Thanks to the award of a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, we are delighted to welcome a couple of new faces that have joined the fabulous volunteers in the Library & Archives. Welcome Charles Graffius (Archivist) and Claire Marris (Archive Development Officer)!
Charles’ last position was at Chigwell Convent where he had the task of bringing the records up-to-date of the disabled schools they had run, in line with modern data protection and personal information law. “I am proud to be the Archivist of the wonderful collections here at the Whitby Museum and hope in the next three years to organise the archives to its best possible level and to train volunteers to keep the system going in the future.” When Charles unearths himself from the archives you can find him delving into Medieval History and reading Sci Fi – his favourite author being R.A. Heinlein.
Claire ran a School Library in a Nottinghamshire Secondary School before taking on this role. One of her proudest accolades is achieving a place on the Honours List with the School Librarian Association. “My role is to bring the archives to the Whitby community by means of outreach sessions, social media and in-house events. Who doesn’t enjoy a little bit of historic gossip – it’s all here!” When she’s not running around the Whitby town you can find her hitting a few balls on a tennis court, reading books which she discusses on a podcast called ‘Lounging with Books’ and enjoying the beautiful Yorkshire coast and moors with her partner and Westie, Muffin.
If you are interested in delving into your past, where you live or browsing some of the collections available or becoming a volunteer please contact our team at library@whitbymuseum.org.uk. If you are interested in Claire visiting your community group with archive resources contact her at claire.marris@whitbymuseum.org.uk.
