HSSRC
Case Study
John Player Advertising Archive
Prof. Liz Harvey, Prof. Chris Wrigley (History) and Dr Mark Billings (Business
School). KTP associate still to be appointed.
This Knowledge Transfer Placement (Technology Strategy Board with a contribution
from AHRC) received funding in April 2009 to work with Brewhouse Yard Museum (part
of the Museums and Galleries Service, Nottingham City Council).
The John Player advertising archive was given to the Museums and Galleries Service by Imperial
Tobacco in 2001. This unique archive contains the artefacts and commercial archive of the business
and its operations in the city of Nottingham for over a century. Such donations are extremely rare,
especially given the significance of the business to the social history of the city, and the scale and
diversity of the archive itself. It is currently in storage and is completely inaccessible to the Museum
in terms of public display and use for research, dissemination or commercial purposes.
The KT partnership will enable the following aims to be met:
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Cataloguing the archive using the latest approaches to managing and assessing large business
archives. This process will make the archive accessible for research, exhibition, loan boxes and
educational packs.
Conservation of the archive - repackaging of artefacts into conservation materials.
Mapping areas of research strength and public interest in the archive (to be undertaken during
the process of cataloguing). The archive is of particular relevance to Nottingham’s social history,
particularly to the employment history of women, and the history of advertising. This process
will enable research areas and exhibition work to be programmed following the KTP activity.
Identification of aspects of the archive which might be used for commercial exploitation by the
Museum following models established elsewhere e.g. Victoria & Albert Museum.
Raising public awareness of the existence of the archive and its social and cultural relevance to
Nottingham’s communities.
Anticipated Outcomes
1) Future interdisciplinary research
partnerships focused on the collection.
2) Research-led public and academic
dissemination of the collection through
exhibitions, publications and school
resources.