Somerset Archives Closed Period
Archivist Graeme Edwards blogs about what happened at the Somerset Heritage Centre during the two week Closed Period, 2024.
When we re-open after our annual two week Closed Period some of our regular visitors inevitably joke “did you have a good holiday?!” While we do swap our formal work clothes for more casual attire and turn on the radio, there isn’t any time to put our feet up and relax. The two weeks are spent undertaking large projects that we wouldn’t have the time or space to tackle during our usual opening hours. So, what projects have we worked on during the latest Closed Period? Well…
The Periodicals Collection
A collection of professional and local-interest periodicals that formed part of the archives have now been transferred into the Somerset Studies Library. It took most of the two weeks as the whole periodical collection needed to be re-arranged to receive them: nearly 40 boxes of volumes have been emptied, catalogued, labelled and re-shelved. Along the way some exciting finds were made, including 50 years’ worth of tide tables which have also now been catalogued. Our oversize stack has also been re-arranged to allow for some expansion space for the collection to grow, and small backlogs of re-shelving and incoming library accessions have been processed.
The Debenhams Collection
Back in August 2021, at the request of The National Archives in partnership with the Business Archives Council, we helped with the emergency rescue of the national administrative records of Debenhams plc. The extensive collection, reaching back to the 19th century, needed to be removed at short notice from the Debenham’s administrative headquarters in Taunton. The records have since been held temporarily at the Somerset Heritage Centre pending their transfer to Westminster Archives and elsewhere.
During the Closed Period we have been helping to prepare the collection in readiness for its transfer later in the year. This preparation work has included the removal of some rather large documents from frames to enable them to be stored and preserved more effectively.
Reducing Our Carbon Footprint
Over the past 11 months we have been working closely with Architype, Passivhaus specialists, to reduce the need for mechanical intervention to maintain the required temperature and humidity in the strongrooms and help reduce our carbon footprint. During our Closed Period we’ve begun a survey of the material currently held in our Cold Store to determine whether any of it can be moved to our regular strongrooms. This will help us maximise the space needed for items requiring more specialist storage conditions.
Large Accessions and Card Indexes
The Closed Period has provided us with an opportunity to catalogue some larger accessions that we wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to tackle when we’re open. Over the past two weeks we’ve catalogued the minutes of Taunton Deane Borough Council (D/DC/tau.d) and the Somerset Community Health Council (A/AWA), the records of the Weston Choral Society (A/FEP) and an additional deposit of the Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust archive (A/CWO).
We’ve also been tidying up our card indexes, finding a home in our strongrooms for those that have now been typed up and made available online. The online indexes can be accessed via our online catalogue.
Archive Socks
Many parchment deeds have pendant seals, these seals are vulnerable to damage from other items in the box or from being mis-handled. We have been busy cutting wadding and archive calico to make archive socks, which will slip onto the seals, providing them with a protective cushion. Keep your eyes open for the new socks appearing in the searchroom soon.
Education Projects
Planning and research for education projects and other outreach continued over the past fortnight, including preparations for a session with OpenStoryTellers, a community arts charity supporting people with learning disabilities, who are working on a new National Lottery funded project. Research has also begun on the creation of new exhibition panels with students from Oaklands Community Primary School, Yeovil, as part of the Museums and Schools programme, which is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and managed by Arts Council England.
After 13 years of hard service the lockers in reception were feeling a little sorry for themselves and often refused to lock. We’ve given them a re-fresh, replaced the locks and tags and all of them are now ready to be back in service.
In addition to all of these projects we continued to answer enquiries and run our very busy Research Service, working on a range of requests, including research of parish, workhouse and property records, and providing copies of maps and wills. Cataloguing work has also continued on the Estate Duty Wills (DD/ED) and we’ve been re-sticking hundreds of labels to archive boxes in our Strongrooms. It’s been a busy couple of weeks but order has now been restored to the searchroom, the radio has been turned off and we’ve donned our more formal work attire ready to welcome our visitors back.