Midlands and East of England

Harvington Hall

Harvington Hall (HH) is working with dedicated volunteers to catalogue its three archive collections and rehouse them in archival grade storage. HH consulted several archival specialists to develop plans for accessibility, training documents and a supportive training environment for their team of volunteers.

A long wooden-panelled room with a curved ceiling with curved beams. Light is coming through a window on the right, illuminating a table and two chairs in the middle of the room.

Image credit: Harvington Hall Withdrawing Room

Nottinghamshire Archives

In 2024, Nottinghamshire Archives co-curated an ‘Escape from the Archives’ event in collaboration with their team of volunteers. The event expanded on a project backed by Heritage Open Days New Wave funding and Raleigh Cycles, where visitors were invited to solve the mysterious disappearance of Professor Raleigh and his iconic ‘Chopper’ bike in an escape room format.

A group of four adults and one boy crowded round a table, looking at a piece of paper that is being held by the person on the right of the photo. They are holding the piece of paper in their left hand, and a magnifying glass in their right hand.

Image credit: Inspire Nottinghamshire Archives

Wolverhampton City Archives (WCA)

With funding from the National Archives Resilience grant, WCA has developed a training programme for staff in the wider Customer Engagement and Registrars Service. The project aims to upskill a wider pool of staff and enable greater resilience during times of busyness, vacancies, sickness and annual leave.

Snapshot of a webpage, which has a predominantly royal purple background. 'City of Wolverhampton Council' is in the top left corner, in white text. In the middle of the page is text reading 'Why do we keep archives? Click or tap to find out more', in white text. Below this is an image of a man looking at several black and white photos laid out in front of him. Next to this is a white text box, with black text that reads 'To learn about the past helping us understand who we are and how we came to be the way we are - both as a community and as individuals.'

Image credit: Wolverhampton City Archives

Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT)

In Autumn 2024, JDHT became the first British archive and motor manufacturer to make a deposit into the Arctic World Archive in Svalbard, contributing to their “world memory project”. Combining modern digital and trusted microfilm technology, JDHT preserved digital records for perpetuity in the arctic vault. This included build records, engineering drawings, owner’s literature and advertising material, but also photographs and videos of employees’ daily lives in the factory.

Black and white photo of a factory floor, showing a few women at work in dresses and aprons, while a man in the background surveys. In the foreground, a woman appears to be hand-sewing fabrics together.

Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover & Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, catalogue reference PRI093A-001

Churchill Archives Centre

The Churchill Archives Centre celebrated its 50th Anniversary with an online exhibition curated by students at Anglia Ruskin University. The Centre also launched an online Access Portal and ran a conference exploring the history and future of the archives, alongside current research projects. On social media, the ‘50 stories for 50 years’ series highlighted stories from researchers, staff and volunteers about their time at the archives.

A montage of people posing for photos and objects, such as newspaper clippings, a cigar, a black toy cat, a piece of rubble with 'E. German Wall 1990' written on it, and a vinyl record.

Image credit: Churchill Archives Centre

Special Collections: University of Essex (UoE) in partnership with Chelmsford Museum

Chelmsford Museum and UoE co-curated Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine. This is the first exhibition to explore the life of writer John Alec (J.A.) Baker, his passionate connection to the Essex countryside and his profound impact on nature writing. Housed at UoE, the archive showcases more than 60 objects from Baker’s collection, including photographs, correspondence, unpublished manuscripts, and his birdwatching diaries.

Part of an exhibition display - a pair of binoculars are resting on a clear acrylic shelf, with a large print of a section of ordnance survey map behind it. To the left of the binoculars is an A4 lined booklet, propped up and open, with the pages written in with blue ink.

Image credit: Chris Cook/Chelmsford Museum

Suffolk Archives

Suffolk Archives engaged over 6000 people (27% first time visitors and 26% born outside the UK) through their community engagement project, Arrivals: Celebrating Migration to Suffolk. The project team worked with Volunteering Matters and Suffolk Refugee Support to engage local refugees, people seeking asylum and community groups across Suffolk. This engagement included oral history interviews, workshops, volunteer opportunities, paid work placements, a co-curated exhibition, events and a community grants programme.

An exhibition space featuring a replica living room with colourful, stylised sunflower wallpaper, a yellow wingback chair, a small replica television in the wall, a vintage record player, and a green telephone on a side table. Text on the wall is titled 'The Windrush Generation'.

Image credit: Suffolk Archives