ARGYLL & BUTE COUNCIL STRATEGIC POLICY COMMITTEE CORPORATE AND LEGAL SERVICES 14 NOVEMBER 2002 ARCHIVIST ANNUAL REPORT INTRODUCTION The year 2001/02 saw yet further pressure on the cramped and inadequate conditions in which Argyll and Bute Council preserves its written heritage. Seriously congested and with limited staffing, the Archives office falls far short of the Standards that we would wish to provide. In the medium term there is hope for a new facility at the Clock Lodge or Kilmory Home Farm but in the short term there is little that can be done to relieve the current unsatisfactory conditions. There will be some additional storage available at Lochnell Street Election Office but the Department focus remains the relocation to bespoke premises. The Standards: The standard to which this Council should be aspiring is BS 5454:2000 Recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents. Argyll and Bute Council should also be attempting to comply with the standard set by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the HMC Standard for Record Repositories 2001, and striving to achieve ‘HMC recognition’ for its record repository. The Statutory Basis: The Local Government, Etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, particularly Section 53, placed upon Councils a duty to make “proper arrangements” – not closely defined – for the care and management of their records, with certain supervisory powers vested in the Keeper of the Records at the National Archives of Scotland. Councillors should be aware that the Freedom of Information Bill currently wending its way through the Scottish Parliament will, when enacted, impact upon how local authorities manage their record-keeping and may make the appointment of a records-manager a requirement rather than discretionary. The Archives: Background The Council’s own records span six centuries, from Rothesay’s Royal Charter of 1401 to today’s agenda papers. They cover all the past and present functions of local government: the Poor Law, prisons, housing, roads, ferries, airports, public health, libraries, Air Raid Precautions, and education, are just a selection of topics. The core of the Council’s Archives unit is based in the Manse Brae Offices, Lochgilphead. That location was a “temporary” station quickly found over twenty years ago. The 1996 re-organisation of local government brought with it a wider geographical area to cover, many more records, many more demands – but no extra space or support staff. At no cost (yet) to Argyll and Bute colleagues in Glasgow City Archives have generously and faithfully curated a substantial amount of this Council’s records, an arrangement dating from Strathclyde Region days. It is a purely informal arrangement, but it is an issue which Argyll and Bute Council will have to tackle sooner or later. It is hoped that the goodwill will sustain the position until the new facility can be procured. Other expedients have had to be adopted in order to hold the Archives pending the day that a suitable record repository is provided. An assortment of storage spaces has been utilised for storing records in Helensburgh, Oban and Rothesay. All of these ad hoc arrangements are bad for the records, inefficient, expensive, and are a cause for concern. For the Archivist, however, given the limitations of space and budget the progression to a new facility is the only practical resolution of this ongoing problem. Accession to the Archives Records which are the property of the Council continue to trickle into the Archives. The most important group in this respect was the Minute Books of Kilninian & Kilmore School Board 1876 – 1922 which were returned by the Keeper of the Records, National Archives of Scotland, where they had been held with the records of Tobermory Sheriff Court. Also related to education was a group of records relating to Argyll County Council’s unique Correspondence Tuition Scheme, deposited by Mrs Nancy Stirling, Dunoon, a former teacher in the Scheme. Other school records received related to Kerrera, Kilcreggan, Kilmichael [Campbeltown], Rockfield, and Oban High. Arinagour School Board have regularly sent copies of their minutes. The Council Archives receives as a matter of course the Electoral Rolls, Valuation Rolls, and Agenda Papers. The Local Government, etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 allows Councils to receive gifts and deposits of records from other sources. Among the larger accessions which I received in the past year were: 1. National Health Service: Administrative files, architectural plans, financial records relating to the various District Hospitals Boards of Management 1948 – 1974, mainly relating to hospitals which have now passed into history. Included, for instance, are a set of Annual Reports of the West Highland Hospital 1904 – 1947. 2. Keil School, Southend and Dumbarton: photographs and the School Magazine c. 1920 – 2000. 3. Ballochyle Estate (Messrs Bryant & May): workmen’s time books 1925 – 1966 4. J. MacFarlane, general merchants, Tobermory: ledgers, counter books, miscellaneous 1927 – 1961 5. Campbell of Kilberry Papers: two deed boxes of papers 19 – 20th Cents, additional to the papers deposited some years ago. These include a series of letters from John Campbell in the trenches in the First World War. 6. Helensburgh Allotment Holders’s Association: minute book 1923 – 1937 7. Episcopal Diocese of Argyll & The Isles: additional records relating to All Saints Church, Inveraray, and Christ Church, Lochgilphead, were transferred by the Dean. 8. Nancy Black, Oban, added a variety of items to the papers she had already deposited. To complement the written records I maintain a small reference library of text books and dictionaries, many of them essential to my work. But this too has grown steadily over the years and can no longer be accommodated in the tiny space. Some books now lie in packing cases on the floor. In the year 2001/02 books were received from the library of the late Marion Campbell, passed to the Archives Office by Mr John Campbell, Kilberry Castle. These came shortly after some useful works given by Mrs Nancy Stirling, Dunoon. On a related theme a rich series of notes, obituaries, and historical information, currently over 2500 items have been amassed over several years. They are all on a database. Similarly for genealogists a series of copy documents useful for family history – rent rolls, graveyard inscriptions, indexes, census returns – has been built up but, again, space has run out. On the other hand I have faithfully transmitted elsewhere records pertaining to areas no longer in Argyll and Bute: records relating to Arran and Cumbrae have gone to the Ayrshire Archives Centre, Ayr, those relating to Ardnamurchan, Morvern and Ballachulish have gone to the Highland Council Archives, Inverness. In 2001, too, I was able to pass a large quantity of Campbeltown Sheriff Court processes to the National Archives of Scotland, with a few stray Church records, including the Cash Book of the Kirk Session of Gigha and Cara. Staff In 2001/02 the Archives staff remained exactly at the same level as that employed for many years by the former, smaller, Argyll & Bute District Council, namely one qualified Archivist and one part- time Clerical Assistant, Mrs Marina Campbell. (It is the Archivist’s professional view that a local authority such as Argyll and Bute Council should be aiming to employ two qualified Archivists, a Modern Records Manager, probably also a Genealogist, and support staff - but no budgetary provision would exist for such a complement of staff.) Members will be aware that a revenue- raising exercise undertaken last year to charge for the Archivist’s time failed to produce any meaningful income for the Council The Work of the Archives in 2001/02 Mrs Campbell, in addition to her normal clerical duties, pressed ahead with transferring old lists and catalogues (some over 25 years old) onto a database. She also assisted with the bundling and re- boxing of documents, an on-going process. For better preservation of the records, for ease of handling, and for better utilisation of precious space I aim to have as much material as possible stored in purpose-made boxes. With the assistance of Linda Ramsay, Conservator in the National Archives of Scotland several hundred boxes were purchased and utilised in the past year, but the task continues. I am glad to acknowledge the assistance of Corporate Services staff from Dalriada House who, along with Mrs Campbell, pushed forward this boxing-up programme after office hours. The work of sorting and listing records continues slowly partly because of the limitations on space. There remains a considerable backlog of work. Copies of lists of non-Council records are sent as soon as they are completed to The National Register of Archives (Scotland), a branch of the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. (A list of my contributions will be found in the Annual Reports of the Keeper of the Records). The catalogue of the Council’s own records is under constant change and updating. Two other projects occupied some of my time. The first was a detailed inventory of papers from the former Procurator Fiscal’s office in Tobermory, from the year 1850 which give an invaluable insight into life in Coll, Mull, and Tiree, a century and a half ago. The other project has been making extracts from a selected few of the older school log books to illustrate the use of Gaelic, old customs, and the persistence of the Old Calendar. By kind permission of His Grace The Duke of Argyll I occasionally visited the archives in Inveraray Castle assisted by Mrs Rae MacGregor there. As the Dukes of Argyll held lands in most areas between Tiree and Rhu, or Lismore and Southend, I value this contact with the Argyll Papers in Inveraray very highly. I continue to support and encourage a project for transcribing, with a view to publication, the diaries of John Campbell of Kilberry which were deposited in the Council Archives.