But my absences during fresher's week are neither here nor there (besides, I can count on one hand how many lectures I've missed this entire academic year, so I've made up for it!), what this blog post is about is what I discovered in the archives today.513Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8NzCyJyB6Y
We are making a documentary about the Suffragettes and so went in search of primary evidence regarding the issue. We asked the woman at the desk, who immediately said they had a large number of issues of the Suffragette paper. I expected her to lead us to a glass case with the newspapers behind them, or to just show us some pictures... I never expected to be able to handle them myself.513Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYctmhpQZM
She told us to sit down, and so we did. The chairs were a bit lumpy and the desk a bit too high, but we waited and after a couple of minutes she returned, bearing a large blue box. Inside the box were several yellowed issues of the Suffragette newspaper.

I was terrified of handling them with bare hands, but the woman simply said to handle with care and they would be fine.

Some issues were incredibly delicate. Some of the pages were held together by the barest sliver of paper that had survived through the years. Some had fallen apart completely.513Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDafpCTkLXK
The years of publication varied, but the ones that were most useful to us were from (or near abouts) the year 1911. A hundred and five years old.513Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKC6zjTeXM
Perhaps its just my ultimate geekiness, but to hold something that is over 100 years old? To feel the paper between your fingers, and smell the aroma of the aged material... it is an incredible feeling.513Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBwfOpRjUR
To look at the list of subscribers and see surnames that I recognise is a feeling I cannot describe. I can have no real way of knowing if the 'Mrs D Bowker' mentioned in one list is really a long-lost relative of my mother, but who knows?

I guess to some people this seems just...boring. Average. Dusty, silent archives can seem like the least appealing place in the world. But to those who have this insatiable need for knowledge and a craving for history that will never quite be satisfied, looking at something that has survived the ages will always be magical. Seeing the Magna Carta behind bullet-proof glass last Spring was simply mind blowing... but to hold a document? To touch it and smell it and feel it? There is nothing like it. It truly is like looking through a window into the past.513Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6FilmFsM2
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Maybe I'm just the biggest geek there is, but being able to touch a living piece of history made my day.