The Collections Story - My Life in Maps
Our collections can provoke all kinds of emotions in our professionals who care for them. We feel proud, protective and sometimes profoundly moved. A feeling that we know we share with lots of people who use them too. One of our conservators Rachel tells her story…
I was packaging up the large collection of Cheshire Ordnance Survey maps from Local Studies ready for the move this autumn. They will be stored at Deepstore in the salt mine at Winsford, as the maps have now been digitised and are easily viewed online.
It was like visiting old friends - back in 2020 during lockdown and working from home, my task was to clean and repair these maps, as although not originals they were heavily used and are an important part of our collection. I was soon lost in them again.
Standing with tears in my eyes over an old Ordnance Survey map which showed a farmhouse sited across a field from the River Weaver, I was surprised how just a few printed lines on a sheet of paper could have such a profound effect on my emotions. The farmhouse is now a care home, it was where my father died, and I remember looking out of his window at the winter-flooded river.
Another map I came across showed the first house we moved to in Cheshire when I was 11; another, the art college I went to; and another where my best friend lived. I was amazed at just how many maps my 45 years in Cheshire had covered.
These maps have given me a great sense of place and grounding, a belonging to Cheshire. I wonder how many more Cheshire maps my life will touch in the future?
By Rachel Manning, Conservator
