Cataloguing Grants funded in 2025–2026
Here are the proposals that were awarded Cataloguing Grants in 2025–2026, to unlock significant archive collections held in the UK for the public.
Churchill Archives Centre – £49,998
Project: The Personal is Political: the papers of Harriet Harman
Churchill Archives Centre holds personal papers which are important for the research and public understanding of modern British politics and society. This project will allow the Centre to catalogue, and make available, the papers of Harriet Harman, one of the most significant political figures of recent times. The collection encompasses national and local issues, most notably her feminist activism and close involvement with her Peckham constituency. The project will engage new and existing audiences through a series of events, digital storytelling on social media, blogs, research guides, and online exhibitions. The collection has the potential to complicate male-dominated narratives and the project’s focus on feminist cataloguing practices will develop methodology to help the wider archives community.
The Churchill Archives Centre is thrilled to be the recipient of this grant, which will allow us to make available the papers of one of this country’s foremost female parliamentarians.
Mr Allen Packwood, Director
Churchill Archives Centre
Govanhill Baths Community Trust – £24,941
Project: Revealing Govanhill Baths Archive: Cataloguing a Century of Community, Activism, and Renewal
Govanhill Baths Community Trust (GBCT) is a grassroots activist-based organisation delivering wellbeing, arts, environmental and heritage projects. It grew out of the historic Save Our Pool campaign in 2001. When Glasgow City Council proposed the closure of Govanhill Baths, local residents occupied the building for 140 days in the longest sit-in of a civic building in British history. Its Archive has three collections: Before Closure, Save Our Pool and GBCT. This grant will enable cataloguing to item level, school and community workshops and an exhibition.
We are thrilled that Archives Revealed is supporting the cataloguing of Govanhill Baths Archive. This award recognises the national importance of our collections and the powerful story they tell of public health, working-class life and community activism. The funding will safeguard these materials, ensuring they are preserved, accessible and celebrated by communities, schools, researchers and future generations.
Fatima Uygen, CEO
Govanhill Baths Archive
Insole Court Trust / Ymddiriedolaeth Cwrt Insole – £45,797
Project: Insole Court Archive Revealed
Insole Court is a Grade II listed mansion house and gardens in the historic conservation area of Llandaff, Cardiff. Built in 1856, and once a private home for the colliery-owning Insole family, it now serves as a heritage venue, green space and community hub, managed by Insole Court Trust. A dedicated group of volunteers has developed an extensive collection of information and objects relating to the heritage of the family, the estate and its associated uses. Insole Court Archive Revealed is an 18-month project to catalogue and digitise the archive, making it accessible on site and online, including via dedicated events.
The archive developed by our dedicated volunteers deserves the care and attention that this funding will bring. We’re very grateful to the funders and excited to begin sharing this wonderful resource with the community who made it possible.
Lloyd Glanville, CEO
Modern Exterior of Insole Court
Insole Court Trust
Leighton House and Sambourne House, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) – £49,539
Project: Unlocking the Leighton House and Sambourne House Archives
Leighton House and Sambourne House are both house-museums owned and run by The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Their extensive archives relate to the lives of its Victorian occupants, Frederic, Lord Leighton PRA* (1830-1896) and Linley Sambourne (1844-1910), as well as the history of the buildings and their collections. This project will provide the expertise needed to access and understand these archives as a resource for engagement and learning, ensuring their preservation and sustainability long-term. A professional archivist will lead on the reappraisal and cataloguing of the undocumented collections, supported by trainees, volunteers and museums staff. An exhibition on the little-known Sambourne archive will also be developed to promote awareness.
The remarkable archives supporting Leighton House and Sambourne House have remained an underutilised resource. It’s wonderful that, through this project, their potential will now be unlocked and this fascinating material can be made accessible fully for the first time.
Daniel Robbins, Senior Curator at RBKC Museums
Drawing Room, Sambourne House
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
London School of Economics and Political Science – £37,606
Project: Charting the journey: cataloguing the Sheba Feminist Publishers archive
The LSE Library is custodian of The Women’s Library, Britain’s oldest and largest library devoted to women’s campaigning and activism. Their project, Charting the journey: cataloguing the Sheba Feminist Publishers archive, will make accessible the records of a pioneering independent publishing collective. As a racially mixed, female-led collective prioritising the voices of Black, working-class, and lesbian writers, Sheba represents an underexplored chapter of radical feminist publishing in late 20th-century Britain. Funding will enable the appointment of a cataloguing officer who will adopt a reflective and participatory approach designed to both maximise discoverability and ensure ethical stewardship of the collection. Engagement activities will include a series of workshops, supported by the Poetry Society, for young writers from underrepresented backgrounds to co-create a zine inspired by the archive.
This project aligns with our commitment to making diverse histories more discoverable and is an exciting opportunity to develop inclusive models of engagement.
Anna Towlson, Archives and Special Collections Manager
LSE Library
Matt’s Gallery Ltd. – £49,779
Project: The Tardis – 46 years of Matt’s Gallery in 48 boxes
Matt’s Gallery, London, is a contemporary art gallery. It has supported the making of new and innovative work since its foundation by Robin Klassnik OBE in 1979. This grant will transform the gallery’s archive service, creating an overall structure with detailed records of analogue photographic and audio-visual materials, dating back to their first exhibitions, alongside an artist-led engagement programme. Preservation and access will be improved through repackaging and digitisation of key records.
It started in a few Tesco bags in my bedroom in the 1960s, and it has grown from there. Part of it is in our gallery in London, more in a warehouse in Gloucestershire, some in other nooks and crannies. It needs to be brought into the 21st century and made accessible. This grant will lay the foundation for this work. I can’t wait to get started!
Robin Klassnik OBE, Matt's Gallery Founder and Director
Visual material relating to artist Richard Wilson showing the installation of 20:50 at RSA in Edinburgh (1987).
Matt's Gallery, London
National Library of Scotland – £49,460
Project: Reparative Cataloguing: Revealing the archives of the Church of Scotland World Mission Council
The National Library of Scotland will use their Archives Revealed grant to catalogue the final tranche of records from the Church of Scotland World Mission Council archive.
Since the arrival of its first tranche in 1953, the archive has been used by generations of researchers to uncover the history and impact of Scottish Presbyterian evangelical missions, telling the stories of individual missionaries, and of the communities who adopted Christianity. This support will enable the Library to catalogue records covering the end of the British colonial era and the final years of the Council’s activity. In some locations, the records are the only surviving trace of this shared history.
This archive is critical to understanding our shared heritage with other countries. We are grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and the National Archives for this funding which presents an exciting opportunity to open the archive to researchers, and to engage with international audiences during the project and beyond.
Amina Shah, National Librarian
Papers from the Church of Scotland World Mission Board.
The National Library of Scotland
Re-Dock Community Interest Company – £49,956
Project: Tim Brunsden’s Video Archive – Saving LGBTQ+ Heritage
Re-Dock CIC is an artist-led collective working across analogue and digital technologies to collaborate with communities in the North West and beyond. This project will secure, and make accessible, a unique LGBTQ+ moving image archive created by filmmaker Tim Brunsden, documenting nearly two decades of arts and activism connected to Liverpool’s Homotopia Festival and queer performance collective Duckie. Building on initial preservation work supported by The National Archives, Re-Dock will fully catalogue the archive to professional standards within the North West Film Archive’s and Bishopsgate Institute’s systems, addressing digital rights and GDPR requirements to ensure ethical public access.
By transforming a vulnerable personal archive into a discoverable national resource, the project will safeguard LGBTQ+ heritage, embed underrepresented voices within the cultural record, and ensure that these stories remain accessible for research, learning and community pride for generations to come.
We are proud to be part of the long tradition of archiving underground culture, ensuring this perspective of everyday experiences sits alongside landmark events. This will give researchers and future audiences a multi-layered understanding of LGBTQ+ life and culture.
Hwa Young Jung, Co-Director
Tim Brunsden
Royal Horticultural Society – £49,905
Project: Cataloguing The Chelsea Flower Show Archive
The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity, dedicated to the science, art, and practice of horticulture. Their Lindley Library houses the country’s most important horticultural archive, including that of the Chelsea Flower Show which, for over a century, has been the definitive showcase of garden excellence. The Flower Show is a staple of the UK social scene and a major media event followed by a global audience. The archive comprises correspondence, catalogues, design plans, photographs, objects, ephemera, leaflets, and administrative documents; an exceptional demonstration of how gardens and their makers have evolved across the 20th and 21st centuries. With the support of Archives Revealed, the archive will be better documented, preserving records of these spaces and stories for future generations.
We are delighted to receive this grant from The National Archives, the Wolfson Foundation, the Pilgrim Trust and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, without which this vital project would not be able to take place.
Fiona Davison, Head of Libraries and Exhibitions
Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) – £50,000
Project: The Special Collection of Henry Watson
RNCM acts as administrator of Connecting Manchester’s Music Archives (a partnership between the RNCM, MDMArchive, Hallé Concerts Society, and the Henry Watson Music Library) which has secured a grant to help them catalogue parts of the Henry Watson Music Library’s Special Collection. The project will reveal underexplored collections of more than two centuries of music programmes, minute books from some of the city’s oldest musical societies, and unique manuscripts from several of its musical pioneers. The grant will enable the RNCM to recruit a dedicated team who will work to uncover, organise, catalogue, and share core elements of the vast but underexplored stories of some of Manchester’s musical societies, concert series, and notable individuals.
We are very excited by the opportunities that this Archives Reveal grant affords. The project will lay the cornerstone for significant research, revealing Manchester’s vibrant cultural, musical and social networks of national and international significance.
Wiebke Thormählen, Director of Research
Henry Watson Music Library, Manchester Libraries
University of Edinburgh Development Trust – £50,000
Project: The Last Catch: Surfacing Stories from the Salvesen Whaling Archive
The University of Edinburgh Libraries’ Heritage Collections team will use their grant to reveal intertwined human, environmental, and economic histories from the Archives of Christian Salvesen Ltd. This charts the history of modern industrial whaling based out of Leith, Edinburgh and Leith, South Georgia. The project will employ a dedicated archivist to create a structured, accessible catalogue, review legacy access restrictions, and work with the Living Memory Association, Leith, the South Georgia Heritage Trust, and academic collaborators to connect written records with lived experience and expose climate data.
The Salvesen archive is a complex and significant collection that weaves together Scotland’s maritime heritage, polar exploration and environmental history. We’re delighted to receive support to ensure that these challenging histories are understood and used by researchers and communities alike.
Daryl Green, Associate Director of Heritage Collections (Research & Curatorial)
Coll-36 Tranche C3: Prospecting Cruise to South Georgia and Antarctica, 1913-14.
University of Edinburgh
The University of Hull – £49,874
Project: Hull Truck Theatre Archive
Hull University Archives is a partner in Hull History Centre, where it preserves the University’s own records alongside a wide range of deposited collections. The University Archives will undertake a project to catalogue the records of Hull Truck Theatre which has spent over 50 years telling stories of all human life in Hull, and beyond. The archive reflects its central place in the city’s cultural life and its wide influence elsewhere. The archive includes scripts, production notes, photographs, audio recordings, wardrobe books, and models.
Hull Truck Theatre is a jewel in the crown of Hull, and we were delighted to be entrusted with their archive as part of their 50th anniversary year in 2022. The support from Archives Revealed will enable us to share its many stories and inspire others with a love of theatre.
Chris Awre, Executive Director Scholarly Services and University Librarian
University of Leeds – £49,953
Project: Through the Microscope: Revealing the Irene Manton Archive
Cultural Collections & Galleries underpins teaching, research and experiences at the University of Leeds through its rich collections, from manuscripts to art and coins. This project reveals the archives of the renowned botanist, Irene Manton. While celebrated in some scientific circles, her place in international networks is underappreciated, and her practice at the crossover between science and art has the potential to bring traditional archives research closer to STEM engagement, and to inspire new audiences through displays and outreach. This is an archive rich in both written content and visual material, created by a scientist who deserves wider recognition and study.
This exciting project reveals Irene Manton’s pioneering work, foregrounding her innovative use of technology and her ability to dissolve the boundaries between art, rigorous science and cultural engagement in the male-dominated realm of mid-twentieth century scientific research.
Jane Gallagher, Director of Cultural Collections and Curatorial Practice
Cultural Collections & Galleries, University of Leeds Libraries.
Yorkshire Film Archive – £50,000
Project: Presenting Video Vera
Through vital cataloguing, research, and outreach activity, Yorkshire Film Archive at York St John University will unlock a remarkable collection made by Vera Media, a ground-breaking collective founded in Leeds by Catherine Mitchell and Al Garthwaite. In 1985, faced with almost a complete lack of women in the film and television production industry, Vera’s founders were determined to take active steps to change the face of independent film production. The innovative feminist films will be opened up through a series of curated screenings, community co-curated online exhibitions, and publication on our online catalogue.
Vera Media specialized in participatory documentaries, involving and empowering women from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds to tell their own stories through video. Forty years on, these films will continue to be a catalyst for change.
Megan McCooley, Head of Collections
Vera Media / Yorkshire Film Archive