The need for funding and expert support to enable the cataloguing of significant collections in the UK has been recognised by the funders of Archives Revealed for almost two decades. Archives Revealed began as The National Cataloguing Grants Programme in 2006, which was relaunched as Archives Revealed in 2016. In 2024, Archives Revealed was delighted to welcome The National Lottery Heritage fund as a funding partner to the programme: Major National Lottery investment to unlock UK’s archives – The National Archives. Archives Revealed continues to meet the needs the of the heritage sector, and its audience, researchers and wider society in the UK and beyond.
As detailed in the UK Government’s strategy for archives, Archives Unlocked, without archives and their custodianship of heritage:
“We could not trace our ancestry, explore our collective and individual identities, or challenge established views of the past. Without this collective memory – the evidence store for our histories – we could not hold governments and organisations to account. The impact of archives is felt across society: inspiring art and literature; influencing product design and branding; enabling insightful and pioneering research; and informing decision-making in organisations of all types. In short: Archives Matter.” Archives Unlocked – Archives sector (nationalarchives.gov.uk)
Archives and their custodianship of heritage matter. Key to accessing collections is the process of cataloguing, describing and ordering a collection in a way that makes it accessible and usable. It is only through the cataloguing of collections, and through making them available to people, that the benefits of archives can start to be realised. The cataloguing of collections remains of foundational importance to the archives sector, to the sustainability of our documentary heritage and to the accessibility of our historical record. Without the means of describing, finding and connecting documentary heritage, its management is impossible, condition unknowable and engagement with it unachievable. For further guidance about cataloguing please visit: Cataloguing archive collections – Archives sector (nationalarchives.gov.uk).
The mission of Archives Revealed is “to ensure that significant archive collections, representing the lives and perspectives of all people across the United Kingdom, are made accessible to the public for research and enjoyment.” It is the only funding programme in the UK providing grants exclusively for the cataloguing and scoping of archive collections, as well as the opportunity for archives to collaborate in consortiums on large-scale cataloguing projects.
The first iteration of Archives Revealed was inspired by a 2002 survey of archives conducted by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, which in 2003 was merged with the Public Record Office to become what is known today as The National Archives. This survey estimated that the UK held a backlog of uncatalogued archives that would take archivists many hundreds of years to clear, and that this backlog was ever-growing as archives acquired new collections. The report created a case for funding, and the first iteration of a grant programme for cataloguing was created.
The Pilgrim Trust were the initial advocates for funding for cataloguing and approached The National Archives with the concept of grants for archives to catalogue outstanding collections to make them accessible to the public. A two-year pilot programme was launched in 2006 funded by the Pilgrim Trust and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, with The National Archives providing administration and access to expert support.
The pilot was a success and demonstrated the scheme’s potential. The full National Cataloguing Grant Scheme was launched in 2008, with funding from the Pilgrim Trust, The National Archives and other funders. From 2006 to 2015, the National Cataloguing Grant Scheme supported 116 projects across England, Scotland and Wales with almost £3.6 million of funding provided.
The programme has been continuously evaluated to understand lessons learnt from projects and iteratively improve its design and delivery. In 2016, an evaluation of the National Cataloguing Grant Scheme was conducted. This evaluation identified a need for a rebrand and for the programme to become more accessible, with a greater diversity of recipients from all parts of the sector being awarded funding and support for their work. A key recommendation from this report was to offer two streams of funding, introducing Scoping Grants that the programme continues to this day. In 2017 the programme was relaunched with its current name, Archives Revealed.
Since 2017, further evaluations were conducted in 2020 and 2023. Each evaluation recognised the valuable impact the programme has made, and recommended that further investment and funding partnerships be sought to enable the programme’s expansion and increase the amount of projects funded. In 2024 Archives Revealed was delighted to welcome The National Lottery Heritage Fund as a funding partner to the programme, with a five-million-pound investment, taking the fund’s total value to £6 million, of which over 85% will be provided directly to the sector in the form of grants. This was announced at a webinar, available to view here: Archives Revealed funding announcement (youtube.com)
Archives Revealed is currently funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and The National Archives. With increased investment in the programme, we have been able to hugely increase the number of Scoping and Cataloguing Grants awarded, to introduce Consortium Grants, to fund public engagement activities for the first time, and to provide a comprehensive training and skills programme celebrating the achievements of our grantees and building the sector’s capacity now and for the future. The programme will enable far more people to engage in heritage and to explore the unique knowledge which archives hold.