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Dear colleagues,
This month has seen archives across the
UK come together to celebrate the collections they hold. 'Explore
Your Archive' was launched on 16 November and hundreds of you are
taking part. Paddy Ashdown, one of the ambassadors for the
campaign, describes his experience of archives:
'Archives are treasure and I always
feel I'm on a treasure hunt, going down into the past. And
sometimes if you're lucky that wonderful Eureka moment arrives- you
come across the gem you've been looking for.'
On 21 November an event to celebrate the launch of
Explore Your Archive was held at the Houses of Parliament, bringing
together MPs, archivists, ambassadors and partners. Speaking at the
event, Clem Brohier, Acting Chief Executive of The National Archives
said:
'Explore Your Achive will undoubtedly
increase the public awareness of archives. But we also believe that
it will help to raise the game of archives. And that, in a
nutshell, is the key innovation of this campaign.'
The week-long launch is only the
beginning of an amazing journey for us all so if you haven't yet
got involved please check out the campaign
website to get some ideas or
download your toolkit.
Leah Chapman
Editor
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First World War 100
Earlier this month we launched our new First World War portal and announced our plans to mark the centenary with an
extensive engagement programme, spanning a five-year period from
2014 to 2019. With primary sources at its heart, the programme -
First World War 100 - aims to attract a new audience for archives
during the centenary period, as well as offering historians and
regular archive users fresh insights into this landmark conflict.
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First World War and Archives
Many
archives have already started their planning for the First World
War centenary. The commemorations will put the records held by
archives firmly in the spotlight and will give archives fresh
opportunities to engage with their communities and widen their
audiences.
If
you haven't already signed up to become a member of the First World
War Centenary Partnership, here are some of the reasons why you
should. Being a member:
- Gives you an insight into
other organisations' plans
- Enables you to share your
plans and look for possible partners locally and globally (the
Partnership has over 1,870 organisations from 38 countries)
- Help you with funding
advice
- Allows you to use the
Centenary logo alongside your own logo
- Entitles you to free
downloadable resources to use in your own collection
- Enables you to keep up to
date with latest news
- Provide an opportunity to
get even more people to know about your services
Remember,
it is free to join, you don't need to have firm plans for the
centenary to become a member of the Partnership and all the
resources were designed for you to use as you wish to support your
own events and projects.
Please
go to 1914.org/partnership
to join or get in touch with [log in to unmask]
if you need more information or help.
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The Find &
Connect Web Resource
The Find
& Connect web resource is a
site for Forgotten Australians, Former Child Migrants and everyone
with an interest in the history of out-of-home 'care' in Australia.
It was first launched on 15 November 2011, less than six months
into a national three-year project funded by the Australian
government.
Find & Connect is a work in progress,
with new archival collections and historical information added
regularly. Archivists from University of Melbourne's eScholarship
Research Centre also continue to develop the technology
underpinning the site. Most significantly, following usability
testing with key stakeholders (including many Forgotten
Australians), a new
design was implemented in
October 2013 which includes improved search functionality and pages
generated dynamically from EAC-CPF XML.
The project acts as a useful case study
for archives in the UK that might be considering collaborating with
other services. If you would like to know more about the project,
or its underlying technology, please contact:
Mike Jones
Lead Archivist, Find & Connect web
resource
The University of Melbourne
[log in to unmask]
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Funding news
On
Monday 11 November the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced a new
round of Collecting Cultures, a £5 million programme which aims to
support the UK's museums, libraries and archives in the development
of their collections.
Grants
of between £50,000 and £500,000 will be available through targeted
purchases with an emphasis on enhancing knowledge, skills and
public engagement.
Further
information, including details of the application process can be
found here.
The
National Archives has been involved in shaping the programme which
supports collection acquisition and encourages partnership working
within and across the different strands of the cultural heritage
sector. If you would like to talk to us here at The National
Archives about the programme and the opportunities it offers, then
please do contact us directly at [log in to unmask].
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The
Keep gets the royal seal of approval
The
Keep, a new centre for archives, is a partnership project between
East Sussex County Council, Brighton & Hove City Council and the
University of Sussex. It brings together the archives and historical
resources of East Sussex Record Office,
the
Royal Pavillion & Museums Local History Collections and the
University of Sussex Special Collections, including the
internationally renowned Mass Observation Archive. It also houses the
headquarters of the Sussex Family History Group and the Historic
Environment Record database, which records sites and finds from early
prehistory to the 20th-century.
Years
of planning and building The Keep were crowned on 31 October 2013 by
the visit of Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness The Duke of
Edinburgh to the building's official opening.
The
Keep opened to the public on 19 November. For more information visit thekeep.info.
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Approaching anniversaries: celebration and
commemoration
The
18th Public Services Quality Group Forum was held on 6
November at London Metropolitan Archives. More than 60 people
attended the event.
The
aim of the day was to share both the opportunities for the archives
sector to discuss the use of anniversaries as a way to raise
awareness of services, their collections and the challenges that
could lie in wait.
To
find out more go to ARA
website.
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Read our latest blog posts
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This
blog post is part of a series for Explore Your Archive. It’s been
a memorable week. Explore Your Archive began on 16 November. And,
just as we had all...
This
blog post is part of a series for Explore Your Archive. We’ve
been having an interesting time on the Isle of Jura, creating a
new archive from scratch. Specifically,...
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Online Archive Service Accreditation application
goes live
The
Archive Service Accreditation pages have been updated with a guide
to making your online application, and a link to the application
system is now live from the Applying
page. If you have agreed an early application date,
do feel free to start!
Also
following a recruitment campaign in August 2013 six archives
professionals have been invited to join the Archive Service
Accreditation Committee, serving alongside members nominated by the
UK
Archive Accreditation Partnership for an initial
period of three years.
Find
out more about Archive Service Accreditation here.
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More to Explore:
The National Cataloguing Grants Programme for Archives 2013 makes its
awards
Access to 15 archive collections is set to be
transformed by a series of grants recently announced. The National
Cataloguing Grants Programme 2013
has awarded £526,259 to archives across the UK to help make these
vitally important collections fully accessible for the first time.
See full details of this year's grant
winners on our Cataloguing
Grants Programme page.
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