At a celebration fit for royalty, Secretary of Student Government Anthony Reyes ’05 unveiled the Phillips Academy Student Government Archives to the Andover community last Friday. An organized collection of all Student Government related documents, the Student Government Archives is the first ever sub-archive of the official Phillips Academy Archives to have been put together by a student. It is also among the few collections in the Archives which specifically highlights student-related issues. “I just felt that there are so many important issues that Student Government has discussed and that any records of the work that has been done [by Student Government] deserves to be preserved [by means of] an archive,” Reyes said. As Secretary of Student Council, Reyes received a filing cabinet from Instructor in Art and Academy Archivist Ruth Quattlebaum upon presenting a proposal to create the archives. He also received a folder containing documents preserved by 1994-1995 Student Government Secretary Joe McCanon ’95. “The documents preserved during Joe McCanon’s term as Secretary are the oldest to be found,” Reyes said. He continued, “[The] collection of papers served as the starting point for my project.” In addition to those documents left behind by McCanon, Ms. Quattlebaum passed on to Reyes a folder of documents such as Student Council meeting notes, drafts of proposals, and speeches delivered. These documents however, only dated as far back as the year 2000. Reyes slowly began to put things into the filing cabinet during last term. “It was entirely Anthony’s idea to create a Student Government Archives,” said Ms. Quattlebaum. “During Spring term, he approached me and basically expressed his belief that there existed a lack of Student Government history and if I would support him in trying to account for all this lost history,” she continued. “One item which stands as my personal favorite is a hand-written speech detailing a faculty appreciation event in which the 1994-1995 Student Government sent a bouquet of flowers to every single department,” Reyes said. Aiming to bridge the existing gap of information, Reyes obtained the current address of each School President since the merger between Phillips Academy and Abbot Academy in 1973. He has since sent a letter to each of these presidents asking if they are still in possession of any Student Government related materials. Describing the archives as an “absolutely fantastic idea,” Instructor in History and Social Science James Rogers, who serves as faculty adviser to Student Government, further said, “Anthony has done an admirable job of getting the archives together.” A temporary display of selected items can be found in the McLean gallery on the second floor of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library.
