Holly Bank College of Education (Technical) Archive

This collection contains the records of the Huddersfield College of Education (Technical) from its formation in 1947 until the point at which it was merged with the School of Education at Huddersfield Polytechnic in 1974. See the Related Material section for how to find records dated after 1974.

The collection includes the papers and minutes of the governors and academic board and the wider strategic direction of the college, as well as operational minutes of internal committees. There are a number of files in the years preceding the merger considering the proposal and bringing together the opinions of interested stakeholders. There are a set of teaching materials and talks developed by the Principal, Alexander MacLennan. A small section on teaching and learning contains sample course syllabuses and reports on courses that have been reunning, as well as a set of dissertations and a number of reports from students taking part in educational exchange visits to countries across Europe.

The Library series contains both articles written by staff and by external agents about the college. There are also some documents about the operation of the library and the planning of a new library building.

There is also a series of papers relating to the Student Union, including student media, committee and some financial papers. There is also a series on the activities of the Old Student's Association (also known as the Former Student's Association) who were a membership body of former staff and students who held annual reunion conferences and dinners until their 60th anniversary in 2008, when they disbanded. It includes details of where conferences were held and correspondence between members, as well as snapshot views of the membership lists over time.

There are also a number of photographs of staff and student groups, as well as internal and external photographs of college buildings, and of alumni in later years re-visiting the college and its accommodation.

Holly Bank was one of three new specialist technical teacher training colleges created in 1947 in order to address a national shortage of technical teachers, identified in the McNair Report in 1944. The first Principal was Alexander MacLennan, who had been deputy at Bolton Training College, set up the year before with the North West London Polytechnic. He had a degree from Glasgow University and a background in teaching and training both in London and in the RAF during WWII. This new type of training was set up as in-service teacher training, as it was thought too difficult to attract those from employment to come back to train as teachers. It employed new and innovative pedagogical and training techniques, assessment by exam was discontinued in favour of assessing the student's performance on site, and the planning and effective methods of conveying content, rather than an obsession with the content itself. A range of technical, practical and vocational subjects were taught, and by 1949 it had been decided that the academic awards would be made through the College becoming an Associate of the University of Leeds. By 1957, Holly Bank's purpose built site on Holly Bank Road, Huddersfield was complete.

Original available for consultation by appointment

Material has been re-sorted and reboxed during the cataloguing process.

Checked with City & Guilds Archive Services that they retain syllabus, exam information and annual reports for all courses in house (11/01/17).

Appraised and disposed of 34 (26/01) banker's boxes full of City & Guilds syllabus books, exam papers and examiner reports. Material held in City & Guilds archive in London and small number of publications at Imperial College Archive, London.

Holly Bank Library maintained a set of files of newspaper cuttings (for 3-4 years) on subjects around education, including politics, celebrity, culture, UK/foreign perspectives. These were disposed of during appraisal.

Records were held at the Holly Bank site and upon its closure in 2001 transferred to the University Archive Service. A further series of historical records were retained by the school and used by the authors Cook, Fisher and Walker as research for their 2007 book and then passed to the University Archive.

Records relating to the School of Education after the merger with the Polytechnic in 1974 are available in the University of Huddersfield collection: HUD/TC/EPD - School of Education and Professional Development.

For information about course content and student qualifications, contact City & Guilds, London http://www.cityandguilds.com/help/help-for-learners/course-syllabuses Some C&G administrative records that were disposed of from the Holly Bank archive (e.g. annual reports, examiner reports) were duplicates of those held in the historical archive of City & Guilds at Imperial College, London https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb98-fc-fs

A book written by staff members at Holly bank, on the history of the organisation, is available: Michael Cook, Roy Fisher and Martyn Walker, "Teacher Education at Huddersfield, 1947-2007: from technical teacher training college to university school of education" (2007)

A book written by former students, documenting their recollections of their time at Holly Bank is also available. Copies of both are contained within the collection. Bob Owen, "Memories of Holly Bank" (2011)

The Journal of the insitution, The Vocational Aspect of Education (1948-1995), now called the Journal of Vocational Training & Education is available to view online at: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjve19 (1996 - present)