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Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage. The Helpers system Steering group meeting May 2005 Richard Butterworth. Overview. Technical progress Helpers descriptions Liaison Evaluation Project completion. Technical progress. The web interface is now up and working:

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Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

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  1. Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage The Helpers system Steering group meeting May 2005 Richard Butterworth Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  2. Overview... • Technical progress • Helpers descriptions • Liaison • Evaluation • Project completion Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  3. Technical progress • The web interface is now up and working: • helpers.shl.lon.ac.uk • Limited amount of content, but all functionality is there • Shmml editors are long finished and have been tested by generating both the AAMH site and Helpers site • Some other supporting tools created: glossary editor, etc. Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  4. Technical things still to do... • Get the comments system online • Sort out error reporting • Documentation • Make transfer from local machines to server a bit more graceful Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  5. Helpers descriptions... • When asked, archivists are happy to explain what their archives are used for... • ...but this information is not in an ISAD(G) description of a collection • A Helpers description is a subjective description of what a collection can be used for... • ...as opposed to an objective description of what’s in it. • Is this a novel idea? Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  6. Linking research questions to archives • You’re researching your family history, Great-great uncle Septimus is in the 1891 census, but not in 1901 census. You can’t trace any death certificate, so what happened to him? Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  7. AIM25 description... • Title: MANSON, Sir Patrick (1844-1922) • Scope and content/abstract: Papers of Sir Patrick Manson, 1865-1964, including Manson's diaries, 1865-1879, containing notes on the discovery of mosquitoes as carriers of malaria and patient case notes; bound manuscript notes of his discovery of filaria, 1877; original drawings of eggs of bilharzias and embryos of guinea worms, 1893; drawings by Manson of filarial embryos, 1891; correspondence with Charles Wilberforce Daniels, Herbert Edward Durham and James Michelli on tropical medical matters, 1900-1914; photographs, including Manson's birthplace and the Manse (Manson's parents' house), Manson in 1864 and 1875, Manson lecturing in the original laboratory, original building and laboratory of LSHTM, Manson's grave; certificates and medals awarded to Manson; correspondence between Mary Rose Hossack (Manson's daughter) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine over his papers, including a memorandum on Manson's will, 1963-1964; certificates of election as Fellow of the Royal Society 1900, and awards of CMG, KCMG and GCMG; medals including Fothergill Medal, 1902, Bisset Hawkins Medal, 1905, Mary Kingsley Medal, 1905, and Jenner Medal, 1912. Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  8. LSHTM archive site • Manson, Sir Patrick (1844-1922) correspondence and papers; research papers; lectures; publications; diaries; photographs; scientific artefacts; volumes of medical examinations of candidates for service in the colonies and protectorates (1898-1919). Dates: 1865-1964. Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  9. Helpers description... • Use: Family history • Themes: Mobility, occupations • Detailed use description: The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine holds an archive of the medical examinations of people who emigrated to the British colonies and protectorates between 1898 and 1919. As well as giving a detailed account of the subject’s health, each record gives a small amount of family history parents, children and siblings) as well as some details about their current job, the job that they were intending to take up in the colonies and its location. • If you have a relative who apparently 'disappeared' at the end of the 19th Century, e.g. they’re in the 1891 census, but not in the 1901 census, they may have emigrated, and this collection may give you a clue as to where and when they went. Also, although the family history on the record is brief, it could be useful to give supporting evidence to clarify ambiguities in your family history. Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  10. Collection name Hosting institution Detailed usage description How to find out if the collection is useful Access arrangements More information Overview Usage Themes Geographic area Dates Size A Helpers description... Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  11. Helpers implementation • Stored as a database • Currently read from XML text files • May use MySQL database if efficiency a problem • Fields not ‘hardwired’ in... yet. • Fields as Shmml data • Search/browsable on site • Search or browse? • User comments invited online Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  12. Liaison • UL archivists • SOAS, LSE and LSHTM... • TNA life long learner section • Nick Barratt • Family history themes • West Middlesex Family History, LAUF... • Birkbeck CE genealogy course • Croydon Local History Library... Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  13. Focus groups... • Problem... • Two arranged in March, two on Saturdays in April... • Solution? • Use of experts over users? • Invitation to solve research problems • Prototype now exists, so there is an artefact to test... • ...emailing various interested parties for comment. Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  14. Next round of liaison and evaluation... • All UL archivists • Produce critical mass of Helpers descriptions • Pick up TNA etc contacts... • Advertise research offer • Gradually roll out the web-site Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  15. Promotion • Reporting to users • Local and history ‘trade’ magazines • Reporting to professionals • CILIP, GLAN etc... • Reporting to academics • JCDL, ECDL, Journal of Documentation • Launch event • Early September • Leaflets, mail outs, etc... Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  16. Project completion • Writing and uploading the Helpers descriptions • Tutorials, annotated links • Mop up remaining technicalities • Maybe systematic description of library holdings... Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

  17. What we said we’d do... • Christmas 2004 • Prototype tutorials, finish backend system, finish digitisation system Done • Easter 2005 • Finish tutorials, finish discussion boards, finish annotated links Partial • May 2005 • Finish question/archive database Partial • Rest of project • Evaluate Ongoing Accessing our archival and manuscript heritage

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