Archives abroad: UK documentary heritage to be made available to everyone

Funding to make archives more accessible has been awarded for archive collections across the UK, as part of the National Cataloguing Grants Programme.

The scheme, funded by a range of charitable trusts, will distribute over £400,000 to 14 projects across the country. Collections include the Sadler's Wells Theatre Collection, The Children's Society 1889 to 1979 and the papers of the Earls of Derby, particularly those of the 14th Earl, who was Prime Minister three times in the mid-19th century.

Melinda Haunton, Programmes Manager at The National Archives, said: “This grants programme provides essential funding for cataloguing, without which archive collections would be inaccessible to the public. Cataloguing uncovers unknown treasures and makes the documentary heritage available to everyone. Once archive collections are fully understood, they become available for a huge range of uses, such as community partnership projects, research and education work.”

Once the cataloguing work has been completed, the collections will be publicised through exhibitions and community events to ensure that they become well known and extensively used.