July 2014 - Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council

Dudley archives journal
Issue 13 - July 2014
Welcome
back!
It has been a really exiting year
since our last newsletter. We’ve
moved premises, welcomed three
new members of staff, got involved
in new projects and prepared a
massive new location guide for our
new repository. All this as well as our
“business as usual” in the search
room.
Since opening in January, we have
conducted twenty-one free guided
tours of the building for members of
the public, showing approximately
250 people around. This is in
addition to specially arranged group
tours for local societies. Everyone
has been really impressed with the
wonderful new facilities and we have
been so proud to show them off.
proud that they won an award for
their volunteering achievements and
we’re looking forward to working
with them in the future.
Our Friends organisation goes from
strength to strength. Membership
remains steady and attendance at
the local history talks has rocketed.
Recent talks have included:
• Brain Draper: ‘Ironbridge &
Coalbrookdale Area’
In April we were delighted to
undertake a very special tour for
• Chris Upton: ‘The Anglo Saxon
Mr Lenny Henry, CBE and Freeman
Kingdom of the Midlands’
of the borough of Dudley. On 23
• Dave Reeves: ‘Black Country
April Mr Henry unveiled a special
Dialectics’
plaque in the foyer, officially opening
See the events calendar for the
our new building. We were able
current programme and please
to provide him with a look behind
remember we do have a maximum
the scenes and show him some of
seating capacity so come early.
our fascinating records. He was
amazed that we collected material
I hope that you enjoy this edition of
relating to his own career and has
the newsletter and we hope to see
many of you at our Local History
promised to deposit material from
Day on 12 July as well as in our
his own collection. Around 100
invited guests watched the unveiling search room. Please note that we
have increased our opening hours
and we would like to express our
and we’re now open every Saturday.
sincere thanks to Mr Henry for
Hello & Goodbye
We also offer a “buddy service”
makingtoit our
suchnewest
a memorable
day. of staff;
We would like to extend a warm welcome
members
Sophie
Wythes,
Lukeplease
Dady and
most
Saturday
mornings;
ask
Bob Bennett – they will be introducing
laterspecial
on in the journal.ifThey
are settling
in very
well and
Ourthemselves
volunteers were
you wish
to use this
service.
are great assets to the team.
guests at the opening, because
Sadly we have had to say goodbye to
Marsay
Andrew
weRachael
acknowledge
thatand
without
their Ireland, project staff, who had
completed the cataloguing of the Earls
of
Dudley
collection.
We
them,Matthews
but they have left a lasting
help, our relocation would havewill missDiane
legacy with their work. Since January,
an much
exhibition
about
thesocollection
has
been
on display
in our foyer
Local
Studies
Librarian
been
harder.
We are
very
area and the catalogue will be soon available on-line.
I hope that you enjoy this edition of the newsletter and we look forward to seeing many of you at our Local
History Day on 12 July as well as in our search room. Please note that we have increased our opening
hours and the Search Rom is now open every Saturday. We also are offering a “buddy service” on most
the
Saturday mornings; please ask if you would like to use this service.
and local history service
Best wishes
Best wishes
archives
Tipton Road, Dudley DY1 4SQ
Our fantastic new centre
Our first Journal from the new centre wouldn’t be complete without a few words on
our new building!
This £6 million building is the first
public building to have been built by
Dudley Council in 20 years. Half of
the funding was contributed by the
European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF). The Archives hosts
myriad new features including state
of the art storage facilities. Our
main repository houses our current
4,000 linear metres of holdings, and
we have two further repositories to
allow us to expand our collections.
There is dedicated storage for AV
materials such as photographs and
negatives and optimum climatic
conditions are maintained by
dedicated air handling units.
even our largest maps! Plus there
are two private study rooms for
accessing audio-visual items. We
have public computers with free
access to Ancestry and an array
of microfilm and fiche readers.
This room along with others in the
building highlights gems from the
archives reproduced on the internal
and external windows.
Our permanent display area in the
foyer will run three to four
exhibitions a year. The Dudley Estate
exhibition is currently running with
items from the newly catalogued
collection, plus a display of local
archaeological finds courtesy of
Wolverhampton Archaeology Group.
Next we will feature an exhibition
about Dudley in World War One. The
public foyer area will house events
and temporary displays, as well
as being an area where users can
sit for refreshments whilst at The
Archives.
The new Mount Pleasant Search
Room, named in honour of our
former premises, has seating for
thirty users and space to access
A major change to the search room
is the provision of the local studies
collections on open access. There
has been an enthusiastic uptake for
our well-stocked library which offers
access to works including: 19th and
20th century directories, electoral
registers, books on famous local
people, works on local industries,
the Black Country economy and
society, and books by local authors.
Page l 2
Finally, our new building has a host
of hireable meeting rooms. The
largest of these - The Abbey Room has already seen wide use by a host
of groups, including our Friends
group and adult and community
learning courses. Altogether, the
building represents a huge change
to our former site and it allows us
to offer more to our users. So if you
haven’t done so already, come and
visit. Where will your research take
you?
Completion of ‘The Big Move’!
The journey to our new Archive Centre has been long and challenging but definitely
worth it! The Big Move involved many people and took over a year to plan and
implement.
The journey to our new Archive
Centre has been long and
challenging but definitely worth it!
The Big Move involved many people
and took over a year to plan and
implement.
From July to October 2014 we
ran a reduced service from Mount
Pleasant Street with the superb
help of our volunteers and extra
staff. The service included the
use of microfilms, a limited local
studies library and access to all our
archive catalogues. Plus staff and
volunteers were always on hand
to answer enquiries by phone,
post and email - although our
repackaging work meant we could
only do limited research!
We prepared our varied and
extensive collections for the move
by packaging items for protection,
assigning new locations, and
labelling every item to be put
straight onto the correct shelf on
arrival. We made it through 2,500
metres of archive tape, 3,000
archives boxes and over 4,000
moving labels! Our new strong room
was prepared for our collections
too, with over 4,000 shelves to label.
We couldn’t have prepared our
collections so well nor so quickly
without the help of extra staff and
our enthusiastic volunteers who put
in over 1,500 hours of work during
The Big Move.
Very quickly it was mid-October
and we were out of the preparatory
stage and into the actual move.
Our professional removal company,
Johnsons, were trained to move
the fragile archive collections and
used specialist removal vans and
equipment. The move took six
weeks in total, balancing speed
with care. The first day was nervewracking but we soon got into a
rhythm and it went by in a flash.
Before we knew it, the last archive
boxes arrived from Coseley and
were safely shelved in our new
strong room! However, the work
wasn’t done yet - we still had to
update our shelf lists to make sure
we could find records on request.
shelves; set up the reception desk
and installed our first exhibition.
Some wonderful images and text
from our collections were applied
to windows throughout the building
and the signage was installed to
direct visitors around the centre.
Finally, after a frantic final week, the
doors opened on the 14 January
to our first visitors and we were
overjoyed to hear all the positive
comments from visitors new and
old!
Periodicals Prep
In the final month before we opened
- which included a very welcome
Christmas break - we made the
Archives ready for its first visitors.
We arranged the search room
tables; installed microfilm readers
and PCs; moved the local studies
collection onto the new open access
Part of The Big Move involved
preparing the periodicals for
their new home. The collection
covers newsletters, journals,
school magazines, various
council papers, local industry,
entertainment, local elections
and much more.
The periodicals had previously
been kept in two places, due
to the lack of room in the local
history library. Members of
staff were tasked to join the
collections together and check
that everything was there.
Then the periodicals had to
be bundled, repackaged and
relabelled.
Once moved to the new building
the bound copies were put on
open shelves in the search room
and the others stored in the
strong room.
Page l 3
Document in focus: Coseley Old Meeting House
Ref: DSCAM/2/4/1/7
As a congregation, Coseley Old
Meeting House played an influential
role in the growth and development of
non conformity in this area.
Initially the congregation began as a Presbyterian
one, before becoming Unitarian, and was established
in 1662 after the Act of Uniformity.
This period saw many Church of England ministers
refuse to consent to the Act and as a result they
faced eviction from their livings and this allowed the
roots of religious non conformity to spread.
One such minister was Joseph Eccleshall, who
after leaving his living as Vicar at Sedgley, played
an integral role in the foundation of the first Old
Meeting House at Old End. Eccleshall remained with
his new congregation until his death in 1692, and he
was such a popular minister that at his funeral the
floor collapsed in the chapel under the weight of the
attendees!
Page l 4
These early beginnings make the Old Meeting House
one of the first non-conformist congregations in
the parish. It is also believed to be one of the first
churches of any denomination in Coseley.
The pictured indenture from our DSCAM collection
shows a release of land in 1716/7 which was
intended for the building of a meeting house for
religious worship. The chapel subsequently built on
this land in 1717 was the first permanent chapel for
the Unitarian congregation of Coseley Old Meeting
House.
The school which was later built at the rear of
the chapel is thought to be the first school in the
parish. The day school was endowed in 1753 which
enabled the purchase of books out of the rents
and profits from the properties in the endowment,
with the express purpose of teaching the poor
children of Coseley and Sedgley to read. Coseley
Old Meeting House helped encourage education
in the parish and exemplifies the link between the
practice of educational philanthropy and the Unitarian
movement.
New accessions: Archives
Since our last Journal (June 2013), we’ve had 43 new
accessions of all kinds which reflect the diversity of Dudley
Borough. These accessions feature church collections;
industrial and business records; personal and society
archives; school records; and photographs. We look forward
to making these collections available to you in the months
ahead but in the meantime, here are just a few examples of
these great collections.
• Acc 9730
Zulu Dawn Collection: Images collected by local
photographer Martin Jones, which document the early
hip-hop movement in the West Midlands and rest of the
UK. This collection is currently the focus of a HLF funded
project. (1983-1990)
• Acc 9731
Baggeridge Brick Works Collection: Includes minute
books, financial records, and photographs. (1920-1987)
• Acc 9734
Brian Griffin Archive: Collection of photographs,
postcards and ephemera from the renowned local
photographer whose work is regularly featured in
international exhibitions. (1940s-1990s)
• Acc 9744
Amblecote Scouts Collection: Including photographs,
VHS and cine film, log books and reports on camps and
visits. (1920-2011)
• Acc 9751
Michael Reuter Collection: Extensive collection of
photographs and documents relating to Dudley Borough
and the surrounding area.
• Acc 9755
Records of St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School:
Admission registers and log books. (1870-1999)
• Acc 9758
Records of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Dudley.
(1891-1976)
• Acc 9759
Records of Himley Red & Fire Brick Company Ltd:
Minute books, financial records and sales ledgers.
(1880-1980)
• Acc 9760
Records of Stourbridge Refractories Company Ltd:
Staff records. (1950s-1990s)
We have also recently acquired a manuscript Frankpledge
from the Court baron of the Manor of Swinford Regis of which
Edward Lord Dudley and Ward was Lord (Oct 16th 1708). The
document was purchased by the Friends of Dudley Archives
& Local History Service at auction in May and donated to the
service. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Friends
for the great work they do to support our service.
For a full list of accessions or any enquiries about new
collections, please speak to a member of staff who will be
more than willing to help.
New Accessions:
Local Studies
Since July 2013, our main focus has been our
relocation and re-opening of the service at our new
centre. This has meant that we haven’t added as
many new items to stock as we would have liked,
just 56. In the next few months we will be focusing
on ordering new books for the local studies
collection and cataloguing them so they will be
readily accessible for you.
Books purchased and awaiting cataloguing
include:
• The Earl of Dudley’s Railway by Ned Williams
• Worcestershire wobblers: a directory of brewers
in the old county by Keith Osborn
• The little book of the Black Country by Michael
Pearson
• The bench will retire: stories from the
magistrates’ courts of Dudley borough
• Wilf Barrett, 1923-2009: reminiscences taken
from a tape cassette, transferred onto CD and
transcribed by Eric Broadbent
• The Black Kingdom, photographs by Brian Griffin
A selection of comments
received since the new
centre opened
From our Visitors Book
“Great building, wonderful facilities”
“I look forward to using facilities at this
amazing building”
“Lovely new building and an excellent service”
“What a bostin place!”
“Staff extremely helpful”
Comments received by email
and through the “Talkback” scheme
“Thoroughly enjoyed the first day at the new
location - I particularly love being able to
browse through books, electoral registers
etc on open shelving. A much improved
environment and staff very helpful as always”
“Thank you so much for your speedy service!
I appreciate your efforts and the friendly
helpfulness of you and your colleagues at the
archives centre”
“Thank you for your help last week in finding
the marriage certificate for some grandparents.
I have never been to the archiving place before
and have to say I was impressed with the
building and the help I received”
Page l 5
Volunteer Update
Once again, we must give a huge vote of thanks to our volunteers as, without
doubt, their unstinting support as we prepared for our big move, was invaluable.
They worked so hard, wrapping
and boxing items, and repackaging
photographs, slides and pamphlets.
Indeed, the repackaging
programme could not have been
completed without their assistance.
Whilst we were offering a reduced
service prior to the closure of the
old building, volunteers supervised
and helped our users, which was
greatly valued.
In the year beginning May 2013
to the end of April 2014, our
volunteers worked for a total of
2,353 hours.
This is an increase on the total of
2,131 hours for the previous 12
months, in spite of the fact that
volunteers were unable to help
for some months during the move
to the new building - a wonderful
achievement.
Volunteers have also been involved
in the recently completed Earl
of Dudley cataloguing project
digitising the old collection listings.
They also compiled indexes
and transcripts to some of the
documents, and helped with renumbering items in the collection.
As well as all these additional
projects, volunteers have continued
with their usual tasks: providing
much appreciated computer
and searchroom buddy services;
completing parish register
transcriptions and workhouse
indexes; scanning and cataloguing
photographs.
We were so proud when they were
awarded a highly commended
certificate in the arts/heritage
category. Two of our volunteers
(Sylvia Butler and Sally Cartwright)
are seen here with Mayor Councillor
Alan Finch.
We’d like to give a big thank you to
all of our volunteers for their extra
efforts during this exciting year;
their help is very much appreciated!
Volunteers Week
In recognition of their key role in
supporting us to deliver services
effectively and to a high standard,
we nominated our volunteers for
the Dudley Volunteer Awards 2013.
1-7 June 2014
On Tuesday 3 June, the archives
staff arranged a social gathering
for the volunteers to show their
appreciation. Individual certificates
of achievement were presented and
light refreshments were served.
Local History Day
We are hosting the first Local History Day from our
brand new premises on Saturday 12 July, in celebration
of Black Country Day. It will be an exciting day with
talks by Chris Upton, Dave Cox, Roy Peacock and
Ned Williams; behind the scenes tours; a World War
One exhibition; Black Country poetry readings by Ian
Henery and displays by various local history societies.
Mapseeker Archive Publishing is also displaying its
Page l 6
collection of maps to promote their new book
‘Wildfire through Staffordshire’. Our Friends group are
organising a raffle (win a fantastic food hamper) and
serving refreshments all day: their wonderful cakes are
very popular so come early!
Come along and explore your new archive centre - we
hope to see you on the 12th July!
Current Projects
World War One Roy Peacock
The Black Country Society’s project ‘Men and Memorials of the
Great War’ aims to honour local Dudley Borough men who died
in WW1 through investigating the names on local war memorials.
We are hosting an exhibition of the research, starting on Local
History Day, 12 July, and remaining in place until October. The
display centres on photographs of local memorials and cemeteries
and features some of the men named on them. It also includes
folders containing descriptions of all those named on particular
memorials, including civic, church, school and works memorials.
Further folders include personal accounts, extracts from battalion
war diaries, information on the role of local men in particular
battles and mini-biographies of names from at least thirty war
memorials.
A website containing all of our research is planned so that the
information can be accessed at any time. The research is ongoing
and we are keen to involve those who might have material that we
could use in further exhibitions.
Please contact us either personally
at the Local History Day or via
www.blackcountrysociety.co.uk/contacts/
The early years of UK Hip Hop Archive Project
Martin Jones
This Heritage Lottery funded project will make accessible,
formerly unseen photographs of UK Hip Hop’s early days (19831990), by Sedgley photographer (and former Goldie Manager)
Martin Jones. The wonderful images are currently being digitised
and catalogued at the archives to be made accessible in an online
catalogue. The project also involves working with schools and
young people to record video reminiscences with early hip hop
pioneers; uses motion capture technology to record ‘Old School’
and ‘New School’ breakdancers at Loughborough University;
and will catalogue and repackage this wonderful archive. An
exciting exhibition of photographs,
memorabilia and other material will
run at the archives from October to
December 2014.
Black Country Echoes José Forrest-Tennant
Black Country Echoes is a programme of engagement and
collections development, telling the story of the industrial heritage
of the Black Country, culminating in a festival taking place at
twenty five venues across the Black Country from September to
December 2014. As well as getting first hand access to existing
manufacturing companies such as Solid Swivel and Plowden
& Thompson in Stourbridge, I‘m also working with participants
to tell the story of manufacturing across the Black Country by
highlighting past companies like Bluebird and James Grove &
Sons, a button makers - both based in Halesowen. The wealth
of information, support and enthusiasm from participants is
overwhelming and awe-inspiring and it’s the reason
why I continue to work within heritage! For more
information about the project, please contact me
José Forrest-Tennant (Community Engagement
Officer, Sandwell and Dudley) jose.forrest-tennant@
wolverhampton.gov.uk 01902 551069.
Volunteer spotlight:
Sylvia Peers
Sylvia’s first visit to Dudley archives was
probably in the late 1970s, when it was
still housed in Dudley Library. She was
then working for the Health Authority, and
needed to find a brief history of Dudley for
visitors from Holland.
She has been
researching
her own family
history for nearly
thirty years and
after completing
a family history
course, she joined
the Birmingham &
Midlands Society
for Genealogy
and Heraldry
(BMSGH). As a BMSGH member she
transcribed parish registers and she was
also involved with Staffordshire BMD’s
project of putting birth, marriage and
death indexes for South Staffordshire
online.
When the Friends of Dudley Archives and
Local History Service (FDALHS) were
formed in 2001, Sylvia was a member of
the first committee and later chairman of
the group for five years. Her voluntary
work for the group has been long and
varied. Now that she is retired, she has
plenty of spare time, and enjoys her
voluntary activities which all help people
in different ways.
One of the friends group’s first projects
was the ‘buddy’ system, and for many
years Sylvia has regularly shown visitors
how to use both archive and computer
resources. In between her ‘buddy’
work, she has transcribed and checked
many parish registers and workhouse
records. Sylvia can always be relied on
to help out at our open days, either at
the archives or elsewhere. Whilst the
archives ran a reduced service during
our move to the new centre, she assisted
with repackaging pamphlets. She also
became involved with the cataloguing of
the Dudley Estate collection, transcribing
pension books, rate books and a cottage
sales book. Finally, Sylvia is currently
filing the Dudley Estate printed catalogue
into poly pockets for the search room, a
tedious but essential task.
Thank you, Sylvia, for your many years of
service to Dudley Archives (not to mention
chocolates and biscuits for the staff from
time to time)!
Page l 7
Meet our new members of staff
What’s On:
July-December 2014
Friends of Dudley Archives:
Local History Talks 7.30pm
4 September
Max Keen ‘The Anglo Zulu War of
1879’
Bob Bennett (Archivist)
I’m one of the new faces behind
the search room desk this year,
having arrived in February, just
after the completion of the move.
I hail originally from Crewe in
Cheshire and took BA and MA
degrees in medieval history at
Aberystwyth University before
taking a training year at Durham’s
Palace Green Library. Having
completed my archive diploma at
Aberystwyth, I have since worked
for Eversheds LLP, followed by
a stint cataloguing eighteenthcentury Quarter Sessions records
at Devon Record Office, and Leeds
University Library’s Archives and
Special Collections, before arriving
here. I’ve also volunteered over the
years at a number of Welsh county
record offices including Glamorgan
and Ceredigion.
Sophie Wythes (Archive Assistant)
I’m very excited to taking up my
first post in this sector at Dudley
archives as an Archives Assistant.
Although this is the first time I have
worked in an archive, I have used
many for research and have been
involved in a volunteer scheme
with the National Archive to
transcribe their chancery records.
I started in August. I have a BA in
History, and a MA in Eighteenth
Century Studies from the University
of Leeds. My research interest lay
in religion and its social influences,
such as the growth of toleration
and educational philanthropy.
Luke Dady (Archive Assistant)
I am delighted to be taking steps
in the archiving world here at
Dudley, having joined as an
Archive Assistant in January. I have
volunteered at different places
such as Wolverhampton archives
and the BBC’s archives in London,
and working on projects as varied
as digitising coroner’s records or
cataloguing corporate websites.
I have a BA in Medieval and
Modern History and an MA in
First World War Studies, and have
subsequently undertaken an MSc
in Archive Administration with
Aberystwyth University; with my
focus being about how the internet
has changed the way users
approach archives. My historical
interests lie in the First World War
and propaganda, and so with the
centenary beginning this year, it
is an exciting time to be joining
this amazing team of staff and
volunteers.
Pictured: Luke, Bob and Sophie
Goodbye
Sadly, we had to say goodbye
to Rachael Marsay and Andrew
Ireland, who worked on the Earl
of Dudley cataloging project.
We will miss them but they have
left a lasting legacy in their work.
the
2 October
‘The real ‘Allo ‘Allo’: One of two
TV programmes that tell the
story of the escape lines that
helped Allied aircrew escape from
German occupied countries.
6 November
David Howe: “What is a name”;
Facts on the origins of British
Surnames.
4 December
AGM and Members evening.
All talks are free to members,
£1.50 to non-members.
The archives service
12 July Local History Day
13 September
Black Country Craft Fair
October
Black History Month, activities
yet to be finalised
Exhibitions
Until July 2014
Dudley Estate Archives
Eight centuries of history
July - October 2014
World War One
October - December 2014
Hip hop
Adults Community &
Learning Courses and
workshops including:
• Family History
• History of World War 1
For further information contact
Lisa Darby on 01384 814227
Course fees vary
archives
and local history centre
Tipton Road, Dudley DY1 4SQ