Resilience Grants funded in 2023

New Forest Heritage Trust

The award of the Resilience Grant to the New Forest Heritage Centre has been a great boost and this recognition has brought a renewed appreciation of the value and importance of their collections to both the team and their other stakeholders.  It will remove the two major issues which currently restrict their efficient delivery of services and increase access for their customers, including the opportunity to reopen the collections to the public on a limited basis which ceased in 2019, making the collections available in the future to both the local community and their large number of visitors.

The first issue it will address is to replace the number of systems and datasets used to record the archives, museum, and library collections with one coherent finding aid. This will allow more and faster access for those inputting information and those seeking to search the catalogue and provide a new streamlined service for both their existing and newly recruited volunteers and users.

The second major long-term benefit will be the location, security, and environmental improvements in the storage of their mixed collections. The grant will enable the collections to be moved into one central secure repository with a defined workspace for the team and volunteers.  It will also enable them to repurpose a room which will be used by researchers and open to the public on a regular basis which has not been possible since 2019.  The mixed nature of their collections currently includes an amount of ephemera which will be developed into a comprehensive handling collection available to all their visitors and will be housed in this new location.

The room will also be a flexible space available to local groups, house minor exhibitions and create income through meeting room bookings. These two projects will radically improve collections care, security, access and provide new avenues for income generation. These are short/medium term projects in advance of implementation of the Master Plan for the Centre which is currently underway.  The Resilience Grant is a springboard for the success of the Heritage Centre, and they look forward to sharing their journey over the coming months.

Dig Media

Dig Media are custodians of internationally significant, culturally valuable archive material. Their assets include unique video footage of cultural giants including The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Salvador Dali among many, and a huge collection of LGBTQ+ memorabilia from the archive of Jack Henry Moore, a key 1960s counterculture figure and pioneering video artist. This project seeks to digitise heritage and develop shareable cultural content to populate their digital platforms, using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to repair, restore and enhance audio and video content. The funding from The National Archive Resilience Grant ensures the sustainability of their business so they can continue to preserve the archive for future generations, whilst exploring new ways of storytelling and engaging with heritage, including through Augmented Reality (AR). Also allowing them to provide training to young people and volunteers who will develop skills in archiving, digitising and restoration, developing the next generation of potential archivists and heritage enthusiasts.

Doncaster Council

The project will employ a consultant to work with the City of Doncaster archives on a range of activities targeting gaps in processes for managing born-digital material. By establishing new partnerships and fostering collaboration between council departments as well as supporting the existing network, South Yorkshire Archives Partnership (SYAP), the project will deliver many practical benefits to the service including training, policy, and skills development, creating a robust foundation for digital preservation.

Wolverhampton City Archives

Wolverhampton City Archives is pleased to have been awarded £3,600 in grant funding by The National Archives’ Resilience Fund. This funding will contribute towards developing a training package, which will partly be virtual and partly onsite, for staff across their Customer Engagement and Registrars Service.

The package will teach the basic fundamentals of providing effective customer services at Wolverhampton City Archives, as well as being included as part of the induction process for new members of staff.

This training means that there will be a larger pool of staff with the requisite knowledge who can be called on in times of absence and vacancies.