Community archives update, 16/5/2013
We’ve just scheduled a talk entitled Is there a book in you? A practical guide to writing and publishing your book by Dr Alison Baverstock of KingstonUniversity, for Wednesday 9 October, 2-3pm.
H C Smith, Wellington Street, Aldershot, c1905
Hampshire Record Office, HPP30/035
It would be wonderful to get a full house for what I’m sure will be a fascinating talk so do spread the word to anyone you think might be interested. The talk should be of great interest and use to community groups and individuals who are keen to publish local or family history research in the future. Whether you are a complete beginner or have experience in this area you will find useful hints and tips which will prove invaluable when planning and creating your next publication.
The charge for the talk is £6 per person, booking and payment in advance. To secure your place ring 01962 846154 to pay by card or send a cheque payable to Hampshire County Council to Hampshire Record Office, Sussex Street, Winchester, SO23 8TH
Community archives update, 9/5/2013
You may remember a few weeks ago I posted information regarding a free Community Archives and Heritage Group (CAHG) event scheduled for 16 April on the subject of Funding your community archive at Essex Record Office. Many of you expressed an interest but understandably some felt it was a bit far to travel so for those that did miss out I wanted to highlight that the PowerPoint slides used by the speakers on the day are now accessible via the CAHG website. Hopefully they will give you a flavour of the event and offer a few useful tips and links to further information regarding funding.
Community archives update, 2/5/2013
This week I visited the newly formed Hawkley Local History Group who despite holding their inaugural meeting just last month already have around twenty enthusiastic members. It was a great opportunity to meet them all and make them aware of Hampshire Record Office as well as discussing issues important to the group. They were keen to know what historic material the Record Office would accept for deposit, information about putting together exhibitions and possible publications based on their research work and advice regarding the collection of local oral history recordings. It was great to have contact with a group right from its creation, offering useful advice and guidance which hopefully will help give them a solid foundation on which to establish themselves further and thrive.
High St, Milford on Sea
Hampshire Record Office, HPP32/083
Another group which contacted us recently is Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society. They are creating a database of local records and plan to digitize archive material to be held and made available locally. The group are also involved in a number of research projects including the creation of a timeline of the village. To aid and encourage this work we have invited them to visit the Record Office for a behind the scenes tour of the building and exhibition of some of the local records held amongst our collections. We also hope they’ll be keen to get involved with our Archive Ambassador training scheme when the sessions return later in the year.
Community archives update, 19/04/2013
Last weeks Archive Ambassador training day was a great success, receiving very positive feedback from all those involved. One attendee described it as ‘enjoyable, informative and inspiring’, another said ‘I learnt lots of useful tips and information’.
Two further dates have just been put into place, Wednesday 28 August and Wednesday 13 November, both 10am-3.30pm. The programme for both days will be identical including sessions on cataloguing archive collections, the conservation and preservation of archives, care of film and sound archive collections and digital archives. To book a place on either of these two training days contact us on 01962 846154. The charge is £18 per person.
A group of prospective Archive Ambassadors receive training on archive conservation
The work of a local community group, East Meon History Group, is currently being showcased at Hampshire Record Office in the shape of an exhibition on their recent house history project. The display can be seen until 29 May during normal opening hours: Mondays-Fridays 9am-5pm (open till 7pm on Thursdays), Saturdays 9am-4pm, closed on Bank Holidays. Also this month two members of the group will be giving a free half-hour talk about their experiences during the project on Thursday 25 April, 1.15-1.45pm in the Record Office cinema.
Community archives update, 8/4/2013
Wednesday this week sees the return of our Archive Ambassador training days
This week sees the return of our Archive Ambassador events. For those unfamiliar with these training days, they include sessions on cataloguing archive collections, the conservation and preservation of archives, film and sound archive collections and digital archives. By signing up you also receive a handbook which includes further information on more specialist areas such as copyright issues, oral history recording and exhibitions and one years free membership of Hampshire Archives Trust (worth £10).
Our hope is that by training up individuals from across the county in the best practices of archival care not only will this help with specific projects that the individual might be working on such as caring for a village, society or personal archive collection but they can also act as an ambassador in their local community passing on this knowledge to others, encouraging people to deposit records with Hampshire Record Office if appropriate and making sure that any records kept locally are looked after appropriately to ensure their long term preservation.
The events have proved very popular and this weeks training day has been booked up for some time but two further dates have just been put into place, Wednesday 28 August and Wednesday 13 November, both 10am-3.30pm. The programme for both days will be identical including the following sessions:-
Keeping paper clips at bay! Effective but simple ways to help preserve collections. What are the main risks? How do we prevent these? What help is available?
Cataloguing collections What are ‘archives’? How do we set up a collection? Practical tips and advice on how to organise your material and an introduction to copyright and cataloguing collections.
Going Live Creating digital records and making collections e-accessible, session includes practical tips on how to get the best from your ‘scans’ and what type of formats to save your material on.
Care of Film and Sound Archives Guide to the basic care of film and sound material at the Wessex Film and Sound Archive
To book a place on either of these two training days contact us on 01962 846154. The charge is £18 per person.
Community archives update, 27/03/2013
Just wanted to draw your attention to a free Community Archives and Heritage Group Regional Event at Essex Record Office coming up on 16 April on the subject of Funding your community archive. If you’re interested best to book quickly as I think places will be limited.
Also a quick update on forthcoming workshops at Hampshire Record Office:-
16 Apr: Family History for Beginners: All you need to know to begin researching your family tree, 6-8pm
17 Apr: Reading old English wills and inventories: from the 16th-18th centuries, 2-4pm
24 Apr: House history for beginners: find out how to use archive sources to discover tales about the people who lived in your house, uncover lost or forgotten features, and find out where your home fits into the history of the local community or what was there before it was built, 2-4pm
7 May: Paupers and workhouses: explore records that reveal the hardships faced by past generations, and find out the background behind documents such as settlement certificates and removal orders, 2-4pm
16 May: Family History for Beginners: All you need to know to begin researching your family tree, 2-4pm
21 May: Reading Latin in historic documents: for beginners learning how to read Latin in historic documents, 2-4pm
4 Jun: House history for beginners: find out how to use archive sources to discover tales about the people who lived in your house, uncover lost or forgotten features, and find out where your home fits into the history of the local community or what was there before it was built, 2-4pm
11 Jun: Family History for Beginners: All you need to know to begin researching your family tree, 6-8pm
18 Jun: Title deeds workshop: Learn to use title deeds for the purposes of local and family history research, 10am-12noon
All sessions £10 per person, advanced booking essential, ring 01962 846154 or e-mail enquiries.archive@hants.gov.uk.
We’d love to see you there.
Community archives update, 22/03/2013
Regular followers will remember that on Friday 1 March the Heritage100 Roadshow was at Hampshire Record Office as part of a county-wide tour. Members of the public were shown how to use the Heritage 100 website and were encouraged to share their childhood memories of days out. Many brought along objects, which helped to reflect their personal histories. The session finished with a tour of the archive conservation department. Photographs of the day have now been posted on the Heritage 100 website and their is the opportunity to leave comments which could be details of your own childhood days out.
Hand-drawn and coloured map of the estate of Edward Horne at Upton Grey, surveyed by William Burgess, 1741
Hampshire Record Office, 130A05/1
Next month we will be welcoming volunteers and staff from the National Motor Museum Trust in Beaulieu for a tour of the building and an exhibition of motoring related archives. It will be a great chance to cement our links and discuss possible future joint working. I am also visiting Wherwell Local History Group to speak to them about ‘Maps as sources for local history’ which will hopefully inspire more of the group to visit us and make use of our searchroom for their research and widen their knowledge of the range of sources available in this area.
Also next month we have the latest Archive Ambassador training day. It is fully booked but there will be further sessions later in the year (dates to be confirmed) so if you would be interested in getting involved you can be added to the waiting list by contacting us on 01962 846154 or e-mail mark.pitchforth@hants.gov.uk.
