01/02/2006: NCA Conference 2006
NCA Conference 2006
Tuesday, 21st February 2006 at Austin Court, Birmingham
A report on the day, and links to the presentations and addresses, is available here.
"These are not lumps of lifeless paper but minds alive on shelves" Gibert Highet
01/02/2006: National Council on Archives: News February 2006
- The Council met on 25th January 2006 at the London Metropolitan Archives. The next meeting of the Council will be on 27th April at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh.
- Lucy Fulton presented a report on the work of the Archives Awareness Campaign. Over 540 activities were registered on the website in 2005. A short story competition for 7-11 year old children on the theme Victorian Voices involved 40 schools: the competition results will be announced in March. National media coverage, often triggered by a local archives story such as eccentric names from Cornwall Record Office, continued at a high level. Highly successful public debates had been held at the British Library and in Glasgow. A regional media training event for archivists was held in Birmingham. 2006 has two themes: spring sees a second series of "Who Do You Think You Are?" on BBC2 and a new theme for this autumn will be announced soon. Themes for 2007 (freedom and liberty) and 2008 (communities) have been agreed.
- NCA officers changed. Liz Hallam Smith stepped down as Chairman in view of her elevation to a new role at the House of Lords; Jonathan Pepler was elected in her stead as Chairman and Geoff Pick as Vice Chairman. The Council warmly thanked Liz for all her achievements for NCA and wished her well in her new post.
- The Council approved the annual review and accounts. The new strategic plan was also approved and will be published through the website. NCA has six strategic priorities over the period 2006-2009: advocacy and strategic co-ordination, marketing and publicity for archives, funding and fund raising for archives, research and development, supporting and developing community archives, and support for sector wide issues.
- The report of the Policy and Development Officer highlighted the lack of revenue and stabilization funding for film and sound archives, several of which faced imminent crisis. Some project funding is forthcoming. An NCA conference presenting evidence of the value of archives will be held on 21 February in Birmingham. Parliamentary lobbying has continued, with a briefing paper sent to MPs and Peers and an on-line petition supporting better funding for archives attracting over 2,500 signatures so far.
- The Archive Lottery Adviser's report noted the impact of the Olympics 2012. HLF will not launch a dedicated Olympics grant programme but will welcome Olympic-related projects in other programmes. TNA is planning a survey of archives of sports bodies. Giving Value and A Guide to Giving Value have been launched and widely distributed, to MPs and other stakeholders, and are available from ncaonline.org.uk.
- Community Archives Development Group (CADG) is now affiliated to NCA and is currently developing a vision for community archives. It plans to commission research into the impact of community archives to be carried out over the summer.
- Public Services Quality Group (PSQG) is leading a pilot of 3 performance indicators (on volunteers, value for money and user satisfaction) for the Comprehensive Performance Assessment in 2006. The national visitors survey will take place in February/March 2006 and a pilot of online visitors in June. The Access Standard in its final form will be published through TNA's website in the summer.
- Member bodies reported on current activities.
For further information contact Elizabeth Shepherd, e.shepherd@ucl.ac.uk.
02/01/2006: NCA letter published in The Times
A letter sent to The Times newspaper by the NCA, highlighting the financial difficulties of some UK archives, was published on Tuesday, 3rd January 2006. Here is the full letter:
Sir,
The recent publication of a National Council on Archives report highlights the current funding crisis in UK archives.
There are more than 2,000 archives across the UK, many of which struggle to find adequate resources to provide the most basic access to, and care of, their collections.
A survey carried out in the North West of England in 2003 found that 29 per cent of archival holdings are un-catalogued. As long as backlogs like this exist, these collections will remain inaccessible to the public: a great waste of archives' huge untapped potential.
For some, the word "archive" still brings to mind dusty boxes, but this perception is shifting as public interest in history, especially community and family history, continues to grow.
Archives provide essential information about people and places, relevant to the whole population, as well as an understanding of the workings of government. More and more archives are involved in outreach and education services, playing a central role in formal and community learning.
Many archives currently survive with one-off project funding, often from the Heritage Lottery Fund, but this is not enough to maintain the country's heritage. The publication of Giving Value, the National Council on Archives' report on funding, highlights specific funding blackspots. In the absence of sufficient all-round funding, the archive sector must focus on such areas as online access and engaging new audiences, such as minority ethnic groups and those under 24.
The National Council on Archives is calling for public support.
A petition is available at www.ncaonline.org.uk for those wishing to protect the nation's memory.
Ruth Savage, Policy Officer, National Council on
Archives
Peter Anderson, Chairman, Society of Archivists
Dr David Robinson, Chair, British Records
Association
Dr Christopher Kitching, Royal Historical Society
Sara Kinsey, Business Archives Council
Richard Ratcliffe, Archive Liaison Director, Federation of
Family History Societies
Jonathan Pepler, Association of Chief Archivists in Local
Government
Caroline Williams, Chair, Forum for Archives and Records
Management, Education and Research
Rob Baker, Acting Chair, Health Archives Group
01/01/2006: Sex, Lies and Archives: Archive Awareness Campaign Debate organised by National Council on Archives
Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded.
Virginia Woolf
Over 170 people attended an event entitled Sex, Lies and Archives: the search for truth at the British Library on 28th November 2005. The debate, chaired by James Naughtie, formally launched Archives Awareness Campaign 2005/6 - an annual event organised by the National Council on Archives which involves events, talks and other activities amongst 2,000 organisations to celebrate, promote and raise the profile of archives across the UK. Visit the AAC website at www.archiveawareness.com.
The panel looked at the quest for honesty and transparency in dealing with historical documents and archival materials, and also discussed the themes of the archival evidence regarding sex and lies with relation to specific historical figures.
The evening began with an extract considering issues of forgery and truth from Alan Bennett's play 'A Question of Attribution', read by actors Joanna David and Paul Bigley. This was followed by each of the panellists speaking about their individual chosen topics: Dr David Starkey spoke about (evidence of) the sex life of Henry VIII. Colin Burrow, Reader in Renaissance and Comparative Literature, Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, described literature's search for the real Shakespeare. Liza Picard, author took as her subject Dr Johnson and James Boswell - sex life in Georgian England.
Drawing on themes raised by the play reading, Norman Rosenthal, Exhibitions Secretary of the Royal Academy spoke about fakes and forgeries in the visual arts. Drawing on her experiences in writing her recent biography of Isabella Beeton, Dr Kathryn Hughes described the biographical process and the importance of archives. Bringing the discussion into the hard world of pounds, shillings and pence, Francis Russell, Deputy Chairman of Christie's described the monetary, as well as the cultural and historical, value of archives and how to distinguish the fakes and the forgeries.
These themes were explored further in the ensuing debate, during which members of the audience were given the opportunity to ask the panel questions. The evening was recorded. Subject to rights issues, it is hoped that this will be available on this website soon. Watch this space!
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