchable and comprehensive online resource covering the history of the schools and the historic Culford estate.
Each page costs £1 to scan. With copies of The Culfordian and East Anglian magazines averaging 50 pages, the cost of digitising all the archives, which includes magazines, books, letters, photographs and reports, quickly mounts up.
In addition, whole school, year group and team photographs require gentle and time-consuming handling and cost, on average, £20 each to scan. Other memorabilia, such as trophies, are equally costly to add to the online archive.
How can we help?
We would be grateful for your support, all gifts of any amount can make a real difference and help secure and preserve Culford and East Anglian Schools' history for future generations and everyone to enjoy. Thank you.
What were the East Anglian Schools?
In 1881, the Methodist Board of Education opened the East Anglian School for Boys in Bury St Edmunds. It outgrew its original site and in 1935 succeeded in buying Culford Hall. The East Anglian School for Girls eventually joined us in 1972. We are now home to EAS and Culford alumni and our archives include material from all of the schools.