BT Digital Archives
Coventry University, BT plc and
The National Archives
Digitisation and Archives
JISC:
championing innovation in, & use of, digital technologies on behalf
of UK education & research
Project funding: e-Content Capital Programme
Coventry University:
research & exploitation - in digital humanities/archiving, digital
technology for learning & developing skills
BT:
‘world-class’ archive – chronological span, subject scope,
national/international heritage
TNA:
leading expertise in curation/preservation & digitisation
The world’s oldest communications
company
A story that stretches from the birth of the electric
telegraph in the 1830s to the explosion of the internet
and the rise of competition
Our unique and nationally significant collection charts
the development of communications services in the UK
Our collection illustrates the leading role the UK,
BT and its predecessors played in the progress of
communications technology and its influence on society
BT Archives
• Private telegraph and telephone
companies
• Post Office telecommunications
• BT plc
• Historical phone books
• Photographic - c500,000 images
• Film - over 2000 titles
• Advertising - 30,000 separate pieces
• Reference library
• Artefacts
What to digitise?
• Breadth and depth (and pretty stuff)
• HE focus (and ‘general public’)
photographs
Category A:
93,020 scans
research
reports
Category B:
182,757 scans
subject/ registry
files
Category C:
232,378 scans
Selection criteria
• technology milestones
• national events
• international reach
• Government policy
• industrial relations
• diversity
• iconic products & services
Scans breakdown by category
Category A
Original
Publicity series
Engineering series (end of 1969)
Lecture series
Training School
Research
Indexes
Actual
8,200
76,390
1440
650
8859
0
95,539
8,495
37,122
0
0
0
6,632
52,249
43,290 less than estimate
Category B
Original
Actual
Research reports
72,242
124,176
Radio research reports
21,788
94,030
58,581
182,757
Category C
Category C files
Finding nos. @ 500 pages each
Original
Actual
261,740
232,378
523
484
561
Total Category A+B+C
451,309
467,384
Category A : Photographic images
Original
Final
Engineering photographs, c1909-1991
TCB 417
76,390 negs
38,956 negs
Publicity photographs, 1934-1975
TCB 473
8,200 negs
8,488 negs
Training School photographs, 1930s-1950s
TCB 546
650 negs
0 negs
Lecture series photographs, 1934-1955
TCB 475
1,440 negs
0 negs
Research photographs, 1950s-1989
TCB 638
8,859 negs
0 negs
0 nrgs
6632
95,359 neg
54,076 negs
Indexes
Total
Category B : Research reports
PO Engineering Dept research reports, memoranda and
papers, 1878-1969
TCB
74,242 pages
124,176 pages
PO Telecommunications research reports, memoranda
and papers, 1969-1981
TCC
21,788 pages
65,945 pages
96,030 pages
190,121 pages
Total
Category C : Registered minuted policy & correspondence files, 1867 – 1982
Original
Actual
Telecommunications Development Directorate (TDD), 1947 - 1979
190 files
47 files
Network Planning Directorate (NPD), 1966-1979
209 files
49 files
Managing Director, Telecommunications (TH/DM series),
1162 files
39 files
Minuted files (England & Wales), 1867 – 1961 (Post 30)
1000 files
133 files
35 files
5 files
138 files
8 files
1000 files
81 files
Minuted and decentralised registry files, 1876 – 1981 (Post 121)
174 files
41 files
Minuted and decentralised registry files, 1882 – 1969 (Post 122)
227 files
59 files
Minuted files, telecommunications, 1895 – 1978 (TCB 2)
498 files
96 files
Marconi / GPO correspondence, 1896 - 1909 (TCB 273)
0
2 files
BT Central Registry files, 1980-1984
0
1 file
4633 files
561 files
Minuted files (Ireland), 1870 – 1961 (Post 31)
Minuted files (Scotland), 1869 – 1951 (Post 32)
Minuted files (UK), 1890 – 1968 (Post 33)
Total
Learning points
• Language
- file? archive? digital archive?
• Sampling
- conservation
- number of pages
• Counting
- finding number? box? scans?
- timesheets
•
•
•
•
Timescales
Uncatalogued material
Expect the unexpected
Appetite for archives
www.bt.com/btdigitalarchives