View source for Helen Clark (oral historian)

{{Short description|British historian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Helen Clark Oral Historian 2007.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Helen Clark]]
'''Helen Clark''' (8 August 1952 – 14 August 2015) was one of the pioneers of [[Oral history|Oral History]] in [[Scotland]].
== Biography ==
Helen Clark was born in Lewisham Hospital, London to parents Sheila, a teacher, and Geoffrey Banfield, a manager with [[Esso Petroleum]].  She studied Education and History at [[Cambridge University]] and in 1973, during her third year there, she met her future husband, [[Anthony John Clark]], a scientist from Lincolnshire, who later became director of the [[Roslin Institute]] and was awarded an [[OBE]].  With John she had two children Charlie (born 1989) and Laurie (born 1991). After John's death in 2004 she married Jim Kendall in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/life-style/real-lives-helen-consigns-museum-work-to-the-history-books-1-2452864 |title=Real lives: Helen consigns museum work to the history books - Edinburgh Evening News |publisher=Edinburghnews.scotsman.com |date=1952-08-08 |accessdate=2014-02-10}}</ref> Helen died on 14 August 2015<ref>{{Cite web|title = Helen Kendall obituary|url = https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/sep/24/helen-kendall-obituary|website = The Guardian|accessdate = 2015-09-24|first = Deborah|last = Arnott|first2 = Frank|last2 = Little}}</ref> after a two-year illness with [[Motor neuron disease|Motor Neurone Disease]].  She created a blog to chart her progress and share its effects with others.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Me and 'Mandy' my MND|url = https://helen82011.wordpress.com/|website = Me and 'Mandy' my MND|accessdate = 2015-08-16}}</ref>
== Career ==
Helen moved to [[Edinburgh]] in 1977 where she volunteered at the [[National Museum of Scotland|National Museum]] before getting her first job as an Art Assistant at the [[Royal Scottish Museum|Royal]] Scottish Museum, now the [[National Museum of Scotland]]. In 1982, she became Assistant Keeper of Social History at [[Beamish Museum|Beamish]] North of England Open Air Museum in [[County Durham]], where she first began getting involved in recording oral history.
Helen returned to Edinburgh to become the Keeper of Social History at Edinburgh City Museums from 1985 to 2005; then Special Projects Manager until her retirement in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/real-lives-helen-consigns-museum-work-to-the-history-books-1-2452864 |title=Real lives: Helen consigns museum work to the history books |publisher=The Scotsman |date=1952-08-08 |accessdate=2014-02-10}}</ref> She shared the task of setting up a new [[social history]] museum, the [[People's Story Museum]], which opened in 1989 and "explores the lives of Edinburgh's ordinary people at work and play from the late 18th century to today", using oral testimony and first hand experience.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/The-People-s-Story |title=Edinburgh Museums |publisher=Edinburgh Museums |date= |accessdate=2014-02-10}}</ref>
== Projects and interests ==
In 2009 Helen prepared the [[Women's suffrage|Votes for Women]] exhibition<ref>{{Cite web|title = Edinburgh Museums - Edinburgh Museums|url = http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/Museum-of-Edinburgh/Exhibitions/Archived-Exhibitions|website = www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk|accessdate = 2015-08-16}}</ref> at the [[Museum of Edinburgh]] as part of [[Gude Cause 1909 and 2009|Gude Cause]].  In the same year she became a member of the Gude Cause New Media Group (renamed Gude Cause Project)<ref>{{Cite web|title = Gude Cause Project|url = https://www.facebook.com/GudeCauseProject|website = Facebook|accessdate = 2015-08-16}}</ref> to develop links to a digital record of films, recordings and photographs made of activities organised nationally, leading up to the Gude Cause procession in Edinburgh.
In 2014 Helen was interviewed<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLvIQFSTxpQ|title = Helen Clark (Kendall) on Social and Oral History Exhibition work, July 2014|date = July 2015|accessdate = |website = YouTube GB|publisher = |last = |first = }}</ref> for the WEA Scotland Breaking the Mould<ref>{{Cite web|title = WEA Breaking the Mould Project|url = https://www.facebook.com/WEABreakingthemould|website = Facebook|accessdate = 2015-08-16}}</ref> project which was researching material for a publication relating to women and women's groups, with connections to Edinburgh, involved in Social and Political Activism in the 100 years after the beginning of [[World War I|WWI]].   The publication, ''Breaking the Mould: Edinburgh'', includes a tribute to Helen who died just as it was going to the printers.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Breaking the Mould: Edinburgh|last = |first = |publisher = Workers' Educational Association Scotland|year = 2015|isbn = 9780902303829|location = Edinburgh|pages = 5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.bookdepository.com/Breaking-Mould-Edinburg-Margaret-Ferguson-Burns/9780902303829|title = Breaking the Mould : Edinburgh: Researching and Celebrating 100 Years of Women's History in Social and Political Activism Since the Beginning of WWI|date = |accessdate = |website = Book Depository|publisher = |last = |first = }}</ref>
For many years Helen was a member of the DRBs Scottish Women's History Group<ref>{{Cite web|title = DRBs Scottish Women's History|url = https://www.facebook.com/DRBscottishwomenshistory|website = Facebook|accessdate = 2015-08-16}}</ref> and of Protest in Harmony,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Protest in Harmony|url = https://www.facebook.com/protestinharmony|website = Facebook|accessdate = 2015-08-16}}</ref> an Edinburgh-based radical singing group.
== Publications ==
The opening of the People's Story Museum coincided with the publication of Helen's first book, ''Sing a Rebel Song: The Story of James Connolly''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Helen|title=Sing a rebel song: The story of James Connolly|date=1989|publisher=Irish History Workshop|isbn=0905072316}}</ref> Her second book, ''Raise the Banners High'',<ref>{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Helen|title=Raise the Banners High|date=2001|publisher=City of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries Edinburgh|isbn=978-0900353178}}</ref> was published in 1999 and illustrates and examines the wide range of Trade Union banners held by Edinburgh Museums. These banners and flags were carried by Edinburgh workers as symbols of their causes whether in celebration or to campaign against a working practice or injustice.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.shcg.org.uk/search-firstBase?item=4149#.UvdxtY2Ybcs |title=Search firstBASE - from the Social History Curators' Group |publisher=SHCG |date= |accessdate=2014-02-10}}</ref> Her third book, written with Elizabeth Carnegie, ''She Was Aye Workin''' <ref>{{cite book|last=Clark, Carnegie|first=Helen, Elizabeth|title=She was Aye Workin'|publisher=White Cockade Publishing|isbn=1873487053}}</ref> ''– Memories of Tenement Women in Edinburgh and Glasgow'', published in 2002 used oral history sources to give "a vivid picture of tough, resilient women, and communities".<ref>{{Cite web|title = Book Review: ''She Was Aye Workin’: Memories of Tenement Women in Edinburgh and Glasgow'' by Helen Clark and Elizabeth Carnegie|url = http://blogcritics.org/book-review-she-was-aye-workin/|accessdate = 2015-08-16}}</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:Oral historians]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Women museum directors]]
[[Category:British writers]]
[[Category:British women writers]]