The Baskett Family collection, D-719, is spread over three boxes, two containing documents and one full of photographs. The documents were clearly collected by someone who was interested in history and many of them contain notes about family history and pedigrees of families related to the Basketts.
When you find an entry for the pedigree of a family in the catalogue you never know what you are going to find. Pedigrees can vary from hastily scribbled notes on scraps of papers to beautifully illustrated family trees. The pedigrees in this collection are extensive and generally neatly presented. They are accompanied with extensive notes and even pictures of coats of arms.
Many of the sources transcribed in this collection are now easily available to find on the internet, but the pages of written notes that represent hours of labour are a reminder of how lucky we are to have these resources today. There are also sources that are not so easy to find including articles from magazines, newspaper cuttings and obituaries. These often contain details that can bring your ancestors to life in a way that the simple dates found in the baptism, marriage and death registers cannot. Anyone who has a connection with the families in this collection will find a treasure trove of information.
As well as the genealogical research there are also several bundles of letters contained in this collection. These include letters sent by Irene Baskett to her husband in 1939, when he was away from home. The first of these starts;
My darling one,
I know I said I wouldn’t write to you before I heard from you, but you’ve just gone and I thought maybe you’d like to know that I love you – that’s all I’ve really got to say!
The other letters convey the same sense of affection and paint a lovely picture of the couple.
The box of photographs would also be of interest to family historians. Sadly, a lot of these photographs have not been labelled so it is almost impossible to identify who the people in them are or where and when they were taken – a gentle reminder of the importance of writing information in pencil on photographs for generations to come.
The subjects of the photos are varied, ranging from portraits of smartly dressed ladies to family homes and car rallies. Our favourite photo is found in the pages of an album and is labelled `How the gardeners do their work 1923`. The photo shows a man sitting in a wheelbarrow with a younger man standing behind him. It certainly looks like a fun way to work!
There are not only photographs in this collection, there are also paintings and drawings. There are watercolours by Mary Ilchester and a miniature painting of an unidentified elderly woman, but perhaps our favourite is the tiny pencil sketch that was found in a folded piece of paper labelled “Dora’s little pictures”. We wondered if Dora drew any other little pictures that have got lost or if this is the only one!
