A birds-eye view of Dacey Garden suburb as it will appear when completed
Fiona Sullivan & Anthea Brown
This is a roundup of some of the interesting online sites that Anthea and I have stumbled across over the last month or so. We’ve tried to include something for everyone so there’s some Archives 2.0 links, some information about online professional communities, a great blog on the processing of an archival collection, some practical conservation resources and last but not least a news article about the launch of some online research tools from The National Archives in the UK.
Do you twitter? If you do and you’d like to follow Archival content try following #archives. If you’re interested in spreading the net a little wider then you might find #libraries and #web2.0 interesting as well.
LiveJournal Archivist’s Journal
If LiveJournal is your online community of choice then you may want to check out the LiveJournal Archivist’s Journal. It primarily has a North American focus with questions being asked and answered on a broad range of topics. If you’re looking for tips and tricks on how to enter the profession and build your career this site may be especially handy as a lot of advice is given to those trying to break into the field.
Web 2.0
If you’re interested in contributing to, or following discussion on Archives 2.0 and the opportunities and challenges it presents then this is a great blog with an international membership. If you’re not sure where to dive in first you could check out this introductory slideshow on Archives 2.0 or dive straight into the controversy in the “Why are archives websites so dull – and what can we do about it?” post!
Processing the Chew Family Papers
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to follow the archival processing of a collection from start to finish? If you have then this is the blog for you. In 2008 the Historical Society of Pennsylvania received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to process the Chew Family papers. The Chews were a prominent Philadelphia family and the collection of documents spans 300 years of their history. The blog records the highs and lows of the project as well as the many discoveries made along the way until it concludes with the production of the archival finding aid.
Photograph Conservation
This is a great post from Cheryl Jackson, photograph conservator at the National Archives of Australia, on the CAN Outreach blog outlining the tips and tricks involved in preserving photographic collections. The post also contains links to lots of other useful online resources for photograph conservation.
Removing Staples from Documents
Continuing on with the conservation theme the North East Document Conservation Centre has an online leaflet demonstrating the safe removal of fasteners such as staples, paper clips, string and rubber bands from historic documents. These fasteners can cause damage to documents by catching on things or leaving residue behind as they rust or decay so it’s generally a good idea to remove them from documents you are planning to keep in the long term.
New Online Tools for Researchers
The National Archives in the United Kingdom has launched a new set of online tools aimed at assisting researchers looking for the records of a person. They have developed a set of more than 60 “research signposts” to simplify the process of searching for information about an ancestor. They’ve also launched a series animated guides to help researchers understand how the Archives works.