The National Archives are conducting a review of this volunteer
cataloguing project. I paste below a letter from the Naval Dockyards
Society who are seeking examples of the ways in which historians have
used the new catalogue descriptions.
Whilst by definition the local history aspect of the Navy Board's
correspondence is mostly about dockyards and naval towns, there is also
a great deal of material about inland areas (purchasing timber,
sailcloth etc). So perhaps members of this list might have examples to
share? Examples should be sent to
[log in to unmask] by Thursday 28th June..
Regards
Ruth
Navy Board Project at the TNA
Dear Researcher
You may not know that The National Archive is cutting support for
volunteer projects, among them the Navy Board Project. The situation
will be reviewed after 28 June 2012.
Criteria for the decision to cut long term projects measure how far they
meet TNA strategic vision (value). The 10 categories, scored out of 10
for the Navy Board Project, are:
NBP Score TNA Categories
3.2. 1. Leadership in the archival sector: A reusable model across
the sites of fellow repositories
3.1 2. Innovation: quick wins: proof of concept: Obsolete finding
aids being replaced; Data capture; Reading index
3.4 3. Financial Benefit direct & indirect: Digitisation and
conservation
-0.3 4. Financial Cost: direct & indirect: Volunteers & quality
control are free
4.7 5. Value Add: Talks, descriptive catalogue content, value to
business and customers
2.7 6. Outreach/Diversity
4.6 7. Relationships and Partnerships
4.6 8. Government drivers (Big Society)
5.7 9. Core Business: Preservation, basic catalogue descriptions,
welcome desk, controllers' value to both business and customers
5.1 10. Obsolescence: Opportunity to stop obsolete services or
products
The Navy Board Project was one of the first TNA projects to be carried
out with another partner, the National Maritime Museum, allowing the
cross-referencing of ADM 106 at Kew with documents in ADM/B and ADM/BP.
The Naval Dockyards Society began the project to list ADM106 at the
(then) Public Record Office in 1999. This 'valuable collection' (D.
Baugh, Naval Administration in the age of Walpole, 1965, 537) of Navy
Board in-letters covers the period 1658-1837, consisting of
miscellaneous correspondence from dockyard commissioners, dockyard
officers, naval captains, dockyard contractors and dockyard workers to
the Navy Board from around the world.
The aim of the project was to foliate letters from ADM106 at Kew, then
ADM/B and ADM/BP at the Caird Library, and list their contents
descriptively as an online research resource on the TNA Catalogue.
Researchers are able to electronically access and interrogate the list.
By 2011 volunteers had completed the Caird ADM/B and ADM/BP documents,
but have only completed 36% of the Kew documents, a phenomenal total of
128,268 letters listed to date. Some letters are 5-600 folios long,
particularly in the 1780s. It is frustrating to leave the project
unfinished when it could open up further rich avenues for research.
NDS is asking that if any researchers have used the descriptive notes on
the TNA catalogue for ADM106 and ADM106/354 and /359 (NMM documents
ADM/B and ADM/BP), and can give a brief example of how it has aided your
research, that would support our case to continue the Navy Board Project
at the TNA.
If you can, the deadline for sending your short statement of support to
Bruno Pappalardo: [log in to unmask] is Thursday
28th June.
Yours sincerely, Ann
Hon. Secretary
Naval Dockyards Society
Dr Ann Coats
44 Lindley Avenue
Southsea
PO4 9NU
[log in to unmask]
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