Archives for London

An Open invitation to our Launch event on Wednesday 6 July, London Metropolitan Archives, 6pm

As many of you may know, Archives for London (AfL) intends to provide a single focal point for both practitioners and users of archives in London. It aims to build on present good practice, information sharing and archive campaigns established by GLAN, LAUF and other networking bodies, while providing greater coherence in presenting the capital’s archives agenda to the outside world.

The AfL Steering Committee continues to nurture this new membership organisation into existence. A Memorandum and Articles of Association have been drafted and company and charity registration are in progress. Draft By-laws, establishing the format of membership, subscriptions, voting rights and composition of the AfL Board, Advisory Council and Sections, are also in their final stages of preparation.

AfL aims to be fully inclusive, welcoming any institutional and individual members from records/information management, collection care/conservation, local studies librarian, community archive, archive user and practitioner backgrounds who have an interest in the Capital’s wider archives agenda.  

The AfL steering committee would like to invite you to a free launch event with wine and nibbles on Wednesday 6 July 2005 from 6pm at London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, Clerkenwell. Please contact Nicola Avery (details below) to ensure your name is included on the invite list.

There will be a keynote address by Lisa Jardine, Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters (CELL) at Queen Mary’s College. An energetic and dynamic user of archive sources who values the help she has received from London’s many archivists and librarians, Lisa has published widely on feminist Shakespeare criticism, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, East-West Renaissance cultural exchange and the rise of science. Lisa’s current research focuses on Dutch influences in Britain during the reign of William and Mary. Last Year she became a Trustee of the V&A and was awarded a CBE. For further details see: http://www.livesandletters.ac.uk/contacts/lisa.html

Individual membership fees are intended to be an affordable £10 per annum. For those joining at the launch event, initial individual membership fees will be reduced to £5 for the period July 2005 – March 2006, a bargain with just over 8 months membership benefits for a 6 month membership fee pro rata. Details of institutional membership will be available in our next update and at the launch event.

As previously outlined, membership benefits for archive users and practitioners include opportunities to:

• Influence regional and national policy on archives. AfL aims to nominate representatives on the Archives, Libraries and Museums (ALM London) regional agency. Members will also be invited to attend AfL’s Advisory Council on a regular basis

• Exchange up-to-date information about the sector through a newsletter or e-bulletin and mini list-serve

• Keep informed about what’s happening in the archives and records management domain across London

• Access a regional diary of events and choose from a regular programme of visits to record offices and related institutions

• Explore issues of concern or interest with other members at 2-3 conferences and/or seminar events each year

• Widen knowledge and understanding of archival practice and sources through AfL’s training programme

• Apply for resources as an institutional member to improve services and facilities from AfL’s Small Grants Fund

• Develop professional and life-long learning skills by participating in the work of AfL’s Panels and ad hoc committees

****Look out for details of AfL’s new website at www.archivesforlondon.org.***

To obtain a ticket for the launch please contact: [log in to unmask]

c/o London Metropolitan Archives

40 Northampton Road

London

EC1R 0HB