UNDER THE Summer MAGNIFYING GLASS Internships Many thanks to our hard work- Amongst the papers of Sir John Morris-Jones, catalogued last Summer, there are many items of a personal nature that reflect ing interns this Summer who every day family life and relationships. In particular, there is a have made it possible for the letter written by Morris Jones, father of John Morris-Jones to his sister in 1874, describing the days after the birth of twins, Lydia Archives and Special Collec- NEWS and Henry, to his wife Betsan. tions to improve access to its collections on various levels— Translation of Morris Jones’ letter Morris Jones and his wife, Elizabeth FROM THE ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS to his sister Roberts were shopkeepers. John through listing, cataloguing and Morris-Jones was their eldest son digitisation . who was born in Trefor, Anglesey in Library and Archives Service : Number 6 October 2017 Dear Sister 1864. He would have been 10 years Bethan Lloyd Dobson worked at We received a line from you old when this letter was written and 2017 by then the family had moved to the Archives and produced a today and we were glad to un- derstand that you are well. Llanfair P.G. catalogue of the Cynan The Archives and Special Collections played a prominent part in Bangor Papers Betsan and the little babies con- John Morris-Jones attended Friars University’s Eisteddfod programme this year at Bodedern. tinue to get on very well. School, Bangor and Christ College, Daisy Wrightson was based in With financial assistance from the Widening Access Department we were The little girl became unwell Sat- Brecon before gaining a degree in the History of the Book able to transport an exhibition case to the Eisteddfod site in order to dis- urday night and we baptised her Mathematics at Jesus College, on Sunday in case something Oxford. Research Centre and digitized play two manuscripts during the Friday, which is traditionally the day of the chairing of the bard. happened. He later became Professor of Welsh some of the illustrations in the The little girl is called Lydia Jane at the University of North “Tours of Wales” by Pennant. We launched the small exhibition with the help of the actors Huw Garmon and the boy is named Henry – Bangor. and Judith Humphreys, Professor Gerwyn Wiliams and the nephew of Henry Parry Jones according to Huw Howchin worked at the Hedd Wyn, Gerald Williams. Johni and William. Normal Site arranging and Betsan expects that you will The documents succeeded in drawing many visitors to the Bangor Univer- listing the Tony Jones come and visit her before long. stiy stall and gave many visitors the rare opportunity to see original manu- She regrets that she cannot come Collection. scripts in an unusual setting. and see you at present. Members of the Archives and Special Collections staff were present The children are all throughout the day to answer questions about Hedd Wyn but also about sleeping the night wonderfully. our other wonderful collections. Betsan has had some pain with her breasts, up until Sunday, but they have begun to suck very STATISTICS FOR 2016-2017 well today and yesterday. Yours in haste, This year has seen a dramatic increase to over 1100 in the number of documents consulted by our researchers. Morris Jones

Llanfair P.G. In addition, the number of enquiries answered by the service doubled to over 850! Anglesey Total number of individual visits 1313 7 October 1874 Number of documents produced 6907

Bethan Lloyd Dobson Number of rare books produced 1056 JMJ / 155B A Volunteer’s perspective by Claudia Williams VISITS TO THE I began volunteering at the Archives in February ARCHIVES NEW 2016 on a project in collaboration with ISWE (Institute of the Study of Welsh Estates), which was designed to create a list of certain types of documents held within the estate collections here. COLLECTIONS As my interest in archiving grew, the number of hours I volunteered increased. After a few months of working on the ISWE project, I undertook other Two new collections are now available for tasks such as inputting catalogue data into the archive database CALM so that it would show in consultation by our the online catalogue. Learning to use CALM was an important skill to gain as this database is used readers. in all archives. CYNAN PAPERS—a The ANNUAL LECTURE of the Archives and I have also had the chance to work on a huge pro- ject cataloguing the Penrhyn Sugar and Slate col- collection of nearly 300 Special Collections this year will be held on lection, helping to finish it by renumbering docu- A group of sixth form the 24th of November 2017 at Pontio. ments with their new catalogue number and mak- students from Ysgol Gyfun items purchased in The guest speaker will be the broadcaster, ing sure each item in the collection of over 3500 Llangefni visited the Library 2016 by the University. items has been packaged and stored correctly. Re- and Archives last July. Huw Edwards and the lecture will be cently, along with other volunteers, I completed a Many thanks to Mrs Julie An important addition delivered in Welsh on the subject of the one-day course (organised by People’s Collection early history of the Welsh chapels in London. Wales on behalf of the National Library of Wales) Williams for organising the to the other material on digitisation of archive material and learned how visit which gave potential If you wish to attend, please book you free to correctly use a flatbed scanner. students an introduction to that we hold relating to ticket at Pontio’s ticket office. Everything that I have learned here will aid me the fantastic resources avail- Cynan—enhancing our greatly when I begin my Masters in Archives and able at Bangor. Records Management at the University of Liverpool understanding of the PRESERVING THE PENRHOS next month, and I am so grateful to all of the Ar- chive staff for everything that they have taught me We also took part in the life and work of the over the past year and a half. They are a friendly COLLECTION FOR FUTURE CADW Open Doors event and dedicated team and I will miss them all. poet—in particular, his GENERATIONS again this year and wel-

comed visitors on Saturday, work as a censor of Over the Summer closure period, important Claudia Williams being presented with a Cynan as of the 6th of September to view preservation work took place in the Archive Volunteering Certificate by Ann Hughes, plays and his love of all National Eisteddfod our collections. strong room, with the assistance of the Archives Officer things “royal”. National Conservation Service. NANNEY WILLIAMS PAPERS We were joined by 2 trainee conservators, studying in London, who undertook the work A new collection, placed on deposit at the Archives of cleaning and re-packaging and re-boxing by Philip Nanney Williams in 2017. Philip and his one of our most important estate wife have catalogued this group of papers in great collection—the Penrhos Papers. During the detail and published a sumptuous book based on process, they also recorded the physical condition of the documents and made a note their work “Nannau : A Rich tapestry of Welsh of any items that needed conserving. history”. Similar work will soon commence on the The collection consists mostly of correspondence rare book collection and in the long term it is dating from the 19th and 20th centuries and hoped that we will be able to tackle the should be consulted in conjunction with the other conservation needs of our other archival Heledd Haf Williams, Archives Assistant collections. being accepted as a member of the Nannau estate papers which have been held by Gorsedd of the National Eisteddfod the Unviersity since 1928.