Archiving the Arts
Introduction to the Archive Sector
Keith Sweetmore
Engagement Manager, North
The National Archives
The National Archives – who are we?
•
Based in Kew, South West London
•
UK Government Archive
o Government department
o Advise ministers on archival and information policy
o Keep the record of government
•
National Archive for England and Wales
o Over 20 million records, 974 – present day
o 600,000 documents consulted in 2011/12
o 127 million documents downloaded in 2011/12
•
Sector leader for archives in England
o Closure of MLA, 2011
o Leadership role for the archives sector
•
Who do we lead?
o Over 2,000 archives in England
2
How do we lead the archive sector?
1. Regional Engagement: individual support
o Here to support archives on a one-to-one level
o Visit, support, and advise archives
o All of sector – going beyond traditional boundaries!
2. Advice and Guidance: tailored support
o Organisational Health
Finding Funding; Service Review; Governance
o Collections
Professional standards; copyright; digitisation
o Stakeholders
Audience development; Working with volunteers.
3. Events and training: regional support
o Practical workshops exploring these issues and
accompanying formal guidance online.
4. Programming for the sector: national framework
3
1. Regional engagement
• Engagement managers with regional responsibilities:
o first point of contact for archives in the region – focusing on local
authority and university archives
o support, visit, advise, find out what’s happening on the ground
o feed into The National Archives’ work for the sector
• ‘North’ covers North East, North West and
Yorkshire and the Humber
• Priorities include support for:
o sustainability
o access to funding
o partnerships with HE sector
How to find archives: ARCHON Directory
• Search http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon by:
o name of archive
o place name
o type of archive – business, local, national, special, university
• Find contact details for:
o 459 archives in the North
o 179 archives here in the NW!
National Register of Archives
• Search http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra by:
o name of a business or organisation
o name of a person
o family name
o place name
• Find out where collections are located
o Complementary collections
• Search for poet Norman Nicholson
o Papers in Manchester, Newcastle
and Hull
Resources: things for you?
•
Archive Awareness Campaign
Flexible toolkit to promote collections
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/exploreyour-archive-toolkit.htm
•
Online support and guidance
Practical and theoretical guidance
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector
•
Case studies
Celebrating excellence and sharing experiences
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/casestudies.htm
7
Stay in touch!
Keith Sweetmore
Engagement Manager (North)
020 8876 3444 ext 2053
07899 819999
8