Glasgow's universities and colleges work in historic collaboratation

Published: 17 August 2001

Many of Scotland's most significant archival records are to be made available to the public for the first time via the Internet. An archivist has been appointed to catalogue historic records held in Glasgow's universities and colleges.

Many of Scotland's most significant archival records are to be made available to the public for the first time via the Internet. A newly appointed archivist will undertake the project, working jointly for of the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow School of Art, the Royal Academy of Music & Drama and the University of Strathclyde. Records of individuals and organisations including John Logie Baird, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, economist Charles Geddes, the TSB, House of Fraser department stores and Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, acquired over hundreds of years, are currently buried in the libraries and archives of Glasgow's universities and colleges. This two-year project marks the first time that the archives have all worked together, pooling their expertise and specialist knowledge.

Project leader Lesley Richmond says "Every institution was keen from the outset to put together a joint Glasgow bid in order to produce the best possible outcome for all. This is a real first for collaboration between higher education institutions across the city and I hope it will lead to more joint projects."

Following a successful joint funding application to the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) by Glasgow's universities and colleges an archivist has been employed to create descriptions of thousands of archives for submission to the Higher Education Archives Hub at http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk. Here they will sit alongside similar descriptions from over 40 other university and college archives on a single website where they will be fully searchable by a worldwide audience. By 2003 it is expected that Glasgow archives will represent 24% of the content of the HE Archives Hub.

Commenting on the Hub project, Lesley Richmond said "Despite the rich research resources that university archives contain for both academic and public users, limited financial resources are available to publicise what we look after. The Hub project will be a great boost to all university archive collections. It will help unlock a world of information to those with an enthusiasm for history and culture."

Images are available.

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)


Contact:
Lesley Richmond, Project leader
L.Richmond@archives.gla.ac.uk

David Powell, Hub Project Archivist
D.Powell@archives.gla.ac.uk

First published: 17 August 2001

<< August