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2023
Grants awarded 2023
National Library of Scotland
In late 2022, the owner of Edinburgh’s iconic Filmhouse cinema was placed into administration. The cinema had long been the home of the Edinburgh Film Guild, the oldest continually operating film society in the work, putting their extensive archive and library at risk, including organisational records dating to the society’ foundation in 1929 and a collection of film stills and press packs dating further back to the mid-1920s. Thanks to the support of the Records at Risk fund the University of Stirling and National Library of Scotland were able to work with Guild members to quickly move the collections out of the Filmhouse and into temporary storage to allow for the orderly transfer of the film still collection to Stirling and the archival and printed book components to the Library where they are undergoing processing prior to being made available to readers.
Image credit: National Library of Scotland
Hertford College, University of Oxford
Hertford College are delighted to have been awarded a grant towards the conservation of their Magdalen Hall Buttery Books, a unique collection of butlers’ working account books. The books primarily record the meals taken by members of the Hall, but also wages paid to staff, the price of basic food items and names of individual students with their date of entry into the Hall. Dating from 1661 to 1874, these large, parchment covered volumes have suffered from frequent mishandling, a disastrous fire in 1820 and a move to new buildings which now form part of Hertford College.
In the 20th century poor storage has added to the general wear and tear sustained by the Buttery Books. Recent investment has improved their storage conditions but restricted access during the pandemic coupled with historic water damage has allowed mould to develop on many of the volumes. A major library redevelopment is underway which will see new storeroom facilities completed in summer 2025; but in the interim they urgently need to stabilise this collection.
The Buttery Books have significant social history research potential and are an invaluable source of information for local and family historians; but none of this can currently be exploited. The Records at Risk Fund grant will enable them to send the Buttery Books for immediate cleaning and treatment by conservators so that they can be safely handled and catalogued; ready for safe transfer to new storage at the end of the building project. Hertford College look forward to making them much more widely available in the future, thanks to this crucial funding.
Prof Emma Smith, Fellow Archivist, said: ‘Hertford is investing in purpose-built archival storage as part of major library redevelopment plans. Hertford College are very grateful for this grant from TNA which will ensure the long-term preservation of the Buttery Books and enable them to take their pride of place in the new facilities.’
Image credit: Hertford College
Oldham Local Studies and Archives
Oldham Local Studies and Archives are delighted to receive a Records at Risk grant to fund their project Capturing the Coliseum. The Coliseum dates back to 1885 when it began life as the Grand American Circus and Hippodrome. The theatre – known then as the Colosseum – was surrounded by almost a dozen other theatres entertaining the town’s booming population working in Oldham’s cotton mills. Up until its closure, the award-winning Coliseum was the last surviving professional producing theatre in the town.
Councillor Dean said: ‘This funding will help us save the Oldham Coliseum archive from being lost and ensure this significant collection is protected for future generations. Over the next 12 months we will use this funding to transfer records, purchase conservation materials and catalogue this collection including a large amount of digital records. This project will help us share access to Oldham’s theatrical heritage whilst we look forward to the future of a modern theatre offer in the town.’
Image credit: Oldham Local Studies and Archives (Poster advertising Aladdin, 1980)
People’s Heritage Cooperative
Since 1992 Friction Arts have created socially engaged projects and programmes internationally and have been based in Digbeth at the Edge from 2004. They take pride their approach of making work that creates a difference to people
Friction Arts have a culturally significant collection representing and reflecting individuals and communities worked with in Birmingham, including artwork, performance, as well as primary source interviews, photography and film. It’s collection Includes historically significant events and changes in their city like a series of projects lasting over four years documenting the stories of people working in the old Wholesale Market, now demolished, and other local markets located near Friction Arts.
Image credit: People’s Heritage Cooperative
2024
Grants awarded 2024
Timespan
Timespan will use their Records at Risk grant to create safe and workable storage areas that conform to Archive Service Accreditation and Spectrum Collections Trust standards, preventing the deterioration of their collection and allowing them to do more work with their items of local and national significance. The project fits well with their plans for wider museum development and work in the archives, with a particular focus on climate change, extractivism and colonialism.
Jacquie Aikten, Heritage and Digital Curator, said: ‘We’re delighted to be receiving funding from the Records at Risk fund, supporting our work to care for our collection and make it more accessible.’
Image credit: Timespan
MILIM
MILIM CIC’s document archive is part of a wider project called Jewish Leeds: Our Living History. Volunteer-led, this life-story project is rooted in documents, photographs, and oral-history-style recordings. MILIM explores Leeds Jewish history through storytelling and community connections. The document archive plays an important part in this work. For example, they use their Facebook group to ask their community to help identify documents, giving everyone a chance to take part and contribute, and they hold public engagement events so the community can connect with the collection.
MILIM needs to protect precious documents that have been donated to the project from various sources, and list and describe them so that they can create a proper catalogue. This grant will help MILIM to purchase archive-quality storage and handling equipment, train their volunteers, pay a small fee to two professional researchers, and cover a peppercorn rent at a local synagogue for a room to carry out the work.
Carol Gold, Volunteer, said: ‘This new phase of the project could lead to children, grandchildren… great-grandchildren having knowledge of what life was like for their ancestors. I think it keeps the community together, gives them a base, a history. One of the greatest gifts we can give to the next generation is knowledge of where we have come from and what we have done or fought for.’
Image credit: MILIM CIC
University of Leicester
University of Leicester Archives and Special Collections have received a Records at Risk grant to facilitate the review, appraisal and repackaging of the records of design company Casson Mann. They are working with Professor Suzanne MacLeod, from Leicester’s School of Museum Studies, who has researched and taught in this area for many years, to safeguard the archives of a number of key UK museum-design companies from around the 1980s onwards. These collections have previously been held by the companies or in commercial storage and will be an invaluable resource for researchers, students and the general public once processed.
The funding will allow University of Leicester to conduct initial reviews and listing of approximately 170 boxes of company records (which have been in commercial storage for many years), repackage them into archival packaging and begin to consider an arrangement for cataloguing the collection in due course.
Vicky Holmes, University Archivist, said: ‘We are very grateful to the Records at Risk and business archives teams at The National Archives who suggested an application to the funding programme when we first got in touch with them to request advice about a collection we knew was at risk. We are so pleased that we will be able to start processing work thanks to the grant, and in due course, make these records available to researchers.”
Suzanne MacLeod said: ‘This work is part of a larger project to create a Museum Design Archive holding the archives of the leading museum-design studios that were active in re-shaping museums from the 1970s up to the present. Casson Mann was founded in 1984 and since then has delivered numerous gallery and museum projects around the world, including the landmark British Galleries at the V&A in 2001, and recently the Musée National de la Marine in Paris in 2023. Casson Mann was a key studio active in the revolution in museum design, made possible by the introduction of Lottery funding. It is wonderful that we have been able to secure this archive for students, researchers and designers.’
Roger Mann, Director and Founder of Casson Mann said: ‘We are delighted to have found a permanent home for our design archive and grateful to The National Archives and the University of Leicester’s Archives and Special Collections and School of Museum Studies for creating this opportunity. We have worked on so many projects over the years – each one wonderful and challenging in its own way. It is rewarding to know that all the preparation, the thinking and ideas will be preserved and may be of use to future researchers.’
Image credit: University of Leicester
V21 Artspace
V21 Artspace is thrilled to announce their latest project, made possible through the generous support of The National Archives. This initiative will preserve and extend access to their archive of over 500 3D Virtual Exhibition Tours, capturing a vital part of the UK’s cultural heritage from institutions across the country. The grant enables them to secure the future of this invaluable archive, ensuring its availability for educational and public engagement, enhancing access to art and culture across diverse communities.
Joe Clark, co-founder of V21 Artspace said: “We are profoundly grateful for the support from The National Archives. This grant is not just a lifeline for our archive but a beacon of hope for the wider cultural sector. It allows us to safeguard and share our nation’s artistic achievements with a global audience. Our heartfelt thanks go to The National Archives for recognising the value of digital preservation and for their commitment to accessible cultural education.”
Image credit: V21 Artspace
Image credit: V21 Artspace
Image 1: V21 Artspace Co-founders: Joe Clark and Claire Cutts 3D scanning ‘Our Silver City, 2094’ exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary. Artwork: Céline Condorelli, Resuscitated Aural Study, 2021 Courtesy the artist, commissioned by Nottingham Contemporary.
Image 2: v21artspace.com – a free to access public library of 3D Virtual Exhibitions
National Science and Media Museum – Billie Love Historical Picture Library
Billie Love was a British actress and photographer, who specialised in theatre portraits, taking pictures of notable twentieth century film and television performers. After running several photographic studios in London, Love and her partner Anna Shepherd moved to the Isle of Wight and established a picture library business, sourcing historical photographs and illustrations. The Billie Love Historical Picture Library grew to be an esoteric collection, which combined images taken by Love with a broad variety of nineteenth and twentieth century photographs and albums, collected thematically.
In 2023, The National Science and Media Museum (NSMM) was bequeathed the entirety of Shepherd and Love’s photographic archive and library. Through the support of The National Archive’s Records at Risk grant, they will be able to commission an independent survey of this extensive collection to make recommendations which will ensure that Billie Love and Anna Shepherd’s story is preserved as part of their national photographic heritage.
Women have played important roles as photographic and media practitioners, as this wonderful collection shows so clearly. It brings together photographs by amateur and professional photographers, and brilliantly captures not only Billie Love’s own photography but also the enormous amount of work involved in developing and running a busy picture library. – Dr Charlotte Connelly – Head Curator National Science and Media Museum
Image credit: The estate of Anna Shepherd
Borthwick Institute – University of York
Funding from the Records at Risk Fund will help to safeguard the future of the archive of Ian Curteis, one of the nation’s most influential television playwrights. The project funding will enable the transfer of the archive to a specialist conservation and restoration organisation for a comprehensive programme of stabilisation and cleaning and the purchase of new archival-standard boxes. The archive contains Curteis’s draft scripts, final production scripts, plot notes, production designs, correspondence, and his personal production diaries, giving a unique insight into the creative processes at the time. It also contains files of correspondence related to the fallout from the cancellation of The Falklands Play in 1987 and subsequent campaigns around BBC impartiality.
“We are delighted to be able to support the preservation of Ian Curteis’s archive,” said Gary Brannan, Keeper of Archives and Research Collections at the University of York. ”Curteis was a major figure in British television drama, and his archive is a valuable resource for researchers interested in the history of television and drama and will make a fantastic addition to our theatre, film and television collections here at York.”
Image credit: Borthwick Institute – University of York
Scottish Women’s Institutes Collection
The Scottish Women’s Institutes are delighted to have received a Records at Risk grant, ensuring the preservation of the SWI Heritage collection, which traces its origins back to 1917. This collection is truly unique and invaluable, focusing on crucial subject areas rarely found in archival collections—such as women’s history, rural life, crafts and agricultural practices. Its exceptional subject matter holds immense significance, making it imperative to safeguard for the benefit of society.
SWI National President, Mary Burney said: “The funding allocated for preserving at-risk records has successfully secured the continued safe storage of the Scottish Women’s Institutes collection for an additional two years. The collection is securely housed on-site using roller-racking and remains readily accessible for any potential future processing work during this two-year period.”
Image credit: Scottish Women’s Institutes Collection
Southend Museums Service
Southend Museums are grateful to be the recipient of one of this year’s Records at Risk grant from the National Archives. At the time of application, their archaeological archive, including the sites archives, had two pressing issues which made the archive at risk. One regarded the unsafe condition of the material, which is stored in a shared building prone to leakages. Secondly, earlier last year, they received potential news about having to swiftly relocate from the building. Since applying, this plan was concretised and a very tight timescale was given to them for this relocation, making the grant even more urgent and necessary for them as the archive isn’t properly stored and a move would have presented them with sure loss and mixing of data and material.
“The grant couldn’t have been more timely” Ciara Phipps, director for Southend Museums has said. “the Records at Risk grant from The National Archives will allow us to successfully relocate the archive into a safer and more accessible building while preventing any loss of material, allowing greater access to our community.”
Image credit: Southend Museums Service