Before we begin, a big thank you for your patience while we resolved our issue last week. The blog has been fully restored and hopefully there will be no further technical glitches- we are back in business!

We recently digitised NRS 20024 Photos of metropolitan, country roads ferries etc., and miscellaneous operations, NSW 1926-1946.

These images were taken by the Department of Main Roads to show roads before and after roadwork had been done.

While at first glance these images may seem mundane, the interest in the images lies in the detail. Zoom in and the bustle of daily life is revealed. It’s like google street view c. 1930!

Here are details taken from a few images in NRS 20224. Click on the images for a larger version or click the link below each image to see the original photograph in our catalogue.

242 Corner Botany and Henderson Roads. (Undated)

Digital ID: 20224_a038_000148

Great Western Highway – Parramatta. After reconstruction of widened section. (08/12/1936)

Digital ID: 20224_a038_000843

Cooks River Road, St Peters – Finished work. (12/09/1929)

Digital ID: 20224_a038_001073

New South Head Road Paddington – showing completed concrete with sand covering – Tar Macadam strip between Concrete and Tramway. Taken from Nield St. looking West. (Undated)

Digital ID: 20224_a038_000011

Pacific Highway S.H.10 [State Highway] Lane Cove Rd, North Sydney, near Mount Street. (04/05/1931)

Digital ID: 20224_a038_001290

Pennant Hills Rd, Baulkham Hills. Prior to reconstruction. (19/11/1934)

Digital ID: 20224_a038_000714

State Records’ staff were recognised at the recent Australian Society of Archivists Conference in Canberra with Mander Jones Awards for 2012 and in the 2013 President’s Awards of the Australian Society of Archivists.

On 15 October 2013 the winners of the 2012 Mander Jones Awards were announced at the Australian Society of Archivists Conference in Canberra. These awards are the highest professional recognition for those working in archival related fields in Australia and New Zealand.

State Records NSW and its staff received recognition in the following categories:

Commendation for the best finding aid to an archival collection held by an Australian institution or about Australia. (Category 3)

Presented to State Records NSW and to Janette Pelosi as Project Coordinator for Sentenced beyond the Seas: Australia’s early convict records

Janette acknowledged all those at State Records NSW, those in our partner institutions – the National Library of Australia, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives (UK) – and also at W & F. Pascoe Pty Ltd who contributed to the project.

The names of all contributors are on the project home page.

Mander Jones Award 2012 for best article or chapter about archives written by an Australian in an archives, library, museum or records management journal or within an anthology / monograph (Category 5)

Presented to Dr Richard Lehane for ‘Documenting sites of creation’, Archives and Manuscripts, Vol. 40 No. 3, November 2012, 171-180.

At the ASA AGM held on Tuesday 15 October 2013 Dr Richard Lehane was also one of eight ASA members acknowledged for their significant contribution to the running of the society with the awarding of a President’s Award. Richard received his President’s award “for his excellent work as an understudy to the Archives & Manuscripts Editor, with affability and an understated yet piercing intelligence”.

Mander Jones Award 2012 for the best article or chapter about archives written by an Australian in a journal or newspaper or within an anthology / monograph not primarily intended for archivists or records managers (Category 6)

Presented to Janette Pelosi for “‘Submitted for approval of the Colonial Secretary’: Popular Entertainment in the State Archives, 1828-1856”, in A World of Popular Entertainments: an edited volume of critical essays, edited by Gillian Arrighi and Victor Emeljanow, (Newcastle Upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012) Chapter 7 (pp.83-100) and Appendix A: Plays Submitted to the Colonial Secretary, NSW, Australia 1841-1856 (pp.244-249).

Congratulations to all the Mander Jones Award winners for 2012!

The State Records NSW Digital Archives project team has released the Digital Archives migration methodology as an exposure draft on the State Records website.

Digital archiving presents many challenges regarding preservation, storage and access but included with these is the challenge of transferring digital records required as State archives from agencies to State Records. Whilst State Records has well established procedures and processes for transferring physical format records required as State archives the transfer of their digital format equivalents is new for State Records. There are many requirements that are the same for the transfer of both physical and digital format records but the transfer digital format records does require new processes to be established.

The migration methodology has been developed by the Digital Archives project team to establish a means of managing transfers of digital records required for retention as State archives. These transfers will be undertaken as migrations from agency systems to the State Records Digital Archives.

The methodology provides a structured framework to manage these migrations as projects. Development of the methodology has focused on producing an adaptable, flexible and scalable model that can be used to manage different types of migration scenarios to the Digital Archives repository.

State Records is seeking comment on the exposure draft. Comments can be submitted via email to Paul Elliott, Project Officer Digital Archives: paul.elliott@records.nsw.gov.au. The methodology will be open for comment until Friday 25 October 2013.