b'8 Member News July 2022Women in engineeringSally Sudworth, Elizabeth Donnellyand Helen Close (left-right)Dealing with the past is an everyday occurrence for IET Archivist, Asha Gage. However, a big part of her work is to ensure current records are preserved for future generations. Thats why she was so excited Items from the time capsulewhen the Archives team were asked to be involved with the Womens Engineering Society (WES) time capsule project.The IET Archives holds theto future engineers wereIn February 2022, a sealing WES archives from theirwritten by attendees of theceremony for the time foundation to the presentWES event, speaking aboutcapsule took place at Savoy day, and in 2019, theytheir career aspirations,Place with Sally attending, celebrated their centenary.hopes for the future andalongside WES CEO, Elizabeth At the WES Centenarywords of encouragement.Donnelly, WES Heritage Conference, WES Trustee,Amongst the letters, thereOfficer, Helen Close, and some Sally Sudworth, discussed thewas also one from themedia representatives. Asha possibility of a time capsulecurrent WES President to theand the IET Archives team in collaboration with the IETfuture President of 2119.presented the material before Archives. At a second meetingAlso included was a Lottiesealing with a wax seal, made in London, they discussedDolla doll created as aespecially for the occasion. suitable items to collect andsymbol to challenge STEM what would work for long- stereotypes, acting as a roleA time capsule seeks to term storage. For instance,model to young prospectiveanswer some questions technology can quicklyengineers and technicians.about our current situation become obsolete and degradeThere were copies of lettersbut also raises more. Will the but paper records can still beby Verena Holmes, WESpredictions turn out to be true read if preserved correctly. President 1931. The lettersor wildly out of touch? Will A time capsuleAgreeing, they decided whatdate from the 1920s butwe see an increase in women to collect as a record of what seeks to answerfemale engineers face todaywere critiqued by graduateengineers and gender equality engineers in 2020 and are an a key objective for WES some questionsto be opened by their futureexcellent way to demonstratesince 1919? Will we still need WES counterparts in 2119. the difference between their about our currentThe collection was cataloguedexperiences and those ofto challenge stereotypes, and will Lottie Dolls be seen as and repackaged in archivalVerenas one hundred years situation but alsoquality material. It consists ofbefore. Sally also includedoutdated? Only time will tell.raises more. correspondence, publications,some examples of sustainableLets hope that, in one centenary memorabilia, andproducts from the presenthundred years, when this some small artefacts. Lettersto show our attempt to bebox is re-opened, we can see and postcards addressedenvironmentally aware. some great improvements.'