Dear All,
A pilot project directed by Professor William Twining (UCL) and Jules Winterton (Director, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies) is exploring the feasibility and laying the ground for a proposed major project on ‘Legal Records at Risk (England and Wales)’.
Archivally significant records of many institutions and individuals specializing in law, particularly in the private sector, are at risk, especially in light of changes in legal services, digitization and globalization. The major project will aim to identify and analyze such records at risk in the private sector that are not covered by existing provision.
The approach will build on the British Records Association (BRA) report on ‘Records at Risk’ (2012), the Business Archives Council (BAC) National Strategy for Business Archives (England and Wales) (2009), and several earlier projects. These include the Commonwealth Legal Records project (see Legal Records in the Commonwealth edited by William Twining and Emma Varnden Quick, Dartmouth 1994 – especially the chapter by Clare Cowling on ‘Legal Records and Archives Policy: a case study of England and Wales’) and The Records of Legal Education project (Greater London – see http://ials.sas.ac.uk/library/archives/rlep.htm).
Emphasis will be placed on avoiding duplication of effort and relevant organizations such as the BAC, The National Archives, the BRA and others will be consulted.
In addition to identifying categories of law-related institutions whose records are potentially at risk, the pilot project aims to examine current guidelines on archives and record-keeping from the legal sector (or their absence) and will also explore similar guidance from the archives sector such as classification schemes for cataloguing legal records, collecting policies, retention schedules, and studies of the problems of digitization. This work will aim to help produce practical guidance and recommendations for improved preservation and maintenance of records.
A brief survey of the holdings of four County Record Offices will also test the hypothesis that there are great variations in their policies and practices in respect of legal records.
I am undertaking the main research for this phase and would be most grateful for comments, advice and suggestions for the project, including identification of neglected categories, success and horror stories, and concrete examples of good practice. Any examples of classification schemes, collecting policies etc that cover legal records would be most welcome.
I can provide further information on the project if required.
Regards,
Gary Collins
Research Associate
Legal Records at Risk project
16 Clifton Road
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV21 3QF
[log in to unmask]
01788 542887 (h)
07932 747649 (m)
Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]
For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
|