Job Description
ARCHIVIST
Purpose of role:
Managing the day to day running and strategic development of the Company’s Archive and
heritage collections, the Archivist is responsible for all aspects of collection care including
acquisitions, cataloguing, preservation and conservation, outreach and records management.
Principal objectives:
Archive
 Work towards completion of the archive catalogue (using CALM) and making it
available via the Company’s website.
 Implement appropriate preservation procedures and manage binding, conservation and
microfilming programmes.
 Manage a data entry project (including a temporary member of staff) to bring the
Company’s historical membership database up to date.
 Undertake or manage a project to improve the Company’s family trees of key
Clothworker families.
 Maintain and improve records management procedures and complete appraisal of the
Company’s semi-current records store.
 Devise and undertake outreach activities including small exhibitions, Company
publications and delivering historical tours of Clothworkers’ Hall.
 Write, review, update and present appropriate policies, guidance and progress reports.
 Answer enquiries, both internal and external, and undertake research for the Master
and Clerk.
 Index modern Committee minutes.
 Supervise and assist visiting researchers.
 Manage the Archive budget.
Heritage collections
 Assume curatorial responsibility for the Company’s heritage collections which
include books and bookbindings, paintings, tapestries and an important collection of
plate, in conjunction with the Beadle and his staff.
 Act as Secretary to the Company’s Works of Art Sub-Committee and take
responsibility for all its functions including commissioning new works of art and
artefacts, display, loans and conservation.
Specific objectives for 2013 include initiating two new bookbinding commissions,
undertaking research towards commissioning a new tapestry for the Hall, introducing
new labelling of works of art and improving storage of items not on display.
 Act as the Company’s liaison in our relationships with external bodies, in particular
with Designer Bookbinders and the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust.
Background to the Role
The Clothworkers’ Company, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, seeks an
Archivist on a full-time fixed term contract for a period of 12 months during the maternity
leave of the current incumbent.
1. The Organisation
The Clothworkers’ Company was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1528, and has evolved
from a craft guild regulating the cloth-finishing industry into a well-endowed company. The
governing body, the Court of Assistants, is supported by a team of permanent staff, led by the
Clerk and based at Clothworkers’ Hall, off Fenchurch Street in London EC3.
We are a membership organisation with a sizeable investment and property portfolio and an
affiliated grant-making foundation, The Clothworkers’ Foundation, which gives c£5m per
annum to UK registered charities working in a number of key areas.
The main objectives of the Company are to:
-
support its charitable objectives, principally through donations via The Clothworkers’
Foundation, and aim to increase our charitable giving in line with market conditions;
-
arrange for investment of the group's funds in assets designed to maximise overall return
in the long term, commensurate with an acceptable level of risk and an adequate annual
income;
-
pursue the activities normally associated with a leading City Livery Company, including
maintenance of its Hall and related activities.
The Company employs 25 staff, of which 16 are office-based. An organisation chart is
appended to this document.
2. The Archive
The Company’s Archive is located at Clothworkers’ Hall. It preserves and makes available
for research the historic records of the Company from its foundation in 1528 through to the
present day in addition to earlier estate records. These records document the Company’s
activities over time, including management of its large property portfolio, the admission and
regulation of members and apprentices, and a centuries’ long tradition of charitable giving.
In recent years, significant steps have been taken towards improving the management of the
Archive including introducing improved storage in the Archives vault, repackaging and
cataloguing collections and introducing a CALM collections management database.
In 2012, we launched an online database, The Records of London’s Livery Companies Online,
of our historic Apprenticeship and Freedom registers in partnership with the Centre for
Metropolitan History at the Institute of Historical Research (www.londonroll.org) and a
number of other City Livery Companies.
A primary objective for 2013 is to provide online access to the CALM catalogue through our
website.
The Archivist also assumes responsibility for the Company’s collections of books,
bookbindings, tapestries, paintings and plate.
We are active in commissioning new works of art and regularly lend to exhibitions. A
priority is to ensure management of these collections meets recognised standards in terms of
storage, display and cataloguing.
Further information on the Company’s history, the Archive and collections can be found at
http://www.clothworkers.co.uk/History.aspx.
3. Person Specification
The successful candidate is likely to possess all or most of the following:
Experience






Postgraduate qualification in archive management
At least 2-3 years post qualification experience
Excellent IT skills including familiarity with CALM
Experience of managing projects
Good palaeography skills (some Latin preferable)
Knowledge of Livery Companies and their archives would be advantageous but is not
essential.
Personal attributes




Able communicator, both orally and in writing
Flexible, self-motivated approach to work
Good with people at all levels
Able to manage and prioritise workload
4. Terms of Appointment
Salary of c£33,000
Defined contribution pension scheme with 10% employer contribution (4% employee)
Death in service cover of six times salary
Private medical and dental insurance (taxable benefit)
27 days annual leave (including between Christmas and New Year)
Season ticket loan for home to work travel (taxable benefit)
5. How to Apply
Please send a full cv together with a covering letter setting out how you meet the person
specification by email to stephenwhite@clothworkers.co.uk, or by post, marked ‘Private and
Confidential – Personnel Matter’ to:
Stephen White
Director of Finance and Administration
The Clothworkers’ Company
Dunster Court
Mincing Lane
London
EC3R 7AH
6. Timetable
Closing date for applications:
Friday 7th December 2012
Interviews:
Thursday 13th December 2012
Start date:
Early February 2013
ORGANISATION CHART
CLERK
Director of Finance
and Administration
ADMINISTRATION
Facilities and
Events
Manager/Beadle
Grants Manager
Archivist