Trustees’ Records are very interesting sources on the Whitechapel history, as well as the Social History but they are usually ignored by the researchers.
They consists of several types: Trustees Meeting Minutes, Annual Reports, Cash Books, Visitor Attendance books, and so on.
You can see the Catalogue of the Archive Holdings HERE
Annual Reports are also very informative. We have them from the very beginning of the official Whitechapel Gallery, which is 1901. Here is the Annual Report of 1907 with an early visitors’ survey of the children visitors. The entire survey can be seen here.
Even Attendance Books can be precious source of information. For example, the Attendance Book for 1948-1953 shows the local residents ‘voting’ for art. The same year, 1948, three exhibitions took place one after another: Pre-Raphaelites, Prints and Sculptures (British, current) and Children’s Painting (about 30 local schools). Each of them lasted approximately one months.
The 1st by attendance is Children’s (16 November – 15 December) – 10.299. The 2nd is Pre-Raphaelites (8 April – 12 March) – 9.648, the 3rd is Prints and Sculptures (18 June – 18 July) – 5.533.
The mostly rich in information are the Minutes. The very first one we have starts on 3rd February 1898, right after the ‘founding’ Trustees meeting in November 1897. The name list of participants includes Canon Barnett and Charles Townsend.
The combined Annual Report for the first five years with an image of the children visitors. The photograph was taken by a well-known Horace Warner. It is staged but it obviously reveals the interest of Canon Barnett in education.
The first Whitechapel Cashbook starts in 1897, long before the present building was finished, and continues up to 1910. There are records on fees for many roles, including the Director, Charles Aitken. There are names of local sponsors, such as Rotschild, Montefiore, Sassoon, and Speyer etc. They also were GIVEN money for some services.
On the page 10 of the another Cash Book, there are records for the first official exhibition on 16 March April 1901. Here is attached a receipt for the money paid to the local police station, based on Leman street. The giant sum of 5 pounds 10 shillings was paid for a watch during the first week.
A page from the Annual Report describing damage to the roof of the gallery by high-explosive bombs during World War II.
