ARCHIVE AWARENESS MONTH  -
GAINING MOMENTUM FOR SEPTEMBER 2003
The first Archive Awareness Month will run throughout September 2003 and the
campaign is already gaining momentum.  On 28 April, 54 archivists from
Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland came together at the British
Library in London to describe their activities and exchange ideas.  The
group discussed ways forward for local, regional and national events as well
as the national PR campaign.  Ideas were shared on every aspect of the
month.  Archives are at a variety of stages in their planning, and
discussions illustrated how archives can tailor their AAM events depending
on their resources. It was exciting to experience the creative buzz of the
archival world and see the positive attitude to opening the archives to a
wider audience.

'LOVE & HATE' - THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
The national theme for this, the first Archive Awareness Month (AAM), will
be 'Love & Hate' - a strong theme that can capture the imagination of the
media and so a wider public.  Katie Norgrove, Policy and Development Officer
at the National Council on Archives (NCA), says, "We wanted to choose a
theme that would be about universal emotions.  It will allow events to
concentrate on the human stories that archives tell."

ARCHIVE AWARENESS MONTH - NEW APPOINTMENT
The national PR campaign is being coordinated by the NCA with support from
The National Archives in the shape of Fiona Cameron - the new Marketing &
Publicity Coordinator for Archive Awareness Month.  Fiona has come to AAM
from the busy world of The National Archives Press Office where she has
built up relationships with a wide range of key media figures. This will be
a great advantage in getting the media to take up the call of AAM.  Prior to
this Fiona worked for a global FTSE100 company where she was responsible for
developing, coordinating and implementing communication campaigns supporting
global business strategy.  Fiona says, "Stories of ordinary (and
extraordinary) people can beautifully illustrate the theme of 'Love and
Hate', and the relevance of archives to local culture as well as to national
history.  This national campaign is an exciting opportunity to promote the
relevance of archives for today's society and future generations.  I am
looking forward to working closely with the archive community."

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Ideas around the 'Love & Hate' theme are building up but the national PR
campaign is reliant on stories from you and your archives to make AAM a
success.

Here is a taster of topics that could be linked to 'Love & Hate' archive
stories.  Please tell us of the 'Love & Hate' stories in your own archives.


Births, Marriages and Death
Birth:
Unusual stories
Marriage:
Wedding etiquette, fashions, jewellery, flowers, speeches, wedding feasts
Love against the odds; forbidden love
Inter-racial and inter-class marriages
Unusual places to get married
Messy, vitriolic divorces
Legal wrangles
Death:
Funeral etiquette
Tragic early ends

Children and Family Ties
Stories of sibling rivalry
Heroic acts of parents for their children
Blood is thicker than water
Stories of heroic children

Desire for Love
Love potions
Magic
Symbols of love and hate

Mixed Emotions of Love & Hate
Murder, Crime Passionelle
Duels

Social Attitudes and Change
Racial hatred, racial harmony, bigotry, slavery
Misogyny, women's rights, suffrage
Homophobia and gay rights
Swinging Sixties - 'Peace & Love'

Political Change
Civil and class unrest

Sex
Juicy tales of scandals and exposures
Prostitution
Family planning & sex education
Changing attitudes to sex

Passions, Obsessions and Eccentricity
Stories of people with passions for any subject, eg:
Music
Sport
Theatre and dance
Film
Places and buildings
Travel
Nature and 'The Great Outdoors'
Horticulture

On This Day In History ...
We would like to get a feature in the national media that runs for the whole
of September.  'On this day in history...' is a good method of doing this
since many outlets have this feature already (The Times and local papers for
example).   Obviously we'll need archive stories, preferably 'Love & Hate',
for each day.  Please let Fiona know of date specific stories and she will
coordinate them to cover the month.
This could also be a potential radio piece so let Fiona know who your
archive might have available to speak about the 'story for the day'.
This will give us a continuous publicity hit for AAM, but also means that
potentially 30 different archives can get publicity.

Makeovers
One of the national campaign ideas to raise awareness of the profession is
an 'archivist makeover' ... and we are looking for volunteers!  So if you
know of anyone who might be interested (or if you fancy some pampering
yourself) please let Fiona know.

When should you let us know?
As soon as possible!  We have two deadlines:
The first is the end of May.  This is early, but we want to place stories in
the national glossy magazines that have a three-month lead-time.  We need
your stories to work into the national media campaign so please let us know
your ideas as soon as possible.
We will also need your stories throughout the run up to the summer, so
contact Fiona and Katie with your 'Love & Hate' material as soon as you have
it. To assist in the logistics of the national campaign this should be by
the end of June - but if you do find something interesting after this date
please do still let us know.

CONTRIBUTORS WEBSITE
See the website www.aamsept2003.com for details on:
*       Ideas for 'Love & Hate' stories
*       Downloadable AAM logos
*       Useful toolkits on event planning, getting publicity for your event,
the national 'Love & Hate' theme
*       Target audiences
*       Case studies from around the regions
*       Contacts
*       How to order promotional material (balloons, leaflets, posters)
*       Plans for the national campaign - and how you can help eg. On this
day in history; archivist makeovers
*       Timetable
*       And, of course, HOW TO REGISTER YOUR OWN AAM EVENT

HELP MAKE AAM 2003 A SUCCESS!
___________________________________________________________________________

Contacts:  Tel: 020 8392 5376
Katie Norgrove, Policy & Development Officer, The National Council on
Archives
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Fiona Cameron, Marketing & Publicity Coordinator (AAM), The National
Archives
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___________________________________________________________________________
The national PR campaign for AAM is being co-ordinated by the NCA with
support from The National Archives, Resource: The Council for Museums,
Archives and Libraries and The British Library.

Fiona Cameron
Marketing & Publicity Coordinator - Archive Awareness
The National Archives
Ruskin Avenue
Kew
TW9 4DU

Int Tel: Ext. 2349
DD Tel: + 44 (0)20 8392 5376
Fx:  +44 (0)20 8392 5295


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