Colleagues may be interested in the following internal news release. Sorry
this has gone out rather late for those who would have rushed out especially
to buy the Sunday Times, but if anyone does miss it (assuming it is
featured) I would be happy to forward a copy to anyone interested


"BT opens up communications heritage
The media launch of the BT Heritage Project commences this Sunday 8 July
when a news item is expected to appear in the Sunday Times, followed by
further coverage in the national press during the week commencing Monday 9
July.

The Heritage Project will discharge BT's commitments to the nation's
telecommunications heritage, presently largely constituted in the thousands
of artefacts and the fleet of historical vehicles held by the BT Museum.
This collection of physical objects reflects the development of the
telecommunications industry from its inception in the early part of the 19th
century, and is the most comprehensive and important of its kind. As part of
a move aimed at opening up Britain's rich communications heritage to the
public, BT has now gone into partnership with museums across the UK to
exhibit up to 10,000 items of historic importance.

Under the project, physical custody of the museum collection will largely
pass to professional partner museums, including the Museum of London,
National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh, Museum of Science and Industry in
Manchester, and Amberley Industrial Museum in Sussex. A small core
collection will be retained within the business, some on display at BT
Goonhilly visitor centre. To replace its physical museum, which has now been
closed to the public for over two years, BT will build a "virtual museum" on
the Internet, branded as Connected Earth. This innovative web centred
approach uses new wave technology, entirely in keeping with the brand image
of the new eBT,  to allow direct links to be drawn between BT's heritage
assets, contemporary issues and leading edge technologies, referencing the
future as powerfully as the past.

BT Group Archives is closely involved in the Project, and the design of
Connected Earth,  to exploit the synergies with the BT Museum to best
effect. Many of the images, documents and other records held by Group
Archives in the corporate memory will feature on the virtual museum site."

BT Group Archives, which will take custody of the document collections
currently held by the BT Museum, will continue its function from within BT
as the corporate memory
David Hay
Head of Group Archives
British Telecommunications plc
> Phone : +44 20 7492 8799   Fax : +44 20 7242 1973
> Mob:     +44 7850 444920
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> BT Group Archives, 3rd Floor, Holborn Telephone Exchange,
> 268-270 High Holborn, London WC1V 7EE
http://www.bt.com/archives/

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