IN DEPTH
A photoless student record: Genealogical research at the University Archives
Archivist at The University of Hong Kong Garfield Lam looks at how a mystery name sparked a genealogical journey that took him around the world, thanks to digital records and a network of online connections.
THE spread of the internet and digital transformation have brought many changes to research behaviour of using the archives. Conducting research on family history relies on an extensive array of national public records and other archival sources that con- tain the evidence that links the present to the past. Together with the help of the internet, the recent boom of digitisation of archives and their materials has made a significant impact on genealogical research due to their high accessibility and availability through the digital means.1
Genealogical research is one of the most popular leisure activities in the world. Until the rise of the internet in the 1990s, genealog- ical research was conducted by either visiting or corresponding with physical archives.2 The digitisation of archival materials and its easy availability through the internet has made a significant impact on researching family history, while the easy accessibility of web space also means that information relat- ing to individual family trees is often posted on websites in the public realm.3
Genealogy
is a way of linking the past to the present using historical records to establish a lineage that connects people today with those who came before them.4
Genealogists make up an
important constituent of the University Ar- chives of The University of Hong Kong – the oldest university in Hong Kong, established by the British in 1911. Thousands of students, graduates, staff members, alumni and guest lecturers have passed through the main gate of the university.
42 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Garfield Lam (
kfglam@hku.hk) CA, MCLIP, FRSA, Acting University Archivist and Head of Archives, Special Collec- tions, Conservation and Preservation of The University of Hong Kong; and Executive Bureau Member of Interna- tional Council on Archives – Section of Universities and Research Institutions (ICA-SUV).
Archival research can be a lonely exercise for archivists. However, once our work touches researchers’ lives, or their lives touch our work, our efforts in helping those who do historical research become a collective enterprise. For me it was a serendipitous discovery – a pre-war student record dated 1925 caught my eye because of its emptiness, with just a name, year of matriculation and neither examination grades nor photograph was recorded. His last name ‘Hazeland’ and the image of his empty record lingered in my mind since, as pictorial records always help to recreate appearances, and those with photographs contribute to the creative processes of writing.
While I was reading the latest publication titled Crime, Justice and Punishment in
September 2022
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