-------- Original Message --------
Subject: A2A Update, December 2004
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 10:14:49 -0000
From: Stark, Sarah <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: From: Local-History list <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
With apologies for any inconvenience caused by cross-posting; and best
wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all A2A's online visitors and
contributors.
sjas
~~~~
A2A Update, December 2004
Monthly A2A usage reaches record high
A2A (Access to Archives) - the English strand of the UK archives
network at
http://www.a2a.org.uk - was last updated on Tuesday 21 December 2004.
3,084
catalogues were added to A2A. The database now contains 7.3 million
catalogue entries, in over 86,000 catalogue files, describing archives
held
in 381 record offices, libraries, museums and other repositories all over
England - including 13 institutions new to A2A.
A2A remains popular with existing and new users of archives: there
have now
been 5.1m searches of the database in total since launch in 2001, and
11.9m
catalogue downloads as a result. November 2004 saw over 300,000 database
searches and more than 750,000 catalogue downloads - with just over 60,300
downloads on 11 November alone.
This month's new additions include finding aids describing the following:
* school archives held at Tyne and Wear Archives Service, contributed
through the locally-funded North East regional project Bell, Book and
Candle;
* estate and family archives held at Hertfordshire Archives and Local
Studies, contributed through the HLF-funded project Hidden Talent;
* business archives and personal and other papers held at Derbyshire
Record
Office, the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland,
Northamptonshire Record Office, Nottinghamshire Record Office and
Nottingham
University Library, contributed through the East Midlands HLF-funded
project
Home and Abroad;
* parish and school archives held by the archives services of Bromley and
Redbridge, contributed through the HLF-funded project Magpie's Nest in
London;
* various archives held at Cornwall Record Office and Wiltshire and
Swindon
Record Office, contributed through the South West HLF-funded project South
West Access All Areas;
* local archives and photographs held at Sheffield Archives, contributed
through the self-funded project South Yorkshire County Records;
* Church of England parish archives held at East Sussex Record Office,
contributed through the HLF-funded project Sussex Parish Chest;
* the archives of the late Bernie Grant MP held at Middlesex University;
* and a range of archives held at Birmingham Archdiocesan Archives,
Lambeth
Palace Library, Cumbria Record Office in Barrow, the Royal Northern
College
of Music Archives, University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
and various museums in Hertfordshire.
On the now-traditional seasonal note: you might like to know that the
archives described in A2A include the following:
* a 1944 Christmas Day menu from HQ Supreme Allied Commander South East
Asia, among the papers of RAF Sergeant Eric Walton, a confidential clerk
attached to the staff of Lord Mountbatten of Burma during the Second World
War (Home and Abroad project: Derbyshire Record Office, ref D6022/5/5);
* photographs and a programme from the 1980s production of 'A Christmas
Carol' at the Progress Theatre, an amateur theatre in Reading (Aladdin's
Cave project: Berkshire Record Office, refs D/EX 1151/2/79/1-8 and D/EX
1151/3/21/1)
* and a drawing for an advertisement, c 1890s, among the archives of
Beechams Pills Company Ltd, depicting cats before and after consuming
Christmas pudding - and then taking the company's pills to "overcome the
excesses of the meal" (Mills, Mansions and Corner Shops project: St Helens
Local History and Archives Library, ref BP/1/6/94).
You may also be interested to know that several of the 'Movers and
Shakers'
featured in the current free exhibition at The National Archives in
Kew (see
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/events/calendar/movers.htm) are also
mentioned in A2A catalogues, among which are descriptions of:
* archives relating to Oliver Cromwell, including the papers of his son;
* archaeological papers of and diplomatic notes by the traveller, scholar
and diplomatist Gertrude Bell;
* archives relating to Winston Churchill held in various repositories;
* and the papers of the codebreaker and mathematician Alan Turing (with
links to digital images).
Why not see if you can find them?
A2A is the English strand of the UK archives network; its database at
http://www.a2a.org.uk already contains the electronic equivalent of over
700,000 catalogue pages describing archives held across England in
national,
local and specialist repositories and dating from the 700s to the present
day. The A2A programme will make a further 150,000 catalogue pages
available on the web by July 2005.
* * * * * *
Sarah J A Stark
Regional Liaison Co-Ordinator, A2A
The National Archives
Kew
Richmond
Surrey TW9 4DU
Tel (direct line): 020 8392 5328
Fax: 020 8487 9211
Email: [log in to unmask]
www: http://www.a2a.org.uk
See also http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/partnerprojects/a2a ...
* * * * * *
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--
Abigail Ann Young (Dr)
Associate Editor, Records of Early English Drama
Victoria College, University of Toronto
REED on the web: <http://www.utoronto.ca/reed/reed.html>
My site: <http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~young>
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