Community Stories – Community Archives
The Scottish Council on Archives (SCA) is running a new two-year project to support the development and accessibility of community archives in Scotland.
The project is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Community Stories – Community Archives supports groups across Scotland who have amazing archival material but need help with managing, preserving, cataloguing and online accessibility. The project will also provide diversity and inclusivity training to help groups be as representative as possible of their wider communities. A key element of the project will be the facility to upload catalogues to a new portal being developed by SCA called Your Scottish Archives.
Through online and offline workshops, one-to-one training with professional archivists, and support from diversity experts, we will help groups enrich and improve their community archives, and raise their profile and accessibility through Your Scottish Archives.
Community Stories –Community Archives project addresses the reality that archives held by community groups are at risk without professional intervention and support. The project also recognises that Scotland’s history belongs to everyone. We want to help heritage groups be more inclusive in how they operate by asking them to think about how they can involve people from different and diverse backgrounds. The project builds on SCA’s recent and impressive track record in supporting community groups. The project will generate case studies and resources that will be published online for existing and future groups.
Upcoming Sessions
Community Stories – Community Archives Skills Sessions: Cataloguing
Thursday, September 26 2024
12.00-13.00
This session will help you to develop skills in cataloguing your collections. You’ll be introduced to what archivists call ‘elements’ of cataloguing, with examples, to help you recognize what these are and why they are useful. You’ll also see some examples of spreadsheets that you can use to catalogue your collections. By the end of this webinar you should have a good idea of what information goes where, and how this can help you.
Book via Eventbrite.
Community Stories – Community Archives Skills Sessions: Preservation
Thursday, October 3 2024
12.00-13.00
In this session, you will find out how to care for the precious items held within your archive’s collection. Even just small, inexpensive actions, such as regular environmental checks or removing documents from plastic folders, can have a big, long term impact. We will cover the differences between conservation and preservation, archive handling, packaging, accommodation, and general archive housekeeping. You will also get the opportunity to discuss what you have learned in a short break out group session.
Book via Eventbrite.
Community Stories – Community Archives Skills Sessions: Engaging Outreach
Thursday, October 10 2024
12.00-13.00
This session will cover many general introductory ways of engaging with wider communities, various users, and possible stakeholders to maintain and sustain your archive. It will also look inwards and outwards at different ways of interpreting your collection to maximise interest, emphasising creativity, transparency, and collaboration. By the end of this session, you will learn a general theory of engagement for archives and some practical skills to apply to your own collection.
Book via Eventbrite.
