Sounds of Somerset and Devon
Jenny Hearn recently joined South West Heritage Trust as Project Assistant for Sounds of the South West. In her first blog, Jenny introduces this exciting National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported project, which is bringing archives across the South West together to preserve and share the region’s rich sound heritage.
Preserving Somerset and Devon’s sound heritage
Sound recordings on physical formats – like cassette tapes, vinyl records and CDs – are at risk of being lost to time, due to age, damage and obsolete technology. Through digitisation, we are rescuing these sound recordings and making sure they can be listened to by generations to come.
Among the records we’re digitising in Devon’s collections are oral histories of the Plymouth Blitz and the interwar years in Torquay and Exeter. Somerset’s collections feature personal memories of growing up on the Mendips (including whortleberry picking and hedge-making!), working as a land girl and the role of the Somerset Auxiliary units in World War II, and – of course – cider making!
I’m most excited to hear rural dialects, funny stories and local customs – as well as “rediscovering” recordings that may not have been heard in a long time, because we haven’t had the equipment to play old or obscure types of media in our collections.
How we will be improving our sound collections
The Devon and Somerset Archive and Local Studies teams, along with volunteers will be working together with the project hub in Bristol to:
- Digitise hundreds of sound recordings from Somerset and Devon’s collections
- Make digital recordings available to listen to in our searchrooms
- Create summaries and transcripts of recordings
- Share interesting audio clips via the project’s online audio library
- Organise events and activities to bring our audio heritage to communities across Somerset and Devon
- Obtain copyright licences and permissions, which will help us to manage the collections more effectively
- Keep you up to date with news about the project
If you are interested in supporting this project as a volunteer please get in touch, we have in person and remote volunteering opportunities available to help us create summaries of the recordings.
Learn more about Sounds of the South West
Explore the project on the Sounds of the South West website, which brings together news, events and volunteering opportunities from across the region. You can also browse the website’s audio library – where you can hear the voices, music and stories that have shaped the South West’s past.
Keep an eye out for future events at Somerset and Devon Heritage Centres – we’re looking forward to sharing more about what we find in our collections!