Oldham Local Studies and Archives

“This funding helped us save the Oldham Coliseum archive and ensure this significant collection is protected for future generations.” Peter Dean, Councillor

Oldham Local Studies and Archives used a Records at Risk grant to transfer records, purchase conservation materials and catalogue their Coliseum Theatre collection which included a large number of digital records.

Oldham’s Coliseum has been through various guises since its opening in 1887. It started life as a theatre, was transformed briefly into a music hall, became a cinema in the early 1900s and then re-opened as a theatre in 1939. The building was acquired by Oldham Council in 1977.

In late 2022, Arts Council England announced the withdrawal of its annual grant, leading the board of trustees to declare that the theatre company was no longer financially viable and would be closing in March 2023. The team at Oldham Local Studies and Archives reviewed the Coliseum’s extensive collections, the majority of which were born-digital. They then worked with Coliseum staff to merge physical archive material into the existing Coliseum Archive and transfer digital records on to an external hard drive.

With funds from a Records at Risk grant, the team employed a freelance project archivist to help manage their newly acquired collection. The project archivist, Kate Wilson, used newly developed digital preservation workflows and procedures to process the born-digital records. Kate’s work contributed to refining of the new workflows and procedures, making sure that there would be a positive and continued legacy to the transfer of the Coliseum records, and ensuring that Oldham Local Studies and Archives can be confident in accessioning collections of various sizes and complexity in future.

Kate put together a Digital Asset Register for the Coliseum collection, which has informed the development of the multi-collection DAR for Oldham’s archive collections. She also created catalogue entries with image records attached to each entry, making their contents clearer for researchers using the catalogue through application of metadata.

During the transfer process, it became apparent that 30 theatre production photograph folders on the Coliseum’s hard drive were empty. All staff from the Coliseum had been made redundant but a spreadsheet with credit and copyright information, including contact details, had been transferred. Thankfully, Kate contacted the photographer who still had the photos and was able to transfer them.

Due to efforts from the local community, the Coliseum has been saved from closure, and is due to reopen in its original building in 2025 after refurbishment work is completed. The work undertaken by the Oldham team and project archivist has ensured that records spanning over 20 years from the Oldham Coliseum, which would have been lost without intervention, have been saved and made more accessible. The funding enabled the project team to catalogue this collection, acquire new digital preservation software, and contribute to upskilling staff in digital preservation, greatly improving the service’s digital resilience and its ability to process and store digital collections.