Cumbria Archive Service Annual Report 2008-2009 CumbriaCumbria Archive Archive Service Service Annual Report 2008/09

Contents

3 Highlights of the year

4 Context

4 Front line service activities

6 Collection management

9 Outreach and learning

12 Historical Research Service

13 Records Management

14 Staff

14 Service development and improvements

19 Conclusion

 Front cover image: oldukphotos.com Archive Service AnnualAnnual Report Report 2008-09 2008/09

Highlights of the year

On 19 January 2009, construction started on the new Archives Office for at Petteril Bank in south Carlisle. This marked the ‘beginning of the end’ after a seven year period of planning and fundraising for the new development. The project, worth £8.2m, is largely funded by a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund of £4.8m, with a substantial £3.3m contribution from . Construction is scheduled to finish in early 2010, and the new facility will open in the second half of the year following the removal of the archive collections from our current base in The Castle in Carlisle.

North elevation of the new archives office for Carlisle by Austin-Smith:Lord, architects

There were many other good features of the year. The service took some important steps towards developing the next stage of its electronic service delivery and setting up digitisation services. Progress was made with cataloguing collections to enable public access, and many more catalogue descriptions were made available online. Interesting records are still being deposited with the service and we were successful in getting grants to purchase the Denton manuscripts and the Pennington manuscripts. In Barrow, the archives and local studies service moved towards a more integrated approach to public service delivery.

The Conservation Unit continues to develop its expertise with traditional conservation of paper and parchment, and with more modern media, including its work to preserve a ‘lost’ collection from one of the area’s most famous photographers. We delivered a number of unusual outreach projects designed for young people, life long learning and inter-generational activities. The Records Management Service took the first step towards acquiring an Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) and contributed to some major Council developments such as Schools Transition and Better Places to Work.

All these developments are described in more detail elsewhere in this report.

 CumbriaCumbria Archive Archive Service Service Annual Report 2008/09

Context

Cumbria Archive Service runs four public archive offices in Barrow, Carlisle, and , and a Records Management Service and Conservation Laboratory in Carlisle. It forms part of the Culture Unit of the Adult and Cultural Services Directorate of Cumbria County Council.

The Archive Service contributes to the corporate policy themes of Cumbria County Council. It also works within a legislative framework defined by the Public Records Act (1958), the Local Government Acts (1962 and 1972) and the Freedom of Information Act (2000).

In 2008/09 the Archive Service had a net revenue budget of £988,853 (£953,000 in 07/08) with an income target of £112,495 (£114,117) making a gross budget of £1,101,348 (£1,067,117).

Archives contribute to democracy and evidence-based decision-making. They are essential supports to a sense of personal, family and community identity. They provide a stimulating way for young people to learn about history, their locality and a range of other subjects, and they contribute to learning for all ages.

Front line service activities

Cumbria Archive Service is the 6th busiest county archive service for visiting researchers in . Cumbria’s success in attracting visitors is due in no small part to the long term strategy of providing several access points in different areas of the county to meet the needs of a large rural area with a widely dispersed population and relatively poor public transport infrastructure.

Visitor numbers relate solely to archives use in Carlisle and Kendal, but include local studies as well as archives in Barrow and Whitehaven. Family history remains the single most popular topic for visitors (62%). The other main areas of interest relate to local history (27%), house history (5%), formal educational use (4%) and official enquiries (2%). Visitors used nearly 21,000 original archives during the year, supplemented by an estimated 168,000 copy archives and over 38,000 printed and reference sources. 10% of opening hours were lost through the effects of vacancies and other staff shortages.

However, visiting is only one way of using archives. Many enquiries are answered over the telephone or by e-mail or post, and much information is now provided via the Archive Service’s website. It is clear that trends in use are shifting towards on-line access to information. In addition, there is a considerable (but un-measurable) indirect use of archives through their use in television and radio programmes, the publication of newspaper articles and books, and the sharing of research amongst family and friends. The work of a few researchers can make the information contained in archives available to a much wider audience.

 Cumbria Archive Service AnnualAnnual Report Report 2008-09 2008/09

Visitor figures have remained fairly static over the last few years, but increasing use is being made of information on the Archive Service’s website. In particular, the on-line catalogue to archive collections (introduced in late 2008) proved popular, accounting for 31,957 out of 46,632 website users. Overall, use of the archive service is increasing, with 76,059 transactions in 2008/09 compared with 71,089 in 2006/07.

80,000 Levels of use

70,000

60,000

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 Website 36,948 37,890 43,632 Remote 15,740 14,433 14,196 Visitors 18,401 18,133 18,231

However, it is clear that in comparison with other county archive services, Cumbria is well behind both with the provision of on-line access facilities for visiting members of the public, and with the provision of digital content which people can access on-line. Plans are in place for the coming financial year to improve our response to the increasing public demand for archives on-line.

Amongst the official enquiries dealt with this year, were: • Transcriptions and translations of the Royal Letters Patent (1585) and deed of conveyance (1586) relating to the endowment of St Bees School • Research into Sir John Barrow Monument at Ulverston (The Hoad) for a major restoration project

Public satisfaction levels with the service remain high. The last Survey of Visitors to British Archives in November 2007 recorded satisfaction levels of 98% for the helpfulness and friendliness of staff, and the quality of staff advice. Satisfaction with the service overall remained at 96%.

 CumbriaCumbria Archive Archive Service Service Annual Report 2008/09

Collection management

The front line service – answering enquiries and producing archives for public use – depends on a number of essential collection management activities which take place behind the scenes in the Record Offices: • The rescue of archives at risk and the deposit of archives for public use • Appropriate storage and packaging of archives, and conservation treatment • Accessioning to establish rights of ownership, access and intellectual property • Cataloguing and indexing archives to make information available to the public

The number of accessions and the quantity of archives deposited can vary considerably from one year to the next. Interesting archives continue to be deposited with the Archive Service. Amongst the 404 accessions received in 2008-2009, the following records reflect the range and variety of information added to the archives: • A fascinating collection of correspondence of the Curwen family of Workington Hall (late 17th century – mid 19th century) relating to foreign holidays, and letters from children to parents • Log books from Longtown Primary School 1917-1999 • Family records of JP Thomson of Liverpool including documentation on the historic Woolpack Inn in Kendal and other Wakefield family properties • Papers of Miss Marion Dobson, with notebooks on the archaeology, natural history and geography of the Urswick area • Account books and other records of Cleator Forge 1877-1963 • Plans of the Cumberland Coalfield prepared for the vesting of these collieries in the National Coal Board in 1947 • Souvenir programmes and other records from the Lakeland Rose Show

We were successful in securing grants to make purchases of archives this year. The Friends of National Libraries and the V&A/MLA Purchase Grant Fund supported the purchase of the manuscript diaries of William Fleming of Pennington. The Cumbria Family History Society, Friends of Cumbria Archives (FOCAS), Furness Family History Society and the Kirby Archives Trust also contributed to this acquisition.

Heritage Lottery Fund granted £25,000 towards the purchase of three historically important 17th century manuscripts: John Denton’s Description of the County of Cumberland, William Gilpin’s Accompt of the most considerable estates and families in the County of Cumberland and Hugh Todd’s An Historical Account of the City of Carlisle and An Historical Description of the Diocese of Carlisle. Together these documents record the history and antiquities of towns and villages of north Cumbria. This purchase was also supported by FOCAS, the Cumbria Local History Federation and the University of Lancaster.

 Cumbria Archive Service AnnualAnnual Report Report 2008-09 2008/09

Even though the Archive Service has existed for 45 years, it is still surprising what records turn up and where they come from. Records relating to a court case concerning livestock in Wetheral turned up in a flea market in The Hague, Netherlands. And, rather more worryingly, rate books from Castle Sowerby parish 1896 and 1901 were rescued from a skip by a workman.

The Conservation Unit (based in Carlisle) leads the efforts to ensure the long-term preservation of the archives in our care. The Unit spends the majority of its time on preservation activities (which focus on the prevention of damage and deterioration to archives) but also undertakes conservation treatment for fragile archives. The Unit provides a service to the local studies libraries, and offers advice to museums, other organisations and members of the public on preservation matters. A number of volunteers support several aspects of the work of the unit on a daily basis.

The Conservators have made progress on a number of preservation targets and other activities this year. The continuous monitoring of the strongroom environments supports the preservation of historic documents and enables quick and proactive intervention when necessary. Repackaging parish collections and glass plate negatives to provide better protection is in progress on all sites, often supported by volunteers.

Conservators require an extensive range of skills and knowledge to deal with the wide range of materials, inks and chemicals which constitute archives from the 12th century to the present day – paper, parchment, tracing papers, photographs, audio material and film. They are also developing their expertise in digital imaging both as a support for preservation of fragile originals, and to support wider access requirements of the electronic age. Training this year has focused on developing skills for repairing tracing papers, which form the basis of many thousands of 19th and 20th century plans, and on advanced digitisation skills.

Conservation and digitisation work was carried out this year on Thomas Mawson’s garden design plans for Lord Leverhulme’s property at Thornton Vale and Maryport Wheelers collection of cycling photos c1895-1901. A large collection of about 400 glass plate negatives belonging to the Moses Bowness collodion collection dating from the 1870s was discovered in Kendal Library, and were cleaned, packaged and digitised by the Conservation staff.

Conservators also provide essential training to archives and local studies staff for the preservation of collections. ‘Wanted’ posters identifying the main pests which attack books and documents were issued to each site. Two days of ‘Disaster Response’ training were also provided to archives and library staff in Whitehaven.

Cataloguing and indexing work is essential to provide the public with detailed information about the archives. Archivists catalogue directly on-line in accordance with international standards of archival description to facilitate data exchange on a national and international basis.

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The backlog of cataloguing in Cumbria Archive Service represents a major barrier to public access. The LOGJAM study, carried out in 2003-2004 by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (North West) independently estimated that a third of the collections were un-catalogued and would require up to 113 years work by an archivist and 17.5 years by a para-professional.

The service appointed a Cataloguing Archivist in August 2006 to contain and reduce this backlog, although this was scaled down to a part time post in June 2009 because of budgetary constraints. The Lowther Estate funds an archivist in Carlisle to catalogue its property deeds in order to register mineral rights under the Land Registration Act of 2002. Other archivists catalogue when public service and outreach activities permit.

This more targeted approach to cataloguing has been successful in making more documents available to the public. However, this level of resource is still only scratching the surface of the problem. This year’s cataloguing outputs only represented 4% of the unlisted collections within the service (3% in 07/08, reduced by vacancies), and 1% of the entire archive holdings. However, we are at least seeing the volume of cataloguing keeping pace with the quantity of archives coming in each year so that the cataloguing backlog is no longer growing. The challenge for the future is to secure sustainable funding to make a greater impact on improving public access to collections.

Impact of 500 cataloguing 450 on backlogs 400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 Uncatalogued collections 433.03 451.91 463.44 461.1 461.81 460.35 Completed cataloguing 4.03 2.89 6.07 14.24 19.06 Accessions added 22.91 14.42 6.73 11.95 17.6  Cumbria Archive Service AnnualAnnual Report Report 2008-09 2008/09

This year has seen the cataloguing work on the archives of the Parkin family of Ullswater, Lewthwaite family of Millom, Rydal Hall estates and numerous parish, school and miscellaneous collections.

The other major target this year has been to start importing the data contained in the Access to Archives (A2A) database. A2A was a national archives network, created in 2000 using HM Treasury Invest to Save funding and also supported by Heritage Lottery Fund. It converted existing paper catalogues from the Cumbria Archive Offices and over 400 other archive organisations nationwide into a searchable catalogue available over the internet. Importing the Cumbrian information into the Archive Service’s own on-line catalogue will increase substantially the amount of information about Cumbrian collections available to the public on-line, especially important since the A2A website is no longer active.

Overall, with new cataloguing and data import, 79,957 descriptions of individual documents were added to the on-line catalogue this year, in comparison with 32,186 entries last year.

Outreach and learning

The Archive Service promotes and publicises its activities in order to attract deposits of archives, encourage wider use of the service by all sections of the community, and support life-long learning. It also aims to promote the use of archives in schools to help deliver the National Curriculum in a stimulating way, and to develop a sense of the importance of archives amongst young people. The service is dealing with twice the number of groups and pupils it was three years ago which represents the limit that the archivists can fit in with their public service and collection management activities. School groups

No. of school groups Total no. of pupils involved

2005/06 31 835 2006/07 45 1,111 2007/08 72 1,807 2008/09 67 1,715

This year staff gave an increasing number of talks to local community groups and were reaching a steadily larger audience – 1515 people this year compared with 847 in 2005/06. The archivists have also developed a number of exhibitions which can be re-used in different venues and lent out to schools and these are proving successful, with 59 showings this year (33 in 07/08).

 CumbriaCumbria Archive Archive Service Service Annual Report 2008/09

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.

In addition to the routine but valuable school visits, archivists also worked on some more unusual educational projects this year, most of which were financed by external funding:

• Setting the Pace: Literature and Storytelling obtained a grant from Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) to support cultural events to mark the launch of the Cultural Olympiad in September. This allowed the Archive Service to work with Marian Veevers, a local writer to use archive sources with adult and children’s groups to stimulate creative writing.

• Archivists have also worked closely with teachers this year to take advantage of the Learning Links programme sponsored by the Museums, Archives and Libraries Council. This encourages exchanges between teachers and museum, archive and library professionals to foster mutual understanding, and develop practical projects for use in the classroom. One such project saw the pupils of St Mary’s Primary School in Kirkby Lonsdale visit the Kendal Archives Office to deposit records of the school going back to 1836, and develop family learning packs.

• The publication of a resource pack for schools entitled 104 Men – The William Pit Disaster 1947. This provides a CD of the primary sources from the Whitehaven Record Office and Local Studies Library (and the Beacon Museum) about the mining disaster in Whitehaven. It is accompanied by a teachers’ guide giving the context of the disaster and local coal mining history in general. The Resource Pack connects with the National Curriculum at Key Stage 2 and has been distributed free to local schools. It has been financed by private donations from Amanda Garraway, author of the book 104 Men, and contributions from the Neighbourhood Forums of Bransty, Greenbank, and Hensingham and Hillcrest.

• A grant of £3,200 has been obtained from the MLA 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.

• A year long archive exhibition, Muncaster 800 was launched in June, supported and partly financed by the Pennington family of Muncaster Castle.

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Launch of the exhibition at Muncaster Castle

We generated a fair amount of television coverage for Archive Service activities this year. Border TV Lookaround filmed features on the new archives office for Carlisle, Catherine Marshall, suffragist and pacifist of Hawse End, Keswick, and Thomas Mawson, landscape architect of Windermere. The Cumberland News also published a piece on the last letter home from France in 1918 of Private Tom Read of Carlisle, which prompted two relatives to come forward.

Although we are pleased with our successes with schools, outreach and media promotion, we lack the staffing resources to develop these areas of work in a systematic and comprehensive way. The challenge for the future is to find a way of funding our work with young people and communities in a more sustainable way that enables the service to reach a much wider audience.

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Historical Research Service

This is a self financing service provided for people who are unable to visit the archive offices to undertake their own research. It employs part time researchers in all four offices who can be commissioned to undertake family or local history research on an hourly basis.

In 2008-09, the researchers received 430 enquiries relating to family, local and property history (444 in 2007-08) amounting to 809 hours of research (825). There has been a decline in business in recent years due to the increasing availability of family history resources on internet sites. However, this appears to be stabilising now although the recession is expected to have an adverse impact on the amount of research commissioned. New marketing measures will be implemented in 2009/10 to maintain business levels.

Amongst the more unusual enquiries this year were requests for information about: • An enquiry from the House of Lords about 17th and 18th legal precedent books amongst the Hart Jackson solicitors collection concerning how parliamentary bills were passed • Barrow Football Club 1921-1971 for a book publication • A submarine designed by Barnes Wallis • The Fell and Rock Climbing Club • Political dissent in Westmorland 1880s-1920s 7% USA HRS Cutomer Origins 2008-2009 4% Australia 2% New Zealand 2% Canada 1% European

7% Cumbria

77% Rest of the UK

Enquiries were received from all over the world but mainly from parts of the UK outside Cumbria. New customers accounted for 43% of business this year and 44% of enquirers paid electronically for the service. 12 Cumbria Archive Service AnnualAnnual Report Report 2008-09 2008/09

Records Management

The Records Management Service (RMS) in Ashley Street, Carlisle 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. RMS charges for some of its services to cover about a third of the costs for records management. These charges end when records cease to have administrative value to the people who created them. The Archive Service then becomes responsible for the future preservation of documents which are important as a record for the organisation, or which have historical value.

An additional store in Lord Street in Carlisle was fitted out and opened for business in July 2006. It is indicative of the demand across the Council for assistance with the management of semi-current and non-current records that the Lord Street store is now virtually full. Re-shelving work in the autumn created an additional 30m3 of space but this was filled up straight away with the transfer of 33.35m3 from nine schools affected by the Schools Transition process. The search is now on for additional storage accommodation urgently needed to support the record keeping needs of the Council’s Schools Transitions process and the Better Places to Work project.

A review of RMS and the Information Team was undertaken to identify ways of improving collaborative working to ensure legislative compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, Environmental Information Regulations and Data Protection Act, and the underlying support which good records management brings to the efficient and accurate response to requests for information.

An Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) has been purchased for the Records Management Service. 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, and introducing this service will be one of the key development objectives for RMS in the coming years.

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Staff

This year has seen quite a few staff changes.

Grahame Higginson, Assistant County Archivist (Records Management) retired in October. Grahame came to Cumbria as head of modern records in February 1981. In the intervening 27 years, he built up a wide client base across Cumbria County Council and oversaw the commissioning of the Ashley Street Records Centre and Lord Street store. Will Bell took over as Acting Assistant County Archivist (RM).

John Houliston also retired as part time searchroom assistant in Barrow. We also said ‘Goodbye’ to Alice Grayson from Kendal and Melanie Grange from Whitehaven.

We welcomed Helen Arkwright and Elaine Brison as Cataloguing Archivist in Kendal (job-share), Alison Day as Lowther Estate Cataloguing Archivist, Helen Charnley as Records Manager, Kate Pearson and Jackie Moore as searchroom assistants in Barrow and Whitehaven respectively, Dawn Minnett as Archive Support Officer and Jenny Sandford, Reception Assistant, both in Carlisle.

With sadness, we record the death in January of Dr John Todd, representative of CWAAS on Archives Advisory Group and one of the founder members of Friends of Cumbria Archives. We will miss John’s tremendous enthusiasm and wise advice.

Service development and improvements

The Archive Service participates in national performance monitoring routines which enable comparison with other archive services and provide objective means of identifying areas for improvement.

Public satisfaction levels with the service remain high and are on a par with the North West region and the UK in general. These are recorded in the Survey of Visitors to UK Archives organised by the National Council on Archives. The latest survey was conducted in November 2007, and the headline satisfaction ratings are as follows:

NW Cumbria UK Region

Opening hours 80% 87% 85% Visitor facilities 78% 78% 82% Quality and appropriateness of staff advice 98% 97% 97% Helpfulness and friendliness of staff 98% 98% 98% The Archive Service overall 96% 96% 96%

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The Archive Service also takes part in the Self Assessment of local authority archive services in England and Wales. This is organised by The National Archives as part of monitoring for compliance with archive standards under the Public Records Act (1958).

The results of the 2008 Self Assessment rate Cumbria Archive Service as a three star service (out of four performance bands, with a maximum rating of four stars). Taking into account future plans, the service is judged as ‘likely to improve further’. The main area for improvement is identified as ‘Buildings’. The construction of the new archives office for Carlisle will address the most serious concerns in this area.

Results in comparison with North West archive services and county council services throughout England and Wales are summarised in the following table.

Cumbria Average Average score Performance Archive score in of county council band for Service north west services Cumbria

Governance 69.5% 59% 73.5% *** Documentation 63% 56.5% 66.5% *** of collections Access and 64.5% 55.5% 64.5% *** outreach services Preservation and 67% 63.5% 76% *** conservation Buildings, security 60.5% 64% 71% ** and environment Overall score 64.5% 59.5% 69% ***

The main development focus for the year was the new archives office for Carlisle. A turf-cutting ceremony was held in mid-January to mark to start of construction on 19th January 2009.

Cllr Stewart Young, Leader of Cumbria County Council and David Jones, Managing Director of Quarmby Construction Co. Ltd. cut the first turf at Petteril Bank, 14 January 2009

15 CumbriaCumbria Archive Archive Service Service Annual Report 2008/09

The Record Office has been located within Carlisle Castle since 1962. Whilst this is a pleasant and reasonably central site, it is not fit for purpose and too small to accommodate all the archives or visiting members of the public. In January 2002, The National Archives (TNA) carried out its regular inspection on behalf of the Lord Chancellor’s Department under section 4(1) of the Public Records Act (1958). TNA stated that this would be the last time they would reappoint Carlisle as a Place of Deposit and they recommended the construction of a new archives office.

In 2003-04, the Council undertook an options appraisal which concluded that the best site for a new archives office was the Council-owned site at Petteril Bank, off London Road in Carlisle. This has good access for both public transport and cars, it is large enough to cater for future expansion needs, and the project will rescue a Grade II* listed building on the site which is currently on English Heritage’s At Risk Register. A Lottery bid was prepared and in March 2006, Heritage Lottery Fund awarded Cumbria County Council a grant of £4,798,000 towards the project costs.

However HLF and English Heritage asked the Council to review the building and landscape designs to improve the suitability of the design of the new extension adjacent to the Grade II* listed building. This proved a lengthy and complex process which took until the second half of 2008. Planning permission was obtained in December 2007, and Listed Building consent in January 2008.

The total project cost is £8,173,859. The architect is Austin-Smith:Lord of Manchester, Capita Symonds are undertaking the engineering design, and the contractor is Quarmby Construction Co. Ltd of Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

The new archives office will provide spacious public rooms for the consultation of original, microform and printed records, and electronic access to archive catalogues and related research websites. There will be a generous education room to accommodate group visits. Strongrooms will meet required British Standards for long term preservation and will accommodate all archives advertised as being available in Carlisle on one site, and provide future expansion space to bring in more collections for public use. The Conservation Laboratory, which has been separate from the Record Office since 1992, will also be relocated in the new extension. The existing historic building on site will provide areas for temporary and permanent exhibitions as well as a base for volunteers, Friends of Cumbria Archives (FOCAS) and other user and community groups.

Construction started on 19th January 2009 and was progressing well by year-end, helped by unseasonably good Cumbrian weather! The building should be complete in early 2010. A six month period has been planned for moving the collections and services into the building, with the opening scheduled for the second half of 2010. An ongoing update about the project is available on: www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives/newrecoff/CROClatest_news.asp

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Construction progress at the end of March 2009

The HLF bid for the new archives office included in-kind part funding for £86,400 worth of volunteer time. We aimed to ask volunteers to repackage 75% of the collections in the Carlisle office prior to the move using packaging that meets preservation standards. Although the service has had plenty of volunteers over the years, we have never tried to organise such a large scale targeted project before.

17 CumbriaCumbria Archive Archive Service Service Annual Report 2008/09

Between March 2007 and March 2009, 80 volunteers contributed 376 days of their time to working in the Record Office to repackage the collections and in the Conservation Laboratory making bespoke boxes. This generated a value of £58,383 towards the part-funding of the Lottery bid. Volunteers also work in the other three public offices in Barrow, Kendal and Whitehaven, preservation packaging, transcribing sources and cataloguing documents. All our volunteers have made a great contribution to the Archive Service this year, and we hope that in return we have been able to offer them the chance to learn some new skills, find out more about the collections and the Record Offices, and enjoy a warm social atmosphere. The staff have certainly found the volunteers’ enthusiasm inspiring and rewarding.

Across the service in general, progress was made towards improving electronic service delivery. The on-line catalogue, available on the Archives section of the County Council’s website at www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives/online_catalogues/default.asp goes from strength to strength. The number of catalogue entries available on-line has doubled since January 2007 and now stands at 200,000 descriptions. These catalogues enable researches to access archival information even when the record offices are not open. 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.

Improving electronic services has long been an ambition of the Archive Service but has been hampered by a lack of time away from the front-line to plan and develop new services, no funding for the staff needed to deliver, and by the lack of on-line credit card payment facilities over the Council’s website. As a result, we are now significantly behind other county archive services. Amongst county archive services, Cumbria has the lowest availability of on-line public access points and is in the lowest quartile for website visitors because we have little digital content on-line. However, a number of initiatives planned for next year should help us to start narrowing that gap.

The Conservators have continued to build up their technical knowledge of digital imaging, and all the preservation issues surrounding it to the point where we are ready to introduce an in-house digital imaging service. This will be introduced in 2009-2010 on a self-financing basis.

The next stages of our electronic service delivery involve providing on-line access points within the archive offices so that visiting researchers can search the archive catalogues of Cumbria and other services, and websites that assist their researches into Cumbrian archives. We also aim to provide more digital content (using the digital imaging service we will set up next year). The priority here will be the addition of the catalogue data for the Carlisle Probate Registry Wills and the gradual addition of digital images of the documents, so that people can purchase these on-line.

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Conclusion

Despite the challenges, this has been a successful year for the Archive Service. Our progress and high public satisfaction ratings are entirely dependent on the staff who work for the service. There is not enough room in a report like this to mention all their individual achievements but I am grateful to them for their abilities and knowledge and their willingness to cope with whatever turns up. Our volunteers have also made a significant impact and helped us deliver projects we would not otherwise be able to achieve.

The Council’s Archives Advisory Group also gives valuable support and advice, as do the Friends of Cumbria Archives (FOCAS) and other user groups. The archive owners who generously deposit their collections for public use also make a fundamental contribution to the richness of the archive collections available in Cumbria. Thanks are also due to Heritage Lottery Fund, the Friends of National Libraries, the V&A/MLA Purchase Grant Fund and the other organizations who have given us financial assistance towards our work this year.

Anne Rowe County Archivist / Archive Service Manager

19 cumbria.gov.uk/archives [email protected] Tel: 01228 606060 12394 Design Cumbria County Council’s 3cStudio Tel: 01228 221727 / 01228 221731