Current and past projects

Grants awarded 2024

Bromley House Library  

The Bromley House Library archive contains thousands of items which tell their story as the first subscription library in Nottingham: their collections, accession records, correspondence, membership, building and garden as they have developed over the last 208 years. Many manuscripts, objects and records in the archive have been accessed by library members and visitors, locally and globally, for exhibitions, PhD dissertations and other academic publications, and for personal research. This Scoping grant from the National Archives will fund a vital first stride into a comprehensive assessment of the archive. Alongside painting a picture of how this historic library has operated, they expect to find forgotten treasures; fascinating snippets of local life and characters and perhaps some significant insights into the words and thoughts of the individual readers, writers, academics, industrialists, scientists, and historians who have been part of our library community.  

“The Bromley House Library archive of documents, manuscripts, letters, books and artefacts, which we’ve accumulated since 1816, is safe but locked away; this grant will bring them into the spotlight and help us develop innovative ways of sharing them with the people of Nottingham and beyond.” Clare Brown, Library Director

Image credit: Bromley House Library

University of Salford  

The Bridgewater Estates Archive (BEA) is the most requested collection held by the University of Salford Library Archives, especially for family, property, and local history research.  It contains correspondence, plans and ephemera relating to the administration of the lands and properties in Salford and west Lancashire, formerly belonging to the Duke of Bridgewater and Earls of Ellesmere from 1890s to 1960s, and tells the story of the people, places and organisations connected with it.  Currently only half of the collection dating up to 1921 has been catalogued, which is available online.  The scoping report will assess the content of the later records for personal data, identify the resources needed to catalogue and enable access to the material and suggest opportunities for partnerships with organisation with related collections.  Ultimately, the report will enable more people to trace family and local history and open up the collection for academic research as part of a wider refresh of the University of Salford Library’s vision and strategy for archives and special collections. 

“We are delighted to have been awarded a scoping grant for the Bridgewater Estates Archive, which will help us to move towards giving researchers access to a greater range of material in the collection to enrich knowledge about history of the wider Salford and west Lancashire area.” Alexandra Mitchell, University Archivist.

Image credit: University of Salford

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea  

Walter Crane (1845-1915) was a highly renowned children’s book illustrator who influenced the development of this particular genre of illustrated literature. Kensington and Chelsea was home to many members of the Art and Crafts movement, which included Crane. He lived and worked from his studio in Kensington which is commemorated by a blue plaque. His works also show his involvement in the socialist movement. This funding will aid, from a historical and artistic standpoint, in the preservation of his artworks, sketches, and drawings, from his studio and donated to RBKC after his death. Due to the collection’s current physical state, it is inaccessible, and a few items require immediate attention. They will have the opportunity to understand the best plan for moving through the process and making it fully available to the public. 

“The variety of pieces within The Walter Crane Collection – from preliminary sketches to finished paintings and illustrations – allow for a unique insight into the artist’s creative approach. We’re delighted that the Archives Revealed Scoping Grant will help us take the first steps towards making the collection available to the public through much needed conservation work. This work will ensure that the collection can be accessed by the local community, and researchers from further afield, in a move towards both celebrating the borough’s rich artistic history and making it accessible to all.” Sophia Hall, RBKC Archivist

Image credit: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Natural History Museum  

For almost 150 years, the Natural History Museum (NHM) has been at the forefront of human endeavours to understand and protect the natural world. The museum has also amassed a large and important collection of archive and manuscript material, rich with data and including the correspondence, notebooks, and sketches of individuals such as Charles Darwin, Mary Anning, Alfred Russell Wallace and Elizabeth Gould. 

The NHM is working to improve the accessibility of archive and manuscript collections as its researchers seek to address a planetary emergency. The scoping grant will be used to engage a consultant to write a report enabling the NHM’s Library and Archives team to fully understand the opportunities and challenges of increasing discoverability of the collections. It will help to ensure the successful planning of future activities, such as data migration and cataloguing, and the correct prioritisation of tasks to achieve the maximum impact and benefit to users. 

“We are delighted to have been awarded an Archives Revealed Scoping Grant. The archive and manuscript collections at the Natural History Museum are internationally significant but also complex and, at times, difficult to access. The grant will accelerate our work, providing crucial insight and giving us an important foundation for future cataloguing, digitisation and collaborative activities.” Richard Wragg, Head of Library and Archives, Natural History Museum 

Image credit: Natural History Museum

Royal Pavilion Museums Trust – Brighton and Hove Museums

The unique Royal Pavilion Archive has developed over 200 years and is an incredibly well-recorded history of a Royal Palace, transferred to civic ownership in the mid-19th century. It includes items relating to the building, grounds, contents and people living and working onsite, since the late 18th century, as well as records detailing how the city museums, originally sited in the Royal Pavilion, were set up. While they have detailed information and digital images regarding some of the collection, a huge amount has not been recorded to recognised archival standards and is very hard to access for their own staff, let alone the wider public. This grant will inform the best methods for cataloguing and preserving this special collection, to make it more accessible to researchers and wider audiences interested in the history of Brighton & Hove. 

Hedley Swain, CEO of Brighton & Hove Museums says, “We are delighted to have been awarded an Archives Revealed Scoping Grant, which will help us take the first steps towards making the Brighton Royal Pavilion Archives more accessible into the future.”  

Image credit: Royal Pavilion Museums Trust

Topolski Memoir Ltd.

The archive of Feliks Topolski’s drawings, paintings and writing is a unique and indispensable personal visual record of the last century’s radical changes and shifts, incisively observing cultural, political and social movements and events throughout the globe. Receiving the scoping grant will allow them to fully understand not only the contents of this archive, but also how best to publicise it and open it to a wider audience. Topolski strove for an ‘impartial’ recording of his time, and what he left behind is an engaging visual history on a human scale. They are a small organisation, but hope to use the archive to nurture and promote reportage and documentary artwork, providing a space for discussion, practice and research. As a chronicler, Topolski saw his work as an “historical document”, and it is up to Topolski to make it speak.

“The Archives Revealed Scoping Grant is a hugely important step towards reopening Feliks Topolski’s unique view of the 20th century to a new generation of artists, researchers and the public. It is hoped that it will allow for its significance to be properly recognised.” Lucien Topolski.  

Image credit: Topolski Memoir Limited

Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) 

ACRE, Action with Communities in Rural England, is a national network of mainly county charities whose origins reflect responses to rural poverty after WW1.  Its centenary in 2021 highlighted the special story of how it has supported local groups and initiatives and acted as advocate for issues affecting them. That story is a vital part of the fabric of their national history. but the evidence is being lost.

‘The material covers every aspect of village life, how it changed, how it adapted to meet new needs. It is an important resource for historians as well as those seeking examples of good practice today’ said James Blake, Chairman, ACRE, ‘We hope that the Scoping Grant will help ACRE and the Friends of ACRE Network to identify and save important records and personal testimonies, while developing a practical plan for a national archive’.

Image credit: ACRE

Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) 

Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) charitable object is to advance the science and art of planning (town and country and spatial planning) for the benefit of the public. They’re also a learned society, which means they have a responsibility to host, assist and represent the work of planning scholars and researchers.

This scoping grant will allow the RTPI to assess the scope, quality, condition and quantity of their historical records. It will help them to understand the amount of time, work, and money needed to establish a usable, accessible resource for planners, scholars and the public. Such a resource will help to further embed long-standing leadership within the planning community at large.

Archives of IT (AIT) 

Archives of IT will use their grant to scope the custody, conservation and digitisation of the archive of Dennis Blackwell (1929-2016), a key figure in the British computer industry for more than 50 years. Dennis contributed to some of the most important commercial initiatives of the period and his archive provides them with a better understanding of government policy, commercial competition, employment conditions, leading personalities and life in the IT industry in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. AIT is a volunteer led organisation and this project has the potential to impact significantly their future development and ability to save and share stories of IT working lives and the history of tech. 

Image credit: Archives of IT (AIT)

Club Cheoil – Manchester City Council: Archives+ 

The Club Cheoil collection was established by Lynne Percival a Manchester musician who is still actively involved. The collection is well-known among Irish musicians and associated heritage organisations.

It charts the development of Club Cheoil. (Irish: Music Club) from 1990 to 2002. It includes:

• Young Irish musicians promoted via regular concerts featuring International Artists.
• Over 60 recorded concerts and photographs.
• Annual Club Cheoil On Tour festival took Irish music to new audiences and venues in Manchester.
• Oral history project. Volunteers interviewed about the stories of older musicians.
• 1997 CD ‘In Safe Hands’ recorded local musicians under 25yrs.
• Dormant website

This collection is far more than a set of recordings, photographs, videos, interviews and newspaper cuttings – it represents a commitment to community development, making lasting connections for the benefit and continuity of the traditional music medium.

This scoping assessment will recommend how to make the Club Cheoil collection available both online and in Manchester Central Library’s exhibition areas.

“We are absolutely delighted to have been successful with this Archives Revealed scoping grant  to hire a consultant to assess the Club Cheoil collection. It is a highly significant collection containing some fascinating material relating to the Irish music scene in Manchester.”  Philip Cooke, Manchester Libraries and Archives. 

Image credit: Club Cheoil – Manchester City Council: Archives+

Belfast Library and Society for Promoting Knowledge (The Linen Hall) 

Founded in 1788, the Linen Hall is the oldest Library in Belfast, and an archive and accredited museum with collections of national significance. The Northern Ireland Political Collection at the Linen Hall began in the late 1960s with one civil rights leaflet, and today contains some 350,000 items. The definitive record of the Northern Ireland ‘troubles’, peace process, and post conflict society, the collection encompasses all shades of opinion, and contains material from all perspectives. It includes a wealth of insightful and expansive archive material, a significant aspect of which relates to the movement for civil rights in Northern Ireland. This includes the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) which formed to achieve reform by publicising, documenting, marching, and lobbying for an end to discrimination. Significant societal issues such as equality, housing, employment, and justice are spotlighted in correspondence, flyers, minutes, news sheets, policy documents, photographs, posters, press cuttings, reports, and statements, and the grant provides the foundation to ensure the long-term future of this fascinating and valuable resource.

‘The collections at the Linen Hall have a pivotal role to play in understanding all of Northern Ireland’s past, and crucial to this is the material we hold on civil rights. A people’s movement, at a momentous and climactic time in our recent history, the importance of this material cannot be overstated. The grant will encourage, support, and empower our work to preserve and make the archive accessible, and we are grateful to the National Archives for supporting this unique archive, by and for the community.’ Samantha McCombe, Librarian.

Image credit: Belfast Library and Society for Promoting Knowledge (The Linen Hall)

Ulster Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) 

Siobhan McHaffie, Director of Operations and Development with the USPCA says ‘We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded a grant through this programme, to enable us to properly scope out our archive materials. The USPCA has been in operation since 1836 and is the second-oldest animal welfare charity in the world. There is a range of materials in our warehouse, ranging from newspaper articles to annual reports and accounts, as well as photographs, paintings, and awards. It is currently in no particular order unfortunately and is all looking very unloved. We are excited to be starting this process, with a view to making it accessible to the wider public and any interested researchers.’ 

Image credit: USPCA Memorandum and Articles of Association, 1925,