Archives Service Newsletter No.90 Winter 2012
In this issue....
2013 - Our Centenary Year!
Find out more about our Centenary plans|.
New Community Archives Pages
We have added 251 pages| of local history for Pulloxhill, Flitton, Greenfield, Wardhedges, Silsoe, Hulcote & Salford
Bedford Settlement Examinations
These valuable 18th - 19th Century records |are now fully listed and available on our catalogue database.
Grand Designs
We have a grant from the National Manuscripts Conservation |Trust to help with conserving the architectural drawings from the Lucas of Wrest Park Collection.
Bedfordshire Manorial Documents Register
An update| on progress with this project.
Follow us on Twitter!
How do you publicise that your service exists?" "How can I find out when that part of the catalogue has gone on line?" We were asked these questions recently at an external event, and they got us thinking about quick and easy methods we could use to tell people our news. Twitter seems to fit the bill. Whilst we are proud of our website, it relies on people visiting it often to check for new material, while our newsletter can only be quarterly with limited circulation. Twitter is free and easy to use and allows us to inform people who follow us of developments as they happen, pointing them to more details on our website. We have decided to tweet once a week - usually on a Friday . We have been on Twitter for only six weeks and are already realising the potential and benefits of this method of communication.
Please take a look at www.twitter.com/BedsArchives| to keep in touch with our latest information - you don't need to open a Twitter account yourself unless you want to send messages or be notified automatically of our Tweets.
Paths to Crime Blog
As part of our commitment to the National Cataloguing Grant Programme for Archives, the funding body for the Paths to Crime project, we undertook to publicise the newly catalogued material in any manner that seemed appropriate. So far that has included our webpages, newsletter articles and displays. Now Kathryn and Sharon, the project cataloguers, have created a blog| where they can post information and news about the fascinating material they are finding and how it may be useful to researchers. This is enabling them to mention trends that they see in the work of the Quarter Sessions, , to highlight more cases of interest and to generally share the thrill of the chase – sometimes quite literally. For example, who can forget the pursuit of Richard William Webb who stole a penny farthing in Leighton Buzzard only to crash just outside St Neots, or the burglar with two wooden legs whose distinctive 'foot' prints were so easily traced?! [QSR1841/3/5/36]
Archive Service Closure Week
Please note the Archive Service will be closed from the 6th – 10th February to enable us to undertake some major sorting work.
During last year's closed week we managed to dispose of 15 tonnes of unwanted material, reorganise our cataloguing backlog and improve our work areas. This year we aim to work on sorting and cataloguing three major collections and to reconfigure shelving to make better use of space, which will give us an estimated 1.5m3 of space – it doesn't sound a lot but every little helps! We will also be having staff training on what to do to minimize damage to the archives should we be unfortunate enough to have a disaster as being prepared and knowing what to do go a long way to ensuring the best possible outcome. It's a lot to get done in a week so we will all be working hard and will be very glad to reopen on Monday 13th February!