Category: News

Winners of Volunteer Awards announced

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CILIP Local Studies Group are delighted to announce the winners of the Volunteer Awards (Under 25 and Over 25 categories). These are new awards, and we had a good range of nominees, which made the judging very difficult. The winners are:

Under 25 category

Jess Pascal, University of Leicester Library

Over 25 category

There are joint winners in this category: Anne Langley, Warwickshire County Record Office and Stella Robinson, Wakefield Libraires.

Congratulations to all our winners and to everyone who was nominated. An award ceremony will be arranged soon.

We are hoping to continue the awards next year, so if you have a volunteer who you would like to nominate again, or anyone who has volunteered during 2024, please check the blog for details later in the year.

Winner of the McCulla Award 2022 announced

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The well-deserved winner of the McCulla Award 2022 is Tony Pilmer. At present he is Librarian and Archivist at the Royal Aeronautical Society, but has had a long career in local studies in Slough and Hertfordshire. He has been active in CILIP’s Local Studies Group and the South sub-group for many years and also belongs to CILIP’s Rare Books Group. He has shared his enthusiasm for local studies through the organisation of study days, visits and contributions to the LSG blog, but most outstanding has been his work over the last four years on the Local Studies Toolkit, an online resource for all who work with local studies collections. Tony developed the initial plan and recruited a group of contributors, proof readers and checkers. He promoted the project and managed the volunteers. It is in a format, devised by him, which allows easy updating and contribution from users and will be an invaluable tool for those who work in the field.

Working with cultural heritage data: forthcoming training courses

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There are two forthcoming training courses on working with cultural heritage data that may be of interest to local studies librarians:

The theme for the school this year is Digital Image Curation. There will be a Q&A about the school and how to apply on 25 January, 2pm GMT. Register for the zoom link.

There will be further face-to-face sessions in York and Wales before July 2023, so watch out for those if they are more convenient to get to.

New archives group for the North West

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Several colleagues in the North West of England have recently started discussing networking opportunities in the region. We are aware of some brilliant partnerships and networks operating in parts of the north west, with a range of different models, but want to take a sounding on whether we need to do more.

We would like to invite anyone working with archives to join an initial informal online discussion to simply ask the question, ‘what would you like to see?’ – to be held on Wednesday 29th June, 2.00-3.00.

We are interested in creating a regular informal space for people working with archives to meet, discuss issues, concerns or opportunities, and have a chance to find out from colleagues about activity and good practice taking place within the region. This could be through in person events, online chats or a mixture – and we want to follow up the online meeting with an event at Lancashire Archives towards the end of July.

If you are interested in joining the conversation, please get in touch with me at alexander.miller@lancashire.gov.uk and we will send on the invite. If you can’t make the date, but would be interested in keeping in touch with developments, please drop me a line as well so we can keep you informed.

Alex Miller

Lancashire Archives

New Grants for Working Class Heritage

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Historic England has recently announced a major new initiative Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class Histories. These grants will fund community-led projects that focus on “heritage that links people to overlooked historic places, with a particular interest in recognising and celebrating working class histories”.

Community and heritage organisations can apply for grants up to £25,000. There is a focus on sharing untold stories and encouraging volunteering.

Applications open: Wednesday 23 February

Closing date:  Monday 23 May

For more information visit the grants page  or email EverydayHeritage@HistoricEngland.org.uk

Historic Libraries Forum 2021 Annual Meeting and AGM

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Join the Historic Libraries Forum on Wednesday 1 December for a fascinating trio of case studies exploring the various ways historic libraries have sought to engage their users and stakeholders online. The event will start with a short AGM and finish with a round table featuring librarians from a variety of historic/special libraries discussing their experiences under Covid-19. Register here

Schedule

14.00 Welcome, introductions and housekeeping

14.05 Historic Libraries Forum AGM

14.20 Session One

Enhancing collection access, online and off – Mari James (Library Development Officer, St David’s Cathedral)

Engaging digital volunteers – Tom Bilson (Head of Digital Media, The Courtauld)

15.15 Break

15.30 Session Two

Delivering a successful online event – Dr Jamie Cumby (Assistant Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts, Linda Hall Library)

Has Covid-19 exacerbated a digital divide in our sector? Round table discussion

Steven Archer (Sub-Librarian, Trinity College, Cambridge), Julie Davis (County Local Studies Librarian, Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre), Dr Helen Kemp (Plume Librarian, Thomas Plume’s Library) and Emma Laws (Devon and Exeter Institution)

16.30 Close

Morris Garratt

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Many older members of the Local Studies Group will be sad to hear that Morris Garratt died on 5th September at the age of 84. He was a founder member of the North West Branch of LSG and served on the committee until it was wound up a few years ago. His unfailing good nature and extensive knowledge of the history of the area was a great support to the group. He was Local Studies Librarian in Middleton, a district of Rochdale MBC, until retirement.

He was born in Warrington and arrived in Middleton with limited knowledge of its history – so every weekend he took home a bound volume of the local newspaper to read through and get a sense of the area. A sign of his conscientiousness and commitment – and of the more relaxed attitudes of a previous era! After retirement he was active in many local history societies in the north west and, until recent years, seemed to have endless energy to study and promote local history. Many people involved in these societies remember his welcoming attitude and his books and articles in many journals will benefit local historians of the future.

Alice Lock, LSG Secretary

Nominations open for the McCulla Award 2021

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Librarian sitting on books painting a townscape. Large text below: Local Studies Group McCulla Award 2021

The Local Studies Group of CILIP are looking to recognise an outstanding local studies librarian.

The McCulla award is usually given for a recent major project, or as a lifetime award for someone near the end of their career. It comes with a prize of £200. Re-submissions from previous years are very welcome. 

The prize is in memory of Dorothy McCulla who was the Head of the Local Studies Department at Birmingham Central Library, a post she held from 1969 until her untimely death in 1981.

We welcome nominations from colleagues, local historians, family historians and anyone who knows a local studies professional who has made a difference.

To nominate, please complete the form at the bottom of this page.

Any questions? Please contact Alice Lock via alicelocalstudies@outlook.com

This year nominations close on 31 October 2021. Nominations received after that would be considered for the next award.

One million pages made free on British Newspaper Archive

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The British Library have announced that around a million pages have been made free on British Newspaper Archive. This is thanks to a new agreement between the British Library and Findmypast, who manage the British Newspaper Archive. 

A million new pages will added every year for the next four years. The focus will be on titles well out copyright in the years 1720 to 1880. Users will still need to create an account with BNA to view the titles, but will not be charged. Titles of interest to local studies professionals include:

  • British Miner and General Newsman
  • Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register
  • The Poor Man’s Guardian
  • The Atherstone, Nuneaton, and Warwickshire Times
  • The Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser
  • The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette
  • The Potteries Examiner 
  • Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin Advertiser
  • Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser 

The full list can be found here: https://blogs.bl.uk/files/free-to-view-british-library-newspapers-list-9-august-2021.pdf