News from #CrowdCymru – digital volunteering with the archives of Wales
Hello everyone, it’s Jen here, #CrowdCymru Digital Volunteering Project Officer with lots of news to share!
Project extension and a new face! Firstly, I am delighted to share that Welsh Government has extended our funding until 31 October 2026, giving us another seven months of transcribing documents and tagging images from our nine partner organisations to make them more accessible for research. This new funding also heralds a new member of staff in the form of a second Project Officer to work alongside myself, strengthening our support to our wonderful volunteers. So, we proudly welcome our new officer, Steph Roberts [pictured below], whose background is in museums, mostly working with Art collections and always with an emphasis on people.
Steph tells us: was at Amgueddfa Cymru for 16 years (where I first met Jen) as a Curator, and Learning and Engagement Officer. More recently I worked on Art UK’s murals digitisation project, which also involved supporting a team of volunteers. I got so into it I ended up a volunteer myself!
I’m interested in how collections can be used to better understand our lived experiences, particularly intersectional and marginalised perspectives: whether that’s working class, women’s, queer, colonial, disabled or Global Majority stories and experiences.
Steph has now begun her new role and let me tell you, her appointment is timely indeed, as we’ve recently had a flurry of new volunteers joining our ranks; at last count, we now have 121 volunteers with new people joining us from India and Denmark!
Collections news
Work on most of the collections highlighted in my previous post is now complete and our volunteers have just begun work on a brand new collection, the first from Conwy Archives! This is a large collection [just under 600 letters] of personal correspondence by the Atkinson family, mostly to and from Edgar Atkinson during World War One whilst he was serving as a Company Quartermaster Sergeant (CQMS) in 17th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers (R.W.F.), mostly in France. He corresponded with various members of his family, particularly, his brother Norman [the postcard below is from Norman to his parents]. This wonderful collection is full of fascinating insights into the brother’s lives in France and Palestine during World War One and also tells us a lot about their parents and sister at home in Llandudno, North Wales.
Atkinson Collection [Conwy Archives]
Conwy Archives will also be submitting a second collection very soon – this is a collection of early 1900s Rates Books. Rates were local taxes, with the money collected used for the upkeep of churches, water supply, gaols, roads, hospitals, care of the poor etc. The books are arranged by street, and the images can be used to trace house histories and learn the names of previous generations who lived in your home along with being an excellent census substitute and fascinating window into civic life. Volunteers will be asked to enter data such as name of the occupier, name of the owner, the address, the type of property and the year.
Conway Rates Book [Conwy Archives]
Another project partner, Carmarthenshire Archives, will also soon be submitting their first collection – Rural Housing Inspection Reports from 1945 for Carmarthenshire. Between 1945 and the early post-war years, rural housing inspections in Wales were documented in the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) Annual Reports at the Rural District Council level. These reports addressed sanitation, housing conditions, and water supplies, from individual housing inspection cards.
Carmarthenshire Housing Reports [Carmarthenshire Archives]
The images above give an example of the front and back views of one of the cards. On the front we begin with the most basic information such as date of inspection, name of inspector, name of tenant, occupation, type, age, and number of occupiers in the house. Then we move on to household details such as water supply, washing accommodation, cooking facilities, larder accommodation, sanitary accommodation, refuse disposal and drainage. On the reverse of the card, we continue with external conditions covering gardens, walls, roofs, and chimneys, then internal conditions covering walls, ceilings, fireplace, lighting, ventilation, and staircases. The information contained in the cards provide a vivid picture of living conditions in the 1940s and will, I am sure, prompt interesting and lively discussion.
Volunteer Feedback Survey: the results are IN!
In addition to providing stimulating material to keep our volunteers engaged we are also continuously looking to improve our effectiveness to improve the volunteer experience. One of the methods we use is to regularly circulate a feedback survey, the most recent one sent to our volunteers in February. We were very happy with the responses, 96% reported learning new skills, 91% reported increased IT confidence and 96% indicated an improvement in their sense of wellbeing. Volunteers frequently praised the project’s flexibility, meaningful archival insights, and strong support provided by the Project team. Survey responses highlighted the project as a supportive, engaging and rewarding volunteer initiative, enjoyable, and intellectually stimulating, with an emphasis on how meaningful it feels to contribute to preserving Welsh heritage as a team. The project clearly fosters skills development, boosts digital confidence, and enhances wellbeing for most participants. The survey paints a picture of a thriving and motivated volunteer community whose contributions meaningfully support the goals of Crowd Cymru and Welsh Government.
Read all about it!
After managing and supporting the volunteers, my next core job is to further promote the project and this I do partly via social media. Over the last few months, I’ve posted images from the collections onto our Bluesky account to mark events such as Valentines Day, St Davids Day, Girls and Women In Sports Day and International Women’s Day. March was Women’s History Month and we posted using Explore Your Archive monthly hashtags. We also guest posted on the Archives & Records Association Blog and were featured in the ARC Members Magazine. And finally, we were featured as one of the “50 websites to watch in 2026” in the Jan/Feb 2026 of, Who Do You Think You Are Magazine!
Access and ignite!
We are now a growing partnership of 9 institutions bursting with fascinating collections to share with Wales and the world and our core aim to amplify access and ignite new research. To achieve this, we have embarked on an exciting new partnership with People’s Collection Wales, the national digital archive dedicated to preserving and sharing the diverse histories of Wales. This is the perfect platform to celebrate and give access to both the digital collections and the invaluable, essential data provided by our volunteers; a one-stop-shop bringing together everything! Some of our earliest collections will be uploaded first including firm favourites like Glamorgan Archives’ Cardiff Dockland Community Photographs and Cardiff University Special Collections & Archives’ Priscilla Scott-Ellis Diaries. However, the work has begun with three collections of personal correspondence concerning WWI poet, Edward Thomas from the archives held by the National Library Wales and Cardiff University as transcribed by our volunteers. These uploads will need a bit of checking and labelling, but to see them all as they are, just enter “Edward Thomas” into the search box on the People’s Collection Wales homepage. You can view an example here.
If you’d like to join our vibrant team of Crowd Cymru volunteers, or, if you’re already part of a community/group that may be interested, please do get in touch with Steph and myself. We’d be happy to come and talk to you about the project and we can hold training sessions either online or in person.
Jennifer Evans
Digital Volunteering Project Officer / Email: CrowdCymru@gwentarchives.gov.uk
This article by Jennifer Evans is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
