Grants Awarded 2022
Hackney Archives
“The Hackney Archives team are delighted that we have been successful in securing an Archives Revealed cataloguing grant for the arrangement and description of the Sir Collins Collection. Sir Collins was a community archivist. His collection documents key figures, events and initiatives of relevance to British history as a whole, and the contributions of African Caribbean people to this history in particular. We are incredibly excited that this grant has afforded us the opportunity to direct dedicated resources to processing this collection so it can be accessed and enjoyed by all.”
Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association
The Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association’s archive tells a global history through local stories from the North of England. The archive depicts the lives of over 90 survivors and refugees, covering their lives in Europe before the Second World War, their experiences of persecution and surviving the Holocaust, how they established new lives in Northern England, and their intergenerational family relationships. This project will allow us to create a detailed catalogue from scratch and unlock the archive’s rich potential for academic and artistic research, teaching, community use and audience engagement.
“This support from Archives Revealed comes at a moment of dynamic transformation for the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association as we rebrand into the Holocaust Centre North. Having a catalogued collection will transform the archive’s accessibility and support our aim to bring to life the lesser-known stories in our collection, in ways that are meaningful today.” – Hari Jonkers, Holocaust Centre North Archivist
St George’s, University of London
St George’s nursing collection charts the development and formalisation of nursing education in a London hospital since the 19th century, providing a wide-ranging resource for the history of nursing training. The records highlight demographic changes within the nursing profession, showing the impact of immigration and telling the story of changing Britain throughout the 20th century through the world wars and the introduction of the NHS. Focusing on voices often marginalised in traditional narratives of healthcare and medicine, the collection brings to light the stories of Black and working-class women, highlighting the vital contributions of those working in roles often away from the limelight.
The Archives Revealed grant will enable this exciting collection to be made accessible for the first time. The project will employ a Project Archivist to catalogue the collection using St George’s online catalogue, as well as making use of digital tools to create visualisations of the catalogued data to provide additional insights into the records. An extensive public engagement programme building on the cataloguing work with several local partners will bring the collection to new audiences with creative workshops, talks and social media engagement.
“The Nursing Collection at St George’s is an amazing resource and this cataloguing grant will make it accessible to a wide range of different users, fostering a sense of belonging and pride in our shared history. I know a number of local groups are really excited about it, as well as the local hospital and university communities. I look forward to hearing the interesting stories that will come out of it.” – Sue David, Associate Director, Information Services (Library)
University of Kent
The University of Kent is delighted that Archives Revealed is supporting the “Oh yes It Is!” project to catalogue the David Drummond Pantomime Collection, which will allow us to deliver a detailed catalogue supported by digital imagery. “Oh yes It Is!” will connect more people with theatre and performance history through the highly appealing and accessible form of pantomime. The David Drummond Pantomime Collection is a highly significant, diverse and fascinating archive that showcases the unique British pantomime tradition from 1800 to the early 21st century. The project will enable insight into regional and cultural variations through the lens of panto, reveal the stories and histories of people involved in popular performance, and foster research into the diversity of gender expression in pantomime and music hall heritage.
“We are incredibly excited to be able to begin work on this remarkable archive collection which will enable the David Drummond Pantomime material to be used and enjoyed more widely. Pantomime often represents people’s first visit to the theatre and connects people with memories of the past. We are looking forward to seeing the collection reveal traditions, personal stories and thought-provoking insights across a variety of themes. It is a beautiful collection and we can’t wait to enthuse more people about pantomime and comic performance!” – Karen Brayshaw, Head of Special Collections & Archives
National Museums of Northern Ireland
‘Unlocking Ulster’s Language Archives’ is a significant new project to catalogue and showcase the unique manuscript collections of native Ulster vernacular writing and records of local speech that are preserved by National Museums NI. The project will enable a dedicated archivist to compile a detailed inventory of language and dialect collections from different areas and eras, which tend to be categorised broadly today as Ulster-Scots writings.
These include the following, all held in National Museums NI Library and Archives at Cultra:
- the papers of Robert Huddleston (1814-87), ‘the Bard of Moneyrea’, a small farmer whose poetry reflects the accent and vocabulary of County Down in his era
- the Montgomery manuscript, capturing the speech of a Ballymena district family from the 1880s to the 1960s
- the glossaries of Sir John Byers and Dr R. L. Moore, medics who recorded the distinct words of people they met in Belfast and Bangor between the 1890s and the 1940s
- the research notes and correspondence of G. B. Adams (1917-81), the pioneering dialect curator at the Ulster Folk Museum.
Public engagement will also form a key part of the project, which fits within National Museums NI’s current ‘Languages of Ulster’ programme. The newly created catalogues will open up these collections to wider audiences, and stimulate interest among researchers and local communities. Events and activities inspired by the contents of these collections will also feature at the Ulster Folk Museum between now and late 2023.
“Language, in all its diversity, belongs to everyone, and people from all backgrounds and traditions have a stake in its future. It’s a cornerstone to building good relations, a united community and our shared future. This project utilises and enhances public access to our unique archival assets. It will develop our skills and expertise, and enable us to explore our rich language traditions more fully.” – William Blair, Director of Collections at National Museums NI
Black Cultural Archives
“Growing our collection through unearthed, community-sourced material that expands the information we can share with our researchers is central to our mission. So, we are thrilled that this grant will allow us to catalogue the unique archive of Anita J. Mckenzie, a photographer whose practice explores identity and celebrates the power of community within African and Indian diasporas. Anita established The McKenzie Heritage Picture Archive in 1996 as a research project to ensure better representation of Black and Asian history. It contains ephemera, administrative documents and a large collection of photographs spanning the 18th to 21st century.
One of the first of its kind in Europe, this archive became a go-to outlet to source images on Black and Asian communities drawn from a range of community-based photographers, who captured everyday experiences and interactions from the perspective of these communities. For us, these community perspectives are crucial, as they underpin our commitment to not only positive but authentic representations of history in a variety of formats. We hope to use this collection to build on our cataloguing practice of equitable engagement with collection donors to make empowering and inspirational information available to the wider public.” – Black Cultural Archives team
South West Heritage Trust
The records of the Cary estate archive tell the history of Torquay in Devon over a period of 800 years. The collection will reveal stories of landholding, local families, and the growth of Torbay as the iconic English Riviera. The archive has recently been united at the Devon Heritage Centre, following the deposit of a large quantity of records previously held in Paignton. Cataloguing the collection will pave the way for a wide range of community engagement. We hope to use the archive to promote wellbeing, local pride and identity, and to work in partnership with local people and organisations to explore stories in creative ways.
“We are delighted to be able to open up the amazing Cary archive. Used imaginatively, estate archives can tell rich stories and have real relevance to local communities. Cataloguing the collection will enable these stories to be discovered and shared with local people.” – Janet Tall, Head of Archives, Learning & Development, South West Heritage Trust
Trafford Local Studies Centre
“We are delighted to receive an Archives Revealed cataloguing grant. The money will fund the 12-month post of one archivist, who will manage the cataloguing of the Trafford Historic Building Plan Collection (1850—1989). Consisting of over 100,000 individual drawings of private and municipal projects, this cataloguing project will not only allow us to better assist residents in the study of their houses and local neighbourhoods, but will also give architects, historians, and other scholars a remarkable opportunity to uncover new and exciting information about a number of significant building projects across the Trafford area.
We are confident that this project will have a transformative impact on our Local Studies and Archive Service, as it will offer staff valuable professional skills and training, and enable us to recruit a diverse cohort of volunteers. We look forward to using this collection to deepen our engagement, not only with our existing audiences, but also with new audiences as well.” – Councillor Joanne Harding, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Strategic Partnerships
De Montfort University Special Collections
De Montfort University Special Collections is delighted to receive an Archives Revealed grant for our project ‘Extravagant Delights and Global Fantasies: cataloguing the papers of artist Andrew Logan’. Andrew Logan (born 1945) is a celebrated contemporary British sculptural artist and designer, whose life and work challenge perceptions of sexuality and gender. His personal papers are significant for their insight into the overlapping artistic, fashion and queer scenes in 1970s London and for the history of LGBTQ+ culture. In 1972, Logan founded the Alternative Miss World contest, a beauty pageant open to anyone, combining elements of drag culture, fashion shows and performance art. This cataloguing project coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first Alternative Miss World event and will contribute to celebrating this important milestone, allowing us to engage a varied and global audience.
“I am thrilled that we are able to continue the process of cataloguing the archive to make it available to future generations. Thank you so much.” – Andrew Logan
“I am very grateful to the Archives Revealed funding panel for supporting this project. Creating a detailed catalogue of this fascinating collection will not only support the study of 20th-century art and fashion, but also demonstrate our commitment to sharing LGBTQ+ histories. We have already seen how the vibrant creativity that bursts from these papers inspires our students and we are excited to have the opportunity to share them more widely through cataloguing and engagement.” – Katharine Short, Special Collections Manager at De Montfort University
Institute of International Visual Arts (INIVA)
INIVA’s Archives Revealed project will offer worldwide audiences access to their unique and rare archival collection, which offers a snapshot of an era, marked by political extremes and an explosion of creative expression. This led to the creation of INIVA in 1994, an institution dedicated then and now to nurturing and disseminating radical and emergent contemporary artistic practice centring the global majority, including African, Asian and Caribbean diaspora perspectives.
With their Archives Revealed funding, they will be able to employ an archivist for 16 months to catalogue key sections of the archive that are most in demand by their users, including their founding conference and early constitutional documents which feature speeches, writings, and practice by now internationally recognised academics and thinkers including Stuart Hall, Rasheed Araeen, Geeta Kapur, Gilane Tawadros and Eddie Chambers. They will also catalogue ground-breaking exhibition and programming material including Veil and X-Space, together representing a microcosm of INIVA’s institutional archive as a whole.
These archives will be brought alive via a dynamic open-source software called ‘Collective Access+’ for managing and publishing museum and archival collections, accessible worldwide. This new catalogue will contribute to wide-ranging research and academic knowledge by exposing hidden art histories, as well as promoting wellbeing and creative expression through interaction with archival extracts that are representative of their local communities in Westminster and beyond.
“INIVA is delighted to receive this grant to fund an archivist to catalogue key parts of our visual arts archive pertaining to our organisational set-up and two ground-breaking exhibitions. This fund will enable us maximise the digital reach of our collections to our global audiences, such as researchers and scholars, as well as provide our local communities with access to learn more about the history of INIVA, which has supported the development of Black arts in the UK since the mid-90s’ – Tavian Hunter, Library and Archive Manager, INIVA
“The cataloguing of key parts of our archives will facilitate the activation of significant histories in diverse contemporary art. These collections represent a continued push to challenge conventional notions of diversity and difference. People will be able to develop new and interesting responses that are built on the original ideas of the creators.” – Kaitlene Koranteng, Archivist and Engagement Producer, INIVA.
Grants Awarded 2023
University of Exeter Penryn Campus
This Project will catalogue four key Collections within the Institute of Cornish Studies Archives: the papers of Mary Mann, Len Truran, Royston Green, and Dr Adrian Lee. Together, these collections offer a variety of lenses through which to view the issue of Cornish Nationalism which emerged in the mid-twentieth century, offering political, personal, and academic perspectives on an issue that continues to this day to dominate discussions of identity, culture and what it means to be ‘Cornish’.
Archivist Sarah C Jane commented: ‘We are delighted to have been successful in our application for funds to Catalogue these important Collections from our Institute of Cornish Studies holdings. Whilst the Collections share a common theme in the examination and documentation of the birth and growth of the Cornish Nationalist movement, subject coverage is exhaustive – everything from pasties to nuclear weapons – along the way of industry, tourism, transport, employment, migration, devolution, language and more. As such, this project is a significant opportunity to enable these Collections to be used by a similarly wide range of users from within the University, our local community in Cornwall and beyond.”
Dorset History Centre
Dorset History Centre (DHC) is delighted to have been granted £35,000 by Archives Revealed. The award provides over half the sum needed to open up this UNESCO-inscribed collection to the wider world. The archive in question is Hardy’s own – bequeathed by the author upon his death and the richest source of material on Hardy and his wide circle anywhere in the world.
The archive includes such as gems as three manuscript novels, poetry and over 4,000 pieces of correspondence. DHC is working with a range of stakeholders to ensure that the project benefits from volunteer support, academic engagement and that it acts as a catalyst for wider advocacy and outreach. Whilst there is still work to be done to raise the full £68,000 required to employ an archivist for 18 months, it is hoped that the project will commence in this autumn.
Without this grant the archives of Dorset’s literary great risk remaining relatively unknown. This project will permanently resolve that issue and provide access to current and new audiences.
Councillor Laura Beddow, Dorset Council’s Cabinet member for Culture and Communities said: ‘this grant is fantastic news for Dorset History Centre and all those who care about the legacy of Dorset’s literary icon Thomas Hardy. It will help us open up a world class archive for research, education and cultural enrichment and will firmly place this collection in the public domain. We are really grateful to the panel for supporting this application’.
North Lanarkshire Council
North Lanarkshire Archives will catalogue the records of the Cumbernauld Development Corporation, an extensive collection including minutes, reports, and thousands of photographs and architectural drawings, which documents the creation and administration of Cumbernauld New Town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Heather Liddle, Active & Creative Communities Manager, North Lanarkshire Council, said: ‘Cataloguing and preserving this collection will provide valuable insights into the work of the Cumbernauld Development Corporation. The new catalogue will ensure that the cultural, architectural, environmental, educational, and social significance of the development of the new town of Cumbernauld can be discovered by as wide an audience as possible.’
Oxford Museum of Natural History
Oxford University Museum of Natural History is incredibly grateful to the National Archives for their support in the cataloguing and sharing of our Buckland archive. This important archival collection contains over 1000 items relating to the pioneering 19th century geologist and theologian William Buckland, who, as well as being the first to name and describe a fossil dinosaur (Megalosaurus), was a hugely influential figure in academia, politics, science, and religion. As Reader in Mineralogy and Geology at Oxford University, Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and Dean of Westminster, Buckland covered a wide sphere, and his archive offers invaluable insights into the thinking and institutions of the early 19th century, particularly in the sciences and theology.
The collection also includes the work of Buckland’s wife Mary (née Morland), a respected naturalist and illustrator, including exquisite ink and watercolour drawings of natural history specimens, and highlights the huge artistic and scientific contribution she made to her husband’s work. As well as revealing more about the Buckland themselves, the papers include correspondence with major figures including art critic John Ruskin and prime minister Robert Peel, along with original artworks such as Thomas Sopwith’s watercolour of William Buckland, previously thought to be a portrait of fossil collector and palaeontologist Mary Anning.
Paul Smith, Director of Oxford University Museum of Natural History, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to receive this reward from the National Archives through the Archives Revealed Cataloguing Grant fund. This funding will help us preserve and record Buckland’s archive so that his pioneering contributions to 19th century science can be accessed, enjoyed, and studied by all. We cannot wait to share this collection with the world, and we are hugely grateful to the National Archives for their support.”
National Library of Scotland
Representing Scottish politics and public life in all its diversity is central to the National Library of Scotland’s contemporary political archive collections, so we are delighted to have received funding from Archives Revealed to take this work in new directions. This grant will allow us to catalogue and make accessible five archives created by women who have been active in campaigning for world peace, democracy, and against nuclear proliferation in Scotland since the 1980s. Together, these archives will illuminate under-explored histories of women’s engagement in politics and international relations outside of parliaments and political parties in Scotland, including through community organising, the creative arts, and literary work. With three donors still working in their respective fields, this project will also provide timely opportunities for producing co-curated catalogue descriptions and public engagement enlivened by intergenerational conversations between women activists.
Alison Stevenson, Director of Collections, Access and Research: Our current strategy, Reaching People 2020-2025, places an emphasis on ensuring that the Library connects with new audiences, particularly those who have previously not been engaged with the Library. This includes a plethora of community and campaign groups engaged in exploring the role of women in Scottish activism and politics; the collections that will be worked on as part of this project are highly relevant to these audiences and this project is crucial in allowing the Library to connect and collaborate with such groups and the networks in which they are active. The Library is committed to moving towards an audience-led approach across all of its work, we are confident that this project will make a significant contribution to that aim.
Amberside Trust
The AmberSide Collection is significant and unique in that it is a living documentary archive of film and photography, rooted in place and capturing the extraordinary industrial and post-industrial changes that have taken place in the North East of England’s working-class and marginalised communities for over 50 years. The Amber’s archive comprises some 250 separate collections of photographic work, totalling 20,000 photographs, 10,000 slides, 100 films and a unique paper archive. The work of This project will catalogue Amber’s ‘core collection’ representing the unique work created or commissioned by the Amber Collective, together with the supporting paper records.
Central to the Collection is its deep longitudinal engagement with specific communities e.g. Byker and Elswick (Newcastle), Wallsend and North Shields (North Tyneside) and Easington (East Durham) in the North East of England, over decades. Amber’s own internationally recognised film and photography exists alongside multiple important documentary works commissioned, donated and acquired by the organisation in this time.
The significance of the work of the collective was recognised by UNESCO in 2011,when founder member Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s photographs and Amber’s films were inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The Collection also highlights Amber’s pivotal role in the now celebrated ‘Workshop Movement’, created in the early 1980’s to establish a diverse national network of ‘Film Workshops’, with support from Channel 4.
The comprehensive catalogue will be accessible to in-person and online audiences, opening up to the very communities it documents. It will lead to a deeper level of engagement and allow for more opportunities to contribute to the understanding of the archive and participate in project engagement.
Museum of the Order of St John
This project will transform public access to the early records of the international first aid charity, St John Ambulance. Founded in the 19th century as a response to healthcare challenges faced by communities in industrial Britain, it expanded rapidly. Volunteers learnt first aid skills that they could apply at home, in the workplace and in public spaces, decades before the founding of the National Health Service and the welfare state. The collection is relevant to communities across England, particularly in the heartlands of Victorian Britain where industries such as mining and manufacturing flourished and injuries at work were all too common. The project will produce the first comprehensive catalogue of these records, which offer huge untapped research potential across the humanities and social sciences, linking to medical history, voluntarism, emergency and disaster planning, gender studies and global and colonial history. An inclusive and accessible programme of events will run throughout, sharing new discoveries and inviting new perspectives.
“The Museum of the Order of St John is thrilled to have been awarded an Archives Revealed Cataloguing Grant, which will enable us to make the early archives of St John Ambulance accessible and searchable for the very first time. Covering more than half a century, the archives document the organisation’s origins and early history, from c.1870 to the eve of the Second World War, and are an invaluable resource for researchers, students, and all those with an interest in the history of one of the world’s best-known healthcare charities. With the 150th anniversary of St John Ambulance’s foundation on the horizon in 2027, this transformational cataloguing project could hardly be more timely and we are extremely grateful to The National Archives, The Pilgrim Trust and The Wolfson Foundation for their generous support.”
Professor William Purkis, Professor of Medieval History (University of Birmingham) and Priory Librarian at St John
University of Dundee
The University of Dundee’s project will see two linked collections catalogued both of which contain unique information about Scotland’s landscape and environment which is crucial to understanding the impact of climate change and the consequences of the establishment of hydro schemes on Scotland’s natural habitats, flora, and fauna. The McClean Hydromatic archive and the John Berry papers contain information about river flow in Scotland and extensive material charting the feasibility and potential impact of the development of hydro power in the Scottish Highlands. Opening up the collections will meet the demands of academics, allow companies to plan for the future of Scotland’s renewable energy in an informed way and enable the Archive to reach out to rural community and heritage groups.
University Archivist, Caroline Brown, said “We are delighted to receive funding from Archives Revealed to catalogue these significant collections. The material has the potential to bring together a range of stakeholders with an interest in Scotland’s environment, its history and its long-term sustainability. This is a great opportunity to put archives at the heart of today’s crucial conversations about climate change.’
Fuel Theatre
The award from the National Archives will open Fuel’s collection to the public, giving access to heritage of national significance, one which tells of how UK artists come to realise their vision; how producers understand and integrate values in their work; how audiences become touched and transformed by stories in radical and everyday settings, including in their local town hall, fields, and their own homes.
“We are extremely grateful to have received an award from the National Archives towards Fuel’s archive collection. We believe Fuel’s archives will create new teaching and learning resources, promote new knowledge, and advocate for the benefits of the company’s producing model to the cultural sector at large.” (Kate McGrath, Fuel Director & CEO)
Cadbury’s Research Library
The Avon Papers contain the personal and political papers of former British Prime Minister Anthony Eden (1897-1977) and of the wider Eden family. The collection dates from 1760 to 1984 and comprises 570 boxes of correspondence, reports and political papers, photographs, diaries, publications, press cuttings, and a small section of audio-visual material. The Avon Papers are a priority for cataloguing due to the limited accessibility and discoverability provided by the current inadequate and incomplete finding aid for the collection. This project offers great scope not only for research and teaching, but also for discovery and enjoyment by non-academic audiences as we develop opportunities for learning and participatory activities around the key themes of accessibility and diversity. We are incredibly grateful to the Archives Revealed scheme for funding this important cataloguing project.
This funding gives us the opportunity to improve access to the Avon Papers, a significant collection full of information about British and international politics in the mid-20th century but which also provides insights into Anthony Eden’s personal life and relationships. This project will make a huge difference to the discoverability of the archive for researchers and students.