For Publication

Bedford Borough Council – The Mayor of the Borough 14 October 2014

Report by the Head of Registration and Records

RECEIPT OF GRANT FROM THE EAST OF REGIONAL ARCHIVES COUNCIL

1. Executive Summary

This report advises that the East of England Regional Archives Council has awarded £500 to support identified work to catalogue the material recently deposited with the Council’s Archive Service and to improve and make available online the catalogue for the Modern School records held by the Service. The Mayor is requested to approve the acceptance of the grant on the basis that it is applied to the said project.

2. Recommendations

2.1 The Mayor is requested to consider this report and to approve the acceptance of a £500 grant from the East of England Regional Archives Council and authorise that it is applied to a project to catalogue the Harpur Trust and records in accordance with the details in this report.

3. Reasons for Recommendations

3.1 To authorise the Council to accept the grant of £500 from the East of England Regional Archives Council for the purpose of improving and completing the archive catalogue of material from the Harpur Trust and Bedford Modern School deposited with the Archives Service. This would be on the understanding that such a catalogue would be produced and the material made available to the public. Without the grant the project will not proceed.

4. Key Implications

Legal Issues

4.1 None

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Policy Issues

4.2 None

Resource Implications

4.3 The East of England Regional Archives Council identify that the grant would be ring-fenced and is only available to fund the service in the aforementioned activity.

The project will require limited (but necessary) support from existing core staff resources of the service as a contribution to the delivery of the project. There will be no other implication than a short term change of priority within the existing work of the staff concerned.

Risk Implications

4.4 Failure to accept the grant will mean that the Council is unable to make available a valuable historic resource to the public and would thereby fail to raise the profile of the Council, its Archive Service and the collections concerned with the public at large.

Environmental Implications

4.5 There are no environmental implications relating to this report

Equalities Impact

4.6 The activity has no relevance to Bedford Borough Council’s duty to promote equality of opportunity, promote good relations, promote positive attitudes and eliminate unlawful discrimination. An equality impact assessment is not needed.

5. Details

5.1 The grant application requested a grant of £750 due to competing applications the grant assessment panel of the East of England Regional Archive Council recommended a grant of £500. The intention is to proceed with the project within the group funding awarded. At £500 the project can support 60 hours of paid project staff costs (at £8.23 per hour) this work would particularly suit someone seeking to train as an Archivist. Supervision of such a person would be necessary. Two volunteers would then support the project with an estimated 180 hours of their time. The contingency for the project is the increased use of volunteers and, if necessary, additional assistance from external sources, for example use of public donations to the service. It is envisaged that the project will last approximately 12 weeks. (2)

5.2 The cataloguing work will apply modern international standards designed to make the archival material as accessible as possible.

5.3 The Harpur Trust is an educational charity in Bedford. Founded in 1566 it originally provided one small school teaching a standard classical education. An Act of Parliament in 1764 enabled the trust to establish a commercial school to provide a different sort of education to boys looking to enter the commercial world. This school later became known as Bedford Modern School. From the foundation of the Modern School the Trust grew and by the late 19th century was providing a range of education to both boys and girls. 2014 is an important year for The Trust, which intends to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the 1764 Act and the founding of the Modern School.

5.4 The Council’s Archive Service has held a large quantity of material from The Trust since the early 1970s. It also holds material from two of the schools associated with The Trust – Bedford Modern School, deposited in 1984, and Dame Alice Harpur School (originally called the Girl’s Modern School), deposited in 2009.

5.5 In 2005 The Harpur Trust office deposited nine further boxes of material to be added to its collection. On receipt, the 2005 deposit was sorted and appraised and minor parts catalogued. However, the majority of the 2005 deposit has not been catalogued to date.

5.6 The Bedford Modern School Catalogue was produced by a master and pupils at the Modern School in the 1970s, prior to deposit of the material with the Archives Service. This catalogue is in need of refinement to improve, particularly item level descriptions.

6. Summary of Consultations And Outcome

6.1 The following Council units or Officers and/or other organisations have been consulted in preparing this report:

Chief Executive Assistant Chief Executive (Governance) Principal Accountant (Financial Planning)

6.2 No adverse comments have been received.

7. Ward Councillor Views

7.1 Not applicable.

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Report Contact Officer: Pamela Birch, Service Manager (Archives Records) Email: [email protected]: Telephone (01234) 228908

File Reference: RA/9/1

Previous Relevant Minutes: None

Background Papers: None

Appendices: None.

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