The Archive of Untold Stories is a research project on how to use the archive as a narrative, using ‘raw’ materials to tell stories. The numerous boxes contain a mixture of projects and idea’s, all in different states of completion, some merely a concept, others as good as ready to go into production.
For this live broadcast, we took out one of te boxes that connect to my heritage and talk about Molly English (°1880+1956): an independent woman who made her own life in a time such things weren”t always obvious. Through a box of pictures, postcards, obituaries, news paper clippings and objects – a donation by Hilde Verstraete I received in 2018 – we try to find out more about the life and times of Molly. While doing so we get an insight in the wobbly path collecting memories and describing heritage sometimes takes, with contradicting testimonials, stubborn misinterpretations or in this occasion even: overenthousiast fictionalising by my partner in crime.
The broadcast was funded by the Flemish Community via the cultural activities primes.
Errata: Was it the nerves or sheer excitement? I missed some accuracy in the dates I should have memorised, so here are some errata straigthened out:
– Henry English was born march 17th, 1853 (St.Patrick’s!), left Ireland in 1862 for London, and arrived in Bruges on januari 22, 1863. (the dates of decease of his father Thomas English, born 181?, and mother Judith Halligan, born 1813, are unknown but situated after 1860 and before 1862)
– The two pictures, one of Molly English and one of the marriage of Raf English and Marie-Josée Daele are to be situated in 1938.
