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9 September 2004

ALM London's Archive Awareness Campaign Grants Programme
Seventeen of London's archives have received funding from ALM London to
support activities taking place as part of the 2004 Archive Awareness
Campaign, Routes to Roots. Awards include funding for a range of activities
such as:

Exhibitions produced by Anti-Slavery International and the London School of
Tropical Hygiene and Medicine
Promotional literature for activities organised by Brent Archive, King's
College London and Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum
Children's activities organised by City of Westminster Archives, Kingston
Museum and Heritage Service, and Wandsworth Local History Service
Camden & Islington Family History Map organised by eight archive services,
co-ordinated by the Royal Mail Archive
Family events at Bruce Castle in Haringey and Keats House in Hampstead.
The Archive Awareness Campaign aims to:

Raise the profile of the archives domain amongst the general public,
potential partners, politicians, decision makers and funding bodies.

Encourage new users and a wider user base (in particular those currently
under-represented as users e.g. Under 24s, Black and minority ethnic
communities, and higher education students).

Archives throughout the UK will be putting on events and activities during
October to December 2004 under the theme Routes to Roots. Activities will
focus around a range of subjects including family history, migration,
travel and exploration, gardening, botany and the landscape. Many
activities are also being tied into other themes or campaigns such
as 'Black History Month', 'The Big Draw' and 'The Year of the Garden'.
Family history events are being promoted as part of a partnership with the
BBC to coincide with a BBC 2 series broadcasting this autumn.

London has the largest concentration of organisations with archival
holdings in the UK. This grant scheme will enable public sector archives to
attract broader range of users and promote themselves within their
communities. The funding also provides vital support for specialist
archives, within the higher education sector and elsewhere, to open up
their archives to a more general audience.

'I am delighted that we are able to offer this support to promote London's
archive services to new and wider audiences', explains Stephen Douglass,
Vice-Chair ALM London Board of Trustees. 'Supporting archives, libraries
and museums to raise their profile and attract new audiences is a strategic
priority for ALM London. These grants are a practical demonstration of our
commitment to support the sector.'

Lucy Fulton, National Campaign Officer for the Archive Awareness Campaign
said: 'I am delighted that ALM London is supporting Archive Awareness
Campaign by awarding grants to a range of London archives. The proposed
projects are exciting and make a great contribution to the ongoing effort
to draw more and more people into archives.'

ALM London has awarded grants totalling £6,000 to the following
organisations:

Anti-Slavery International - Grant to create an exhibition to be displayed
at the higher education venues. The exhibition will look at issues of
forced migration, and slavery and anti-slavery as roots of cultural,
economic and political change.

Belthlem Royal Hospital Archives & Museum - Grant to produce a poster based
on William Kurelek's 'The Maze' to promote the archives to audiences at
events held as part of 'World Mental Health Day' and local and garden
history focused events.

Brent Archive - Grant towards the production of bookmarks to promote an
exhibition relating to 'hidden' gardens. The exhibition will be developed
with the Barn Hill Conservation Group and will tour the borough's libraries.

Bruce Castle Museum (Haringey Archives) - Grant towards the use of
specialist historical interpreters, actors and a conservator as part of an
Archives open day focusing on school records. These interpreters will bring
to life Bruce Castle's role as a Victorian school, with emphasis on the
archives of Rowland Hill.

City of Westminster Archives - Grant to support the use of an artist within
the 'Education through Football' programme. Under the theme 'Soundtrack of
the Decade' primary school children will explore their own family
photographs and archive material to look at a post-war decade. Children
will create 'Sgt Pepper' style collages that will be displayed at Chelsea
Football Club.

Hackney Archives Department - Grant to develop a stall at Kingsland
Shopping Centre in Dalston to promote local and family history to new users.

Institute of Commonwealth Studies - Grant to develop an online exhibition
relating to the Caribbean, with particular emphasis on agriculture and
plantations, migration and immigration. The website is aimed at HE students
and the wider public and will be publicised during 'Black History Month'.

Institute of Education - Grant to produce promotional postcards as part of
an exhibition looking at the education of children in the open air. The
exhibition will look at children's exploration of local environments,
landscape design and planning of school grounds.

Institute of International Visual Arts - Grant towards a series of talks
led by artists looking at issues of exploration and discovery, and the
broader issues of creating digital archives. The talks are aimed to
encourage greater use of inIVA's archives and website.

King's College London - Grant to produce leaflets to promote two online
exhibitions and one physical exhibition. One exhibition focuses on the
experience of refugees and overseas students, and one focusing on
dentistry, looking at the evolution of medical education and practice.

Kingston Museum and Heritage Service - Grant towards a consultant to
deliver work with schools that will focus on the archive of Eadweard
Muybridge and look at photography and the development of filming movement.
The school sessions will be delivered as part of 'The Big Draw' campaign.

Lambeth Archives Department - Grant to support the use of volunteer
curatorial staff to invigilate an exhibition at Black Cultural Archives.
The exhibition, which will also be shown at Swiss Cottage Library, focuses
on the archives of two photographers, Harry Jacobs and Bandele 'Tex'
Ajetunmobi.

London Metropolitan Archives - Grant towards the use of a costumed
storyteller to deliver sessions for schools and families, based on an
exhibition to be displayed at Keats House. The exhibition will focus on the
lives of five Black or Asian Londoners from Highgate identified by the
Black and Asian Londoners Project and will coincide with 'Black History
Month'.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine - Grant to create an
exhibition and promotional postcards looking at the School's work overseas,
mostly in formal colonial countries, with emphasis on travel, exploration
and discovery.

Royal Mail Archive (Postal Heritage Trust) - Grant as a contribution to a
collaboration project involving eight archive services to create a Camden
and Islington Family History Map. The services involved are The British
Library, BT Group Archives, Camden Local Studies & Archives Centre, The
Family Records Centre, London Metropolitan Archives, Islington Local
History Centre, Royal Mail Archive and the Society of Genealogists. The map
is designed to encourage users to visit, particularly by foot, a number of
nearby archives and is part of the ITV 'Britain on the Move' campaign.

Senate House Library, University of London - Grant to create an exhibition
and promotional postcards based on the Library's theatre-related archives.
The exhibition is timed to target new students and users at the beginning
of the academic year.

Wandsworth Local History Service - Grant to create 'Exploring Archives'
packs for the borough's children's libraries. Contents will be chosen in
consultation with children's librarians and will focus on discovering local
history.
Full details of all ALM London's grant and funding streams appear on the
funding pages of this website.
For further information on Archive Awareness Campaign in the London region
contact Louise Ray, Project Co-ordinator, 07834 606732,
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

For further information on the national Archive Awareness Campaign contact
Lucy Fulton Archive Awareness Campaign officer,
[log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>, 020 8392 5237

- ENDS -

Notes to editors
1. ALM London was established in April 2004 to ensure that the unique
cultural, knowledge and learning resources of archives, libraries and
museums are made accessible for the benefit of all Londoners and contribute
to London's status as a world-class city. ALM London is core funded by MLA,
the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. ALM London works to:

support development and capacity-building within archives, libraries and
museums, providing strategic leadership and advice
act as an influential advocate for the sector and a first point of contact
for those wanting to work with archives, libraries and museums
encourage productive collaboration between archives, libraries and museums
2. London has an extraordinary density and diversity of museums, archives
and libraries. Nearly a third of all UK archives can be found in London,
together with more than 250 museums and over 1,500 libraries.