Archives Revealed has awarded 12 cataloguing grants, and its first ever consortium grant, to archives across the UK, including a £50,000 grant to Edinburgh City Archives.
Archives Revealed is a partnership programme between The National Archives, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and The National Lottery Heritage Fund which aims to unlock collections across the UK and build the skills needed to care for them into the future.
These are the first grants of their kind awarded since The National Lottery Heritage Fund invested £5 million in the Archives Revealed partnership programme. In total, £675,000 has been awarded this round – more in a single round of applications than ever before.
The new consortium grants offer up to £150,000 in funding for groups of archive and heritage organisations to collaborate on projects for the cataloguing of archive collections in the UK. Cataloguing grants provide individual organisations with up to £50,000, also for the cataloguing of significant collections.
In addition, both programmes offer funding which supports grantees to share their collections with new audiences through engagement and educational activities.
Edinburgh City will use the Archives Revealed grant to support ‘The Last Stop, Newhaven: Cataloguing the Digital Legacy of Transport Initiatives Edinburgh Ltd and the Edinburgh Trams (2002-2011)’ – or ‘Last Stop’ for short. This project will preserve and provide access to the core digital archives of the organisation that the city council established in 2002 to develop regional transport. Its most high-profile and controversial project was the returning of trams to the city after a 50-year hiatus. It was shuttered in 2011 before works were completed due to significant delays and escalating costs.
Last Stop will grapple with the preservation and access issues of a large digital archive using the skills and technology that the city council has developed, with support from the Business Archives Council for Scotland, the Digital Preservation Coalition and Glasgow University’s School of Business History. It will produce finding aids and access processes for future research, as well as workshops to share the lessons learned.
Councillor Val Walker, Culture and Communities Convener, said: “Preserving and enhancing our historical collections for future generations is important not only for academic purposes but for democratic accessibility and accountability. The digital collection related to Transport Initiatives Edinburgh Ltd marks a key period in the history of urban transport not just for our city but for Scotland. It’s right and proper that this collection should be consolidated and made fully accessible. This is a truly ground breaking project and I look forward to seeing the results once this work is completed.”
The first successful consortium grant, worth £145,000, has also been awarded to The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in partnership with the Nerve Centre, Northern Ireland’s leading media arts centre.
Their proposed project, “Now We’re Talking”, will catalogue and widen access to the papers of two significant cultural figures from Northern Ireland: the author and broadcaster, Sam Hanna Bell, and the folklorist, writer and broadcaster, Michael J Murphy. Learn more about “Now We’re Talking”.
David Huddleston, acting PRONI Director, said: “Murphy and Bell were chroniclers of Northern Ireland’s people, culture and traditions and their works provide a unique lens through which to view the region’s history. Using their extensive archives as a starting point, this project aims to reconnect communities with their shared cultural heritage through an exploration of tradition, memory, and identity.”
The successful cataloguing grant applicants are:
- Derry City and Strabane District Council Tower Museum – £39,620
- University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections – £50,000
- The Mulberry Bush Organisation – £39,615
- Royal Academy of Dance – £49,352
- Peak District National Park Foundation – £45,000
- Poetry Archive – £39,260
- National Paralympic Heritage Trust – £45,230
- City of Edinburgh Council – £50,000
- Sandwell Archives – £49,055
- Rotherham Archives and Local Studies – £42,406
- Belfast Library and Society for Promoting Knowledge – £39,432
- Royal Pavilion and Museums Trust (Brighton & Hove Museums) – £50,000
Find out more about each of the cataloguing projects funded by Archives Revealed
Between them, these organisations will be cataloguing collections with records dating as far back as 1792. The topics covered include influential women in the paralympic movement, The Cassell Hospital in Surrey (recognised for its role in de-medicalising hospital treatment for people struggling with poor mental health), community youth theatre in Nottingham and much more.
Through their project, “Landscapes Unlocked”, the Peak District National Park Foundation (PDNPF) will be working in partnership with the Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA) and Derby Record Office to catalogue, and open up to the public, PDNPA’s image archive. This features over 40,000 images spanning the 20th century.
Roisin Joyce, PDNPF Director, said: “This collection tells us about the changes to people and nature in our national parks […] it also has huge potential to help us better understand landscape change, a vital research area in the face of climate change. We look forward to opening up the collection and drawing out stories to share with communities inside and beyond the boundaries of the park.”
Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Our archives are home to our stories. Records, collections and histories all shine a light on who we are, how we live and what is important to us. I am delighted that funding from all four partners is enabling Archives Revealed projects to unlock and share many more of these stories right across the UK, safeguarding them for future generations. It is incredibly exciting to celebrate these grants, including the first consortium grant which represents a step-change for the archive sector and an opportunity to share skills and knowledge, foster partnerships and build organisational resilience in the sector. All of this is vital for protecting the future of our archives and delivering our vision for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future.”
Sue Bowers, Director of the Pilgrim Trust, said: “I would like to congratulate all the fantastic projects that have been awarded funding. As a founder member of the scheme 20 years ago, we are delighted that the newly expanded partnership enables the unlocking of so many more UK archive collections representing the lives of people across the UK for research and for all to enjoy.”
Archives Revealed is the only funding programme in the UK dedicated to the cataloguing and unlocking of archival collections.
The next round of applications for catalogue and consortium grants opens on Monday 24 February. We will be hosting a webinar for potential applicants to ask questions about the cataloguing and consortium grants on Thursday 6 March. Archives Revealed will also be running a series of trainings and skills development opportunities throughout its delivery.