Thanks to Welsh Government, and their Collections Management Capital Improvements Programme, the team at Gwent Archives will spend the next 6 months transforming several of our collections processing rooms to create more effective spaces to look after our archives. £80,000 of funding will allow us to: Remodel the current digitisation room as a triage room … Continue reading Transforming Collections Care at Gwent Archives
Gwent Archives’ Disability Access Audit
Over the Summer Gwent Archives was delighted to receive an ARCW Development Grant which allowed us to engage the professional services of Trevor Palmer BEM, founder of disability awareness organisation GL100 Services Ltd. Trevor undertakes access audits of businesses and organisations with the aim of highlighting areas of improvement which support ‘disabled people’s employment, learning … Continue reading Gwent Archives’ Disability Access Audit
Digital Preservation Day 2024: Celebrating Communities
“Can’t you just scan it?” - A frequent question asked to archive staff since the dawn of time. Digitisation in archives is more than ‘just scanning’. Although each archive will be slightly different depending on their equipment, in the physical sense it depends upon having staff who can maintain high levels of concentration to achieve … Continue reading Digital Preservation Day 2024: Celebrating Communities
Preserving Our Digital Content: Celebrating Communities
This Thursday, November 7th we celebrate World Digital Preservation Day. Our first blog from National Library of Wales is about some of the challenges faced when processing hybrid multi-media archives. Layers in the Landscape: a hybrid born-digital/traditional archive at NLW An increasing amount of archival material comes to the National Library of Wales in either … Continue reading Preserving Our Digital Content: Celebrating Communities
Allotments in Wales: From Wartime Necessity to Modern Green Spaces
Wartime Allotments During the Second World War, allotments became a crucial part of life in Wales and across the UK. With food imports restricted and rationing on the way, the "Dig for Victory" campaign was launched in 1939. This initiative encouraged people to convert any available piece of land into vegetable gardens. Parks, sports fields, … Continue reading Allotments in Wales: From Wartime Necessity to Modern Green Spaces
World Post Day: Mail Art at Carmarthenshire Archives
A collection of letters and envelopes, written between Sheila Evans (an English woman living in Wales) and Sylvia Forward (a Welsh woman living in England) This year Carmarthenshire Archives received an unusual deposit. At first glance it was a collection of letters written between two friends, but on closer inspection the real gems were the … Continue reading World Post Day: Mail Art at Carmarthenshire Archives
‘Now, wherever did I put that pen?’ thought a Court Clerk in the 1850s…
Recently, an original quill pen was found at NEWA, Hawarden, pressed between the leaves of a 19th century Holywell Court plaint book, dating back to the 1850s. The volume was being re-packaged by volunteers, who were making a bespoke box in which to house the fragile original Court Book. The quill feather is pure white … Continue reading ‘Now, wherever did I put that pen?’ thought a Court Clerk in the 1850s…
Conwy Archives and the Welsh Women’s Peace Petition Project
As soon as I heard about the Welsh Women’s Peace Petition project I knew this as something Conwy Archives would want to be involved in. The Welsh Women’s Peace Petition of 1923-1924 was signed by nearly 400,000 women before being taken by a delegation to the United States (the petition asked that American women campaign … Continue reading Conwy Archives and the Welsh Women’s Peace Petition Project
Volunteering at your Local Archive Service
Emma Jones and Bleddyn Smith will be studying for a postgraduate qualification in Archives and Records Management at Aberystwyth University in September. Here they share their experiences of volunteering at the Carmarthenshire Archives. Emma Jones and Bleddyn Smith at Carmarthenshire Archives We’re excited to be writing about our work experience placement at Carmarthenshire Archives and … Continue reading Volunteering at your Local Archive Service
Conwy Archives: Buzzing about National Insect Week
If you hear buzzing, it’s because we’re entering Insect Week, a time to think about the interesting impacts insects have on our lives. Here at Conwy Archives, although we wouldn’t welcome any in as guests, we do have a better relationship to bees than you might expect. This is due to the seven-hundred-year-old Conwy Honey … Continue reading Conwy Archives: Buzzing about National Insect Week