January 2006
NCA letter published in The Times
A letter sent to The Times newspaper by the NCA, highlighting the financial difficulties of some UK archives, was published on Tuesday, 3rd January 2006. Here is the full letter:
Sir,
The recent publication of a National Council on Archives report highlights the current funding crisis in UK archives.
There are more than 2,000 archives across the UK, many of which struggle to find adequate resources to provide the most basic access to, and care of, their collections.
A survey carried out in the North West of England in 2003 found that 29 per cent of archival holdings are un-catalogued. As long as backlogs like this exist, these collections will remain inaccessible to the public: a great waste of archives' huge untapped potential.
For some, the word "archive" still brings to mind dusty boxes, but this perception is shifting as public interest in history, especially community and family history, continues to grow.
Archives provide essential information about people and places, relevant to the whole population, as well as an understanding of the workings of government. More and more archives are involved in outreach and education services, playing a central role in formal and community learning.
Many archives currently survive with one-off project funding, often from the Heritage Lottery Fund, but this is not enough to maintain the country's heritage. The publication of Giving Value, the National Council on Archives' report on funding, highlights specific funding blackspots. In the absence of sufficient all-round funding, the archive sector must focus on such areas as online access and engaging new audiences, such as minority ethnic groups and those under 24.
The National Council on Archives is calling for public support.
A petition is available at www.ncaonline.org.uk for those wishing to protect the nation's memory.
Ruth Savage, Policy Officer, National Council on
Archives
Peter Anderson, Chairman, Society of Archivists
Dr David Robinson, Chair, British Records
Association
Dr Christopher Kitching, Royal Historical Society
Sara Kinsey, Business Archives Council
Richard Ratcliffe, Archive Liaison Director, Federation of
Family History Societies
Jonathan Pepler, Association of Chief Archivists in Local
Government
Caroline Williams, Chair, Forum for Archives and Records
Management, Education and Research
Rob Baker, Acting Chair, Health Archives Group
Sex, Lies and Archives: Archive Awareness Campaign Debate organised by National Council on Archives
Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded.
Virginia Woolf
Over 170 people attended an event entitled Sex, Lies and Archives: the search for truth at the British Library on 28th November 2005. The debate, chaired by James Naughtie, formally launched Archives Awareness Campaign 2005/6 - an annual event organised by the National Council on Archives which involves events, talks and other activities amongst 2,000 organisations to celebrate, promote and raise the profile of archives across the UK. Visit the AAC website at www.archiveawareness.com.
The panel looked at the quest for honesty and transparency in dealing with historical documents and archival materials, and also discussed the themes of the archival evidence regarding sex and lies with relation to specific historical figures.
The evening began with an extract considering issues of forgery and truth from Alan Bennett's play 'A Question of Attribution', read by actors Joanna David and Paul Bigley. This was followed by each of the panellists speaking about their individual chosen topics: Dr David Starkey spoke about (evidence of) the sex life of Henry VIII. Colin Burrow, Reader in Renaissance and Comparative Literature, Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, described literature's search for the real Shakespeare. Liza Picard, author took as her subject Dr Johnson and James Boswell - sex life in Georgian England.
Drawing on themes raised by the play reading, Norman Rosenthal, Exhibitions Secretary of the Royal Academy spoke about fakes and forgeries in the visual arts. Drawing on her experiences in writing her recent biography of Isabella Beeton, Dr Kathryn Hughes described the biographical process and the importance of archives. Bringing the discussion into the hard world of pounds, shillings and pence, Francis Russell, Deputy Chairman of Christie's described the monetary, as well as the cultural and historical, value of archives and how to distinguish the fakes and the forgeries.
These themes were explored further in the ensuing debate, during which members of the audience were given the opportunity to ask the panel questions. The evening was recorded. Subject to rights issues, it is hoped that this will be available on this website soon. Watch this space!
