Annual Report
2009-2010 Cumbria Archive Service
Contents
3 Introduction
3 Building pride in Cumbria
4 Cumbria’s Challenge
6 Making a Difference to Local People
8 Supporting Stronger Communities
10 Improving the life chances and well being of young people
11 Better Council services
12 Conclusion
Appendices
13 A: Acknowledgements
15 B: Key accessions 2009-2010
17 C: Performance
2 Annual Report 2009-2010
Introduction
Cumbria Archive Service is renowned for its unique collection of over 10 miles of historic documents showcasing all aspects of the historical, social, political and economic evolution of our county. Our strongrooms are full of priceless treasures, many of which illuminate regional, national and international history too. From Gospatrick’s charter of 1070 to the records of today’s local authorities and businesses, the Archive Service preserves paper and parchment, maps and drawings, films and photographs, and electronic records – all for the benefit of people now and in the future.
More than that, through our Records Management Service, we ensure that the County Council has access to one of its most vital assets – information – to support its own decision-making and all aspects of its service delivery. The provision of an authentic and comprehensive public record is one of the key benefits that the Archive Service delivers to the citizens of Cumbria.
This report illustrates how the Archive Service has supported Cumbria County Council’s aims and objectives throughout 2009-2010, and how it is responding to the 2009 government policy on archives – Archives for the 21 st Century – to modernise its services to keep pace with evolving changes and challenges. Our collections date back nearly 1000 years, but the means of preserving them and making them accessible depend increasingly on modern technology and scientific research developments. The ease with which we can create digital information today obscures the difficulty of ensuring that it survives and is readable tomorrow – and delivering the long term solution to this conundrum is the key national challenge for archive services in the 21 st century.
Building Pride in Cumbria
The Archive Service has a huge range of historic documents for every village and town in Cumbria over the centuries. It is natural to want to understand more about the place where you live, and many people use the archives for this reason. In doing so, they gain more understanding about their community and what makes it distinctive and special.
Often, people undertake this kind of research as a group activity. This strengthens the sense of community and helps people from diverse backgrounds work together, as feedback from a group in Frizington described – “they focused on one thing so they overcame any prejudices they may have had about whether somebody was cleverer than them, or were in-comers or off-comers - in the end the group forged ahead and produced a wonderful book about their village”.
The key development project for Cumbria Archive Service this year has been the construction of the new archives centre at Petteril Bank in Carlisle in a ward which is one of the 10% most deprived in the country. This project has restored the 19 th century mansion house, Lady Gillford’s House as part of a modern extension. It was a real pleasure for us in October to show some local people round the development, hear their memories about the place, and see how thrilled they were that a prized building was being made accessible again for their community to use. 3
Cumbria Archive Service
2009 2010
2009 2010
Archives are significant in building pride in local communities and in the county of Cumbria.
Cumbria’s challenge
The size of the county (the second largest in England) and its rural nature, combined with a small population of just under 500,000 provides particular challenges to delivering public services and enabling access. In the context of government objectives to reduce the repayment costs of public borrowing, and a Cumbrian economy that has lagged behind the rest of the UK, value for money of service delivery is critical.
The Archive Service is responsive to these characteristics. It operates from four public record offices to make sure that local people have access to local archives. This makes Cumbria the 6 th most successful English county in attracting visitors to use archives and leads to very high levels of local use (72% of visitors in 2009-2010 lived in Cumbria). The connection and affinity local people feel with their local record office has encouraged archive owners to deposit their collections, resulting in a particularly rich variety of archives covering all parts of the county.
We helped to respond to the effects of the flooding in November 2009. Our Conservation Team and their volunteers undertook the repair of many damaged photographs and records, helping businesses to maintain continuity, and preserving some valuable personal possessions for people whose homes had been flooded. 4
Annual Report 2009-2010
The Archive Service is a relatively low-cost, front-line service, accounting for only 0.12% of Cumbria County Council’s budget. It covered 12% of its operating costs in 2009-2010 through income generation, principally through records management. The Service achieves a lot with a small budget. It strengthens community identities, provides stimulating educational benefits for young people and adults, and contributes to economic regeneration. The value the public places on the Archive Service is demonstrated by the 98% public satisfaction rating in the national, independently run, Survey of Visitors to British Archives 2009 .
Where possible, we fund our activities and service development through grants, external funding and self-financing services. During 2009-2010, we secured a grant of £262,000 from BNFL Legacy Trust to create an oral history archive relating to the impact of Sellafield on West Cumbria. The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council provided £3,200 to fund an educational programme, Their Past Your Future . The Lowther Estate continued to fund an archivist to catalogue the archive of the Earl of Lonsdale. Important manorial records relating to Ravenstonedale and Winton (1556-1839) were purchased (£7,300) for Cumbria Record Office (Kendal) thanks to considerable assistance from the Friends of the National Libraries and a number of local bodies.
We also sell our expertise to other organisations. The Conservators provided several days training to the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, ensuring the preservation of thousands of volumes of early twentieth century magnetograms needed for contemporary research into earthquake warning systems.
Service users increasingly expect electronic service delivery, so we have introduced a service for the digitisation of documents this year – but on a self-financing basis. We have many years experience of running self-financing services, principally the Historical Research Service which enables members of the public to employ one of our specially trained researchers. Self financing services allow us to respond to changing user demands and expectations by providing new services without increasing the costs of core service provision.
The Archive Service contributes to the local economy and economic regeneration. The construction of the new archives centre in Carlisle is largely funded by a £4.8m grant from Heritage Lottery Fund, and this project has employed many local sub-contractors throughout the year during a time of recession. The Survey of Visitors to British Archives (2009) revealed that 70% of our visitors came to the archives as the main purpose of their visit, but 36% also visited other places of interest in the area, 75% used local shops and services, 46% ate out locally, and 26% paid for overnight accommodation.
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Making a Difference to Local People
Archives are inspiring. The thrill of touching and reading original documents that speak across the years is intense, and many people visit archives personally to enjoy and learn from that experience.
Archives are used by wide audiences for different reasons, achieving varied benefits for localities and individual people. There are rich learning outcomes for all users through increased knowledge and understanding, new skills and confidence, changed attitudes and values, and above all, a sense of self achievement. Visitors have told us:-
• “I needed something to get my brain going” • “I didn’t know I could do that” • “It’s my question and I found the answer to it”. • “You can actually make a eureka moment”.
Whatever ethnic, social or cultural background people originate from, they want to understand their own personal identity. In 2009-10, 53% of our visitors investigated their own family history. This can have a very personal and significant impact on people, as Furness U3A told us:
"It has been a real revelation to see the extent of material you hold in the Archives...Thank you so very much for all that you have done, not least for firing up so many of us to return and engage on our personal journeys of exploration and discovery through the material
you hold."
We support stimulating life-long learning through the advice and support we provide to visiting researchers, as well as answering queries via telephone, email and our website. We provide in- depth specialist research through the Historical Research Service to people all over the world. During 2009-10 we answered or supported people to research a total of 73,109 enquiries, using approximately 203,000 original and copy sources. Amongst the enquiries we assisted with this year were: -
• The history of Whitehaven’s association with Danish fishermen during World War II and afterwards • Buses in Furness in the 1920s • Basque refugee children in Ambleside in 1937 • Kendal criminal (was this the ‘Outlaw Josie Wales’?) John Wales: his life story reads like a novel. Having been gaoled once already and escaped from Appleby Gaol, he was transported to Australia leaving behind an illegitimate daughter (1829) • Thurston Outdoor Education Centre on Coniston Water, formerly Coniston Bank: the house was reputedly visited by Beatrix Potter and Field Marshal Montgomery, and has connections to Ruskin via the Severn family.
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Annual Report 2009-2010
We also use archives for television and radio programmes, newspaper articles and books, and web-based publishing, and these activities showcase Cumbria to regional, national and international audiences. Amongst our media activities this year we contributed to a BBC Look North regional piece on “100 objects that changed the world” using early maps of Whitehaven, and a BBC Radio Cumbria feature on the outbreak of war in 1939. The BBCs Who Do You Think You Are website featured our Local History Day activities, including Dr Alan Crosby’s Filth, squalor and early death: public health and housing in Victorian West Cumbria. Dr David Starkey, “the nation’s favourite Tudor expert”, visited the Kendal Record Office to see letters patent of Henry VIII dated 1543 relating to the Crackenthorpe family of Newbiggin. Dr Starkey described the manuscript as one of the highest quality illuminated documents of the period.
The document was subsequently exhibited at Tullie House Museum in Carlisle to celebrate the 500 th anniversary of the accession of Henry VIII and was seen by over 2,000 visitors.
Underpinning all our work to support access to archives are activities to add to the collections, preserve and repair them where necessary, and catalogue them so that people know what we have and can understand their significance. Archives of importance continue to be handed over to the Archive Service. Further details about this year’s outstanding accessions are given in Appendix B.
Archivists catalogue electronically to give instant access to an increasing range of documents via our Dr David Starkey with Assistant County Archivist, Peter Eyre on-line catalogue (CASCAT): - http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives/Online_catalogues/default.asp Visitors can plan their research in much more detail and arrive much better prepared, knowing exactly what they would like to study. For those researchers who find it more convenient to research from afar, they can contact us and request copies to be made for their use at home or work.
Overall, with new cataloguing and data import, 58,654 descriptions of individual documents were added to the on-line catalogue this year. The number of catalogue entries available on-line has more than doubled since the launch of our on-line catalogue in February 2008 and now stands at 226,000 descriptions.
The provision of public access computers in the Record Offices was piloted in Whitehaven this year, and proved successful, although roll-out to the other 3 offices had to be postponed because of budgetary pressures. The newly introduced digitisation service provided digital images of archives for clients in New Zealand, Canada, Australia and Norway, as well as the UK.
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On-line cataloguing and digitisation of archives and other aspects of electronic service delivery offer a cost-effective, 24/7 approach to delivering access to archives, and we have a key aim to develop these kinds of service further as finances permit.
Volunteers now make a significant contribution to supporting our delivery of the archive service, especially in the area of preservation. We have had 49 people volunteering regularly this year. The Conservation Laboratory in Carlisle runs 10 volunteer sessions a week creating specialised packaging to protect precious documents, and creating preservation copies of photographs.
Our Volunteers’ biggest success story is the support given to preparing for the move to the new Carlisle Archives Centre. The work they have done to clean, package and protect collections ready for the transfer Eric Johnson, a very dedicated volunteer in Barrow has raised the value of £83,657 part-funding contribution to the grant from Heritage Lottery Fund.
As well as helping us deliver better services, volunteers also enjoy and learn from the experience of working with us. Some of them have told us:
• “I regard this as my hobby, it makes me feel I am contributing to our society” (35 year old residential night care worker) • “I need to do this for my CV but I really like doing it too” (18 year old looking for work) • “It gives me something to do, I could come in full time if you want!” (70+ year old retired agricultural worker) • “Its nice to be back in the quiet and just concentrate on one thing” (late 40s with bi-polar disorder)
Supporting Stronger Communities
Archives help individual people to find out about, understand and appreciate their local community. The Archive Service is currently also delivering a number of projects which promote community working or deliver benefits to particular communities.
Chief amongst these is the construction of the new Archives Centre for Carlisle. The Council set out to replace the existing Record Office in Carlisle Castle in 2002 because the accommodation was no longer good enough to retain its status of being a Place of Deposit for central government records under the Public Records Act (1958). After a lengthy search, the site of Lady Gillford’s House at Petteril Bank in south Carlisle emerged as the best place to build a new archives centre. 8
Annual Report 2009-2010
Its size enabled the construction of a facility large enough to cope with many years growth, and it had good public transport and road links. Most exciting were the opportunities to restore a 19 th century mansion house, then derelict and on English Heritage’s At Risk Register , and to develop a project that also supported local community needs.
As part of preparing a bid to Heritage Lottery Fund, we carried out consultation with local residents and community groups to identify what they would like to see delivered in their community. An extensive wish-list was compiled, including strong themes around access to culture of all sorts, and educational and learning opportunities, which matched the broader context of the Archive Service’s aims and objectives. The idea emerged of developing a cultural community centre as an integral part of the new archives centre, using the restored Lady Gillford’s House. Heritage Lottery Fund were impressed with the influence local people had had in shaping the project, one reason for success in obtaining a £4.8m grant towards the development.
Construction started in January 2009 and is due to be completed in spring 2010, and to open in early 2011. The new archives centre will deliver state of the art storage facilities for archives, space to add to collections, first class public access and educational facilities, and a much improved archive service for the north-east part of Cumbria. In addition, it will also restore Lady Gillford’s House and gardens to their former glory for the use of local people. The House will offer an interesting place to visit in its own right, as well as an interpretative centre. Exhibitions of archives and heritage, and a local access point to the film collections of the North West Film Archive in Manchester should help to extend audiences for archives. Community Archive facilities will be provided, enabling the local community to create and preserve their own collective archive of current and recent activities and memories.
Lady Gillford’s House 2009. . . and 2010
In May 2009, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd Legacy Fund awarded the Archive Service a grant of £262,000 to run the Sellafield Stories Oral History Project. This is an exciting venture that has already attracted a good deal of media and local attention. The project team are recording the stories and experiences of a wide spectrum of people whose lives have been touched by Sellafield. This provides an outstanding opportunity to give a voice to those who otherwise would not be heard, in a way that celebrates local people and their achievements, recognises the impact of Sellafield but acknowledges openly uncomfortable issues surrounding it. We are recording the recollections and views of employees and retired workers, local residents, and people without a direct connection but who felt the influence of Sellafield in their lives. 9
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The end result will be a lively but objective picture of an institution that has become part of the fabric of so many West Cumbrian lives. The collected recordings will create a relevant, local and permanent archive that will speak down the years and present a unique historical record for future generations. This will be housed at Whitehaven Record Office and Local Studies Library, and available for anyone to listen to. Future outcomes will include a website, a book by Hunter Davies, a compilation CD, and a travelling exhibition.
Archives offer a stimulating and relevant way for local communities to make sure they keep an authoritative record of their own activities, and participate fully in the Oral history interviewers, working on the social and educational benefits which an active involvement with Sellafield Stories project heritage can bring.
Improving the life chances and well being of young people
Archivists and Conservators work with schools to make use of archives as an inspiration for creative writing and activities, and to support the history, numeracy, science, geography, and citizenship curricula. Children of primary school age are particularly enthused by using archives and visiting the Record Offices. This year we worked with 58 school groups and over 1,300 pupils. We also offer work experience placements for A-level students and new graduates helping to prepare them for the workplace and support them to gain employment. Examples of some school and inter- generational projects, most of which were financed by external funding, illustrate the potential of what Cumbrian archives have to offer young people. Junior School enjoying a visit to Whitehaven Record Office Collaboration with teacher training institutions forms an important aspect of our education work. This gives us an opportunity to showcase the potential of archives in supporting the National Curriculum and lifelong learning to new teachers at the start of their careers. With this in mind, a visit was made to the University of Cumbria, Ambleside to talk to students about archive sources relating to Ambleside and this was followed up by three visits to the Kendal Record Office, involving 44 Initial Teaching Experience students.
Staff from Whitehaven introduced 25 trainee teachers to archive services for schools as part of the Teacher Experience Familiarisation Day at Senhouse Museum in Maryport. Cumbria Primary Teacher Training Course is an innovative school-based one-year course set up by a consortium of schools in the Western Lakes and the Solway Coast who were anxious to contribute towards Initial Teacher Training but were geographically isolated from existing Colleges.
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Annual Report 2009-2010
A grant of £3,200 was obtained from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council Their Past Your Future programme to develop a multi-media teaching resource on the Second World War, and involve students and veterans in a series of inter-generational learning activities. The Archive Service worked with former history teacher, Guy Woolnough, to create this DVD, called Cumbria at War, which is being circulated to secondary schools throughout Cumbria and to primary schools on request. This resource has been complemented by a display on the same theme which is loaned to schools for half a term.
The Archive Service worked with the Building Bridges section of Age Concern and Queen Katherine School in Kendal and schools in Barrow to host intergenerational learning events with year 10 pupils and veterans from South Cumbria.
Staff from Barrow worked with the Bluebirds Study Centre, hosting visits to the archives by pupils from a number of Barrow schools. The centre provides opportunities for study support and out of hours learning for primary school children as part of a local initiative involving Barrow Football Club, the Playing for Success scheme. The sessions helped the children to develop their research and investigation skills while learning about the history of the town. Building Bridges event in Barrow Record Office Archivists from Carlisle hosted visits from 14 primary schools from across Cumbria and Dumfries for the annual ‘Tudor Week for Schools’ event. 493 children took part and discovered what life was like in Tudor times using records such as the Dormont Book. In a similar event , 45 pupils from Newman School took part in a pilot project with Tullie House and English Heritage on the theme of the Siege of Carlisle in the English Civil War. The pupils studied various archives including the letter of Charles I to the City of Carlisle written in 1643.
Better Council services
The Records Management Service (RMS) administers records on behalf of the County Council, District Councils and other public bodies. The Service’s role in managing records helps other County Council departments fulfil their own service responsibilities to the public such as support for vulnerable people, regeneration of the economy, and protection of the environment. When records cease to have administrative value to the people who created them, the Archive Service becomes responsible for the future preservation of documents which are important as a record for the organisation, or which have historical value.
The Records Management Service has contributed towards increasing Council efficiency in a number of ways this year.
• Taken in records under the Schools Transition process which the Council has a legal obligation to maintain 11
Cumbria Archive Service
• Supported the record keeping needs of the Council’s Better Places to Work project which will ultimately help the Council reduce and rationalise its accommodation stock • Assisted with a number of long term County Council projects aimed at improving information flow across the authority, including deployment of Microsoft Office Sharepoint Services, de-duplication of electronic files in shared networks • Worked on a Corporate File Plan and Corporate Retention and Disposal Schedules • Developed ‘Clutter Free Cumbria’ – a scheme to rationalise the information resources used and maintained across the County Council • Piloted an Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS). This will initially target the management of the Council’s paper legacy records to improve retrieval of information and schedule timely retention and destruction of information. The EDRMS (called WISDOM) is capable of being scaled up to manage electronic records
A review of RMS and the Information Team led to improved collaboration which is important for the way in which the Council meets the legislative requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, Environmental Information Regulations and the Data Protection Act. Good records management is essential to generate efficient and accurate responses to requests for information.
The numbers of requests received by the Council under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 have risen steadily since coming into force on 1st January 2005 from 270 in 2005 to 630 in 2009. Statistics clearly show that the public interest in access to information is increasing. The powers of the Information Commissioner to inspect and fine local authorities make this a high profile area of regulation and the Information Team leads on ensuring an appropriate Council response.
Conclusion
Despite the challenges, this has been a successful year for the Archive Service. Our progress and high public satisfaction ratings depend on the dedication of our staff and volunteers. Thanks are also due to the Council’s Archives Advisory Group, Friends of Cumbria Archives (FOCAS) and other user groups, archive owners and the organisations who have given us financial assistance this year.
Anne Rowe County Archivist / Archive Service Manager
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Appendix A Acknowledgements
Thank you to the following people and organisations for their assistance this year.
Staff
During the year we have been pleased to welcome a number of new recruits and we have also bid farewell to colleagues moving on to new challenges.
Will Bell, who took over as Acting Assistant County Archivist (RM) during last year was appointed permanently as Principal Records Manager from June 2009. During the year Jonny Oliphant, who had provided much-valued work as a temporary staff member at the Records Management Unit, moved on to pastures new. We were pleased to welcome Claire Park, Joan Clarke and Sue Young when the Information Team joined us following council restructuring.
At Carlisle Record Office, Sheila Gilder retired as Secretary; Sheila started work for Cumberland County Council in February 1963. She will be greatly missed by her colleagues from Carlisle and across the county. The same office was pleased to ‘welcome back’ Fiona Edwards, who started her working career as a ‘modern apprentice’ in Carlisle; Fiona rejoined the Service as Reception Assistant.
In the west of the county, at Whitehaven Record Office, Judith Kirkham was appointed as Archives Reception Assistant to provide maternity cover. This office also saw the appointment of a number of temporary part-time staff for the Sellafield Stories Project . We welcomed Colin McCourt, Geoff Wilkinson, Andrea Broadbent, Linda Wilson and Stella Atherton, whilst Mary Hart, Local Studies Librarian from Workington Group, started a one day a week secondment with us, freeing up Jenni Lister to manage this exciting project.
Volunteers
Many thanks to the dedication and support given freely by all our volunteers in Barrow, Carlisle, Conservation, Kendal and Whitehaven: Svetlana Bainbridge, Pauline Bird, Jane Bolton, Luke Brannan, Jean Broughton, Norman Butcher, Jackie Cresswell, Hazel Cruddas, Peter Dufton, Deirdre Dupuy, Margaret Eason, Lesley Easterby, Gill Fewings, Chester Foster, Alma Gordon, George Graham, Kathleen Graham, David Grisenthwaite, Denise Hammond, Mary Harris, Margaret Hartley, Margaret Hawker, Alistair Herd, Julian Holdsworth, John Houliston, Chris Howe, Neil Hudson, Vivienne Hudson, Brenda Jackson, Joan Jefferson, Judy Jelf, Eric Johnson, Graham Johnston, June Kendall, Deborah Kitching, Harriet Knotman, Myra Lawson, Rory Legge, Joan Little, Christine Mattinson, Megan McBride, Kate McConnell, Myra McKeown, Audrey Montgomery, Tracey Murthwaite, John Myron, Pat O’Shea, R S Parker, Carla Parker, Chris Pocock, Kasey Pritchard, Neville Ramsden, Eileen Risk, Margaret Roberts, Isabel Rostron, Bekki Sayer, Susan Scott-Buccleugh, Margaret Shepherd, Peter Simpson, Colin Smith, Debbie Smith, Judith Swinscoe, Stuart Swinscoe, Jacqui Tarrant, Rebekah Taylor, Brian Telford, Julia Theobald,
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Annual Report 2009-2010
Michael Turnbull, Anne Waring, Katie-Anne Wardman, Stephen White, Margaret Wickens, Loretta Wilde, Janet Woodhead, Jim Wright.
We are sorry to hear of the recent death of Eric Johnson.
Archives Advisory Group
Elected members of Cumbria County Council – Mr R K Bingham (Chair), Mr K Lancaster (Vice- Chair), Mr G B Strong (Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities), Mr J S Holliday, Mr I Stockdale, Mr D Earnshaw, Mr P C Thornton; Co-opted members – Mr J A Cropper, Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum; Professor K Stringer, University of Lancaster; Mr T Littleton, Cumbria Family History Society; The Rev Canon D Jenkins, Carlisle Diocese; Dr J Thorley, Friends of Cumbria Archives; Dr C O’Neill, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society
Support and user groups
Members of: Friends of Cumbria Archives (FOCAS), Cumbria Local History Federation, Cumbria Family History Society, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.
We are sorry to record the death of Jim Christopherson on 18 th April 2010. Jim was the Treasurer of FOCAS and we will all miss his cheerful dedication.
Construction of new Archives Centre for Carlisle
Heritage Lottery Fund for the £4.8m grant; Austin-Smith:Lord, architects of Manchester; Quarmby Construction Ltd of Ilkley; Capita engineering and quantity surveying teams; Paul Cleworth Project Management; Sue Fisher and Sandy Roy, Heritage Lottery Fund; all the subcontractors; David Bowcock, Brenda Dreghorn, Jim Grisenthwaite, Brian Durham, Paul Turney, Paul Carrigan and Mike Farren from Cumbria County Council.
Funding bodies
We are grateful for the financial assistance given this year by: BNFL Legacy Trust; The Lowther Estate; Friends of the National Libraries; Cumbria Family History Society; Upper Eden History Society; Friends of Cumbria Archives; Eden Local Committee; The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.
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Appendix B Key accessions 2009-2010
This year, we took in 404 new accessions, amounting to over 7m 3 of archives which added to our knowledge base of many aspects of Cumbria’s history. Amongst the most significant archives were:
Barrow Record Office and Local Studies Library • Title deeds and manorial documents relating to property in the Manor of Muchland and Plain Furness, 1760 onwards • Correspondence requesting assistance from Furness fire brigades to safeguard paintings and other works of art from the Tate Gallery, London which were housed at Muncaster Castle during World War II
Carlisle Record Office • Army service records of Private James Fell of Cotehill, Kings Royal Rifle Corps, taken prisoner of war in 1914 (the collection includes his pay book and pocket book, with details of the POW camp in which he was interned and also photographs and papers from previous military service in the West Indies) • Papers, music and writings of Jeffery Mark, composer and writer, born in Carlisle in 1900 and buried in Carlisle Cemetery in 1968 after a distinguished career in composing, teaching English and Music and writing, which took him to Exeter, London and New York
Kendal Record Office • The Margaret Duff Collection, one of the most important local photographic collections, has been secured with its donation to the Record Office. It has long been known and generously made available to Kendal's local historians over the years and has in fact provided material for at least three published books of historic photographs. Every aspect of Kendal's public life as well as many private views by a number of different photographers are illustrated in this large collection, which the late Margaret Duff built up over a period of some 40 years in response to the potential loss of many unique Kendal scenes from the late 19th century onwards • Papers of Bryan Stilling, 4th Battalion Border Regiment, captured at Inchville in June 1940 and who spent the rest of the war as Prisoner of War 16775 at Stalag VIIIb in Poland
Whitehaven Record Office and Local Studies Library • The St Bees Grammar School Register Book, a large volume bound in a 16 th century leather binding with endpapers taken from an illustrated medieval liturgical work, comprising meetings and memoranda of the School Governors from 1585-1856 • The papers of Dr John Todd, local historian and solicitor, of special significance for the history of St Bees with which he was particularly associated, but which also reflect the immense contribution he made to the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, the Friends of Cumbria Archives and to the study of Cumbrian history in general 15
Annual Report 2009-2010
We were again successful in securing grants to make purchases of archives this year. The most notable of these was the purchase of some important manorial records relating to Ravenstonedale and Winton for Kendal Record Office thanks to considerable assistance from the Friends of the National Libraries and a number of local bodies. This collection comprises the manor court book for Brough and Winton for 1702-1839 includes accounts of the constables and overseers of the poor and verdicts and rentals for Winton and South Stainmore, as well as copies of the Ravenstonedale custumal of 1556 together with the new agreement between Philip, Lord Wharton and his customary tenants in 1580 and various tenants' petitions to Lord Wharton in 1581. These important documents supplement other Wharton agreements in the Ravenstonedale parish collection and together enable a detailed examination of the Northern tenant-right issue in a manor which had changed from monastic to lay ownership with its purchase by Thomas, Lord Wharton after the Dissolution.
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Appendix C Performance
Public service use
Visitors* 17,192 (18,231 2008-09) * affected by floods in West Cumbria, November 2010 Remote enquiries 14,056 (14,196) Website enquiries 40,844 (43,632) * affected by technical problems and down-time Historical Research Service enquiries 507 (430), amounting to 1,051 hours (809)
Collection management
Total archive collections 1,436m 3 New accessions 7.44m 3 Completed cataloguing 16.53m 3 Uncatalogued collections 451.26m 3
Benchmarking
Self Assessment rating (2008)
Self Assessment of local authority archive services is organised by The National Archives. Cumbria Archive Service has a three star rating out of a possible four stars, and is judged “likely to improve further”.
Customer satisfaction
The Survey of Visitors to UK Archives (2009) is conducted by The National Council on Archives. Satisfaction ratings for Cumbria Archive Service are: Opening hours: 84% Visitor facilities: 83% Quality of staff advice: 99% Helpfulness of staff: 100% The Archive Service overall: 98%
Benchmarks with other services for 2009 have yet to be published
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