> The University of Cambridge is one of the oldest educational
> establishments in the world, in a city itself steeped in history and
> tradition. The University and its colleges hold the 'raw material' of
> history in their archive and manuscript collections. The collections
> illuminate an enormous variety of subjects (education and College life,
> social organisation, religion, gender, charitable giving and land holding
> and developments in the wider world of British culture, the arts and
> sciences) and attract researchers from within the University and all over
> the world. Now, thanks to a collaborative project between University and
> College archivists, that archival history has become a great deal easier
> to find.
>
> On October 11th Janus was formally launched. Janus is a webserver holding
> catalogues (or descriptions) of archives and manuscripts held in and
> around Cambridge. For the first time, there is a single unified point of
> access (http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/) to these catalogues and the ability
> to search them at the touch of a button.
>
> The catalogues on Janus currently span a wide range of dates, describing
> records dating back to 1135 and as recent as the year 2001. The site is
> still in its early stages but already includes an impressive wealth of
> information. The University's own archives shed light on Cambridge as a
> centre of academic excellence; represented for instance in the archives of
> the Cambridge Observatories dating from 1818-1999. Alongside operational
> records relating to buildings, finances, observations and instruments, the
> records include the personal papers of George Biddell Airy (who went on to
> become Queen Victoria's Astronomer Royal) and a body of correspondence
> featuring James Challis' observations of Neptune before its official
> discovery in Berlin in 1846. The personal papers of Anna Bidder and
> Margaret Braithwaite (the first President and Vice-president of Lucy
> Cavendish Collegiate Society) reveal something of how this experimental
> educational establishment for women was founded in the 1960's.
>
> There are also catalogues describing the papers of some of the most
> significant public figures of the twentieth century. Political life and
> government policy are documented by the papers of Britain's first female
> Prime Minister, Baroness Thatcher, and those of Enoch Powell and Richard
> "RAB" Butler (collections held at Churchill Archives Centre and at Trinity
> College). Intellectual advances are represented by the papers of Ludwig
> Wittgenstein, the most influential figure in twentieth century western
> philosophy, whose papers are held at Trinity College. There are Second
> World War collections from Churchill Archives Centre including
> hand-written notes of Winston Churchill's wartime Cabinet meetings from
> the papers of Lawrence Burgis, and first-hand recollections of working
> with Churchill from Private Secretaries "Jock" Colville and John Martin
> and secretary Jo Sturdee.
>
> In providing 24 hour on-line access to catalogues, Janus will facilitate
> considerable savings in time and money for historians and researchers who
> can now identify key resources before visiting Cambridge. The catalogues
> on Janus are consistent with one another as they use the latest
> professional standards for archival description, ensuring that the data is
> inter-operable and fully searchable. Janus includes additional
> information, such as bibliographies and glossaries of terms, essential
> tools to help researchers navigate the vocabulary peculiar to the
> Cambridge setting. Through this means, Janus provides wider and
> better-informed access to the archives. It will help University and
> College archives offer better services to their users, reach a wider
> potential audience and hopefully in time also attract entirely new user
> groups. Peter Fox, University Librarian, said "The University Library is
> delighted to host the Janus website. It's a wonderful resource for the
> research community in Cambridge and beyond and lays important foundations
> for closer co-operation between the University and its constituent
> colleges."
>
> Through the establishment of an additional archival gateway, using
> standards to facilitate the future exchange and integration of
> information, Janus is an exciting new addition to the emerging National
> Archives Network. All descriptions on Janus are created using the latest
> version of the cataloguing standard ISAD(G), which is the General
> International Standard Archival Description, 2nd edition, September 2000.
> They are stored in Encoded Archival Description (EAD, a standard for
> encoding archival finding aids. Additional standards used for the
> construction of catalogue entries and access points include: NCA Rules
> (1997) - National Council on Archives rules for the construction of
> personal, family and place names; the UNESCO thesaurus; the Getty
> geographical thesaurus
> (<http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/tgn/>). For archivists
> contributing catalogues to Janus, the site also includes assistance with
> data creation (an online form to create catalogues in EAD form and a
> Microsoft Access cataloguing database which can export catalogues in EAD
> format).
>
> The site was named "Janus" after the god of gates and doors in Roman
> mythology. The god Janus has a distinctive appearance in art and is often
> depicted with two faces. Some sources claim that the reason Janus was
> represented in this way was a reflection of the concept that doors and
> gates look in two directions. In this way, one of the god's faces could
> look forward, while the other looked backward. By embracing new
> technology, Janus looks forwards, while the content of the site looks
> back. The twin faces of Janus are a characteristic also of the public and
> private sides of the site: the public provides researchers with a view of
> published catalogues, the private allows archivists to create, validate
> and upload files and proof their display before release. The site's logo
> is based on a Roman coin (dated to the early second century BC) held by
> the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
>
> Developing Janus has been a collaborative project between Natalie Adams
> (Churchill Archives Centre), Ellie Clewlow (Gonville and Caius College),
> Jacky Cox (University Archives), Karen Davies (Lucy Cavendish College),
> Martin Oldfield (Technical Consultant) and Jonathan Smith (Trinity
> College). It has been funded by contributions from participating
> institutions: the University's Fingland Fund, Churchill College, Downing
> College, Gonville and Caius College, King's College, Lucy Cavendish
> College, Queens' College, St. John's College, Selwyn College, and Trinity
> College, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the University of Cambridge Local
> Examinations Syndicate.
>
> For further information, please visit the Janus site at
> http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk or contact the developers by e-mailing
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> Natalie Adams
> Archivist/ Information Services Manager
> Churchill Archives Centre
> Churchill College
> Cambridge
> CB3 0DS
> Telephone (01223) 336222
> Fax (01223) 336135
> Website http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/
>