News June 2010
Welcome to the news section of the BRA, the place to keep up to date with all the latest activities and news from the association.
Archives at Risk Project 2010
Attention archivists in the London and the East of England regions!
This summer the BRA is undertaking, in conjunction with its chosen consultants The Archive Skills Consultancy (TASC), a pathfinding investigation of archives at risk in two English regions, London and the East of England.
TASC’s team (Margaret Crockett, Janet Foster and Jonathan Rhys-Lewis) will be sending out short questionnaires in early July and we would encourage you to add your voice to this important and timely research project. The results of the research, which will also take account of recent reports and surveys, will provide a clear view of the challenges and risks facing archives and archives services in the two regions and form the basis for practical recommendations for the management and reduction of risk. For the project brief please go to: Archives at Risk
Win a valuable Prize!
As an incentive to you to complete the questionnaire, the BRA is also making an exciting offer! The name of every record repository, archive or archivist returning the questionnaire will be entered in a great prize draw. The prizes on offer are FOUR packages each containing free admission to the BRA’s annual conference in 2010 plus two free books from our prestigious series Archives and the User.
The conference will take place at Freemasons Hall in central London on 7 December 2010 and is titled The Philanthropy Files. It focuses on the theme of the records of charitable and philanthropic activity.
The two books on offer are Nat Alcock’s Documenting the History of Houses (2003) and, hot off the presses, Elizabeth New’s Seals and Sealing Practices (2010), both normally available at £9.50 each.
So, do please remember to return your completed questionnaire and give yourself a chance of winning a fantastic prize. You will be doing something for archives as well!
Dr Anthony Smith
British Records Association
New Publication on Seals
Too often seals are overlooked as valuable sources for historians through lack of skill to understand and interpret them. We seek to address this with our newly published Seals and Sealing Practices, written by Dr Elizabeth New and forming part of our 'Archives and the User' series. This is an accessible guide to the creation, type, identification and use of seals from the middle ages through to the twentieth century.
For details and an order form, see Publications
Notice of Intent to digitize back issues of Archives
The British Records Association hopes to make back issues of Archives available in electronic form.
The current procedure for publication in Archives requires authors assign copyright (for both print and electronic publication) to the British Records Association. This does not limit an author's ability to reuse material, but ensures that it is possible to protect copyright internationally. In the past copyright was not administered in this way, nor was permission sought to obtain electronic rights because electronic publishing was not envisaged. To identify and locate all the authors who have previously contributed to Archives and obtain their (or, in the case of deceased authors, their executor's) permission to republish their work electronically would be an enormous task and beyond the resources of the Association.
I take this opportunity therefore to notify authors of the proposed digitisation and to ask for any authors who object to let me know. In the absence of such objections I will assume that permission has been given; where objections are made I will omit the relevant work(s) from the scanned back archive.
I am anxious to ensure that this notice is disseminated as widely as possible. Please draw it to the attention of any colleagues who may have published in Archives in the past.
Ruth Paley
Honorary Editor, Archives