Charity Archives and Records Now: New Directions

Join us for a stimulating discussion on the challenges and achievements in the charity archives and records sector.

This event presents new research from an AHRC-funded collaborative doctoral award showing that voluntary sector organisations have made novel and important contributions to record-keeping. The PhD, undertaken by Paul Beard, was a collaboration between The National Archives (TNA) and UCL. Its findings move beyond anecdotal evidence – and the uncritical assumption that the records of charities and voluntary sector organisations in England are at an elevated level of risk – towards a more nuanced understanding of the topic.

This event invites policy makers, practitioners and researchers to engage with the findings of this interdisciplinary study. What do its findings mean for record keeping in charities as the voluntary sector faces unpredictable and challenging times? What are the next steps for interventions such as The National Archives’ Charity Archives Development Plan? How can the archives sector and the voluntary sector work together on the issue?

While we encourage attendees to stay for the full day, there is the opportunity to sign up for just the morning policy session.

Programme

10.00 Registration (Tea and coffee served in Lecture Room)

10.30 Welcome and introductions

Georgina Brewis (UCL)

10.45 Session 1: Charity records at risk? Future interventions to support charity record keeping

Chair: Angela Ellis Paine (Bayes Business School, City St George’s)

Speaker: Paul Beard (UCL/Salvation Army)

Respondents:

• Mazeda Alam (Head of Guidance and Practice, The Charity Commission)
• Leigh Brimicombe (Chief Influencing Officer, NCVO)
• Daniella Gonzalez (Archivist, Islamic Relief)
• Jay Kennedy (Director of Policy and Research, Directory of Social Change)
• Saul Nassé (Chief Executive and Keeper of Public Records, The National Archives)

12.15 Lunch

13.00 Session 2: Charity records in practice: Getting to grips with details of working with charity archives (When registering we will ask you to select one workshop)

How to manage digital records? (Simon Wilson and Kevin Bolton, archive consultants, introduced by Kathryn Preston, SHAPE Room)

Managing the vast quantities of digital information created every day is a significant but often underestimated challenge for the voluntary sector. This session will help you to consider how to take control of your organisation’s digital records and will introduce new guidance on the subject that has been developed specifically for the voluntary sector

How to make the most of your charity’s institutional archive? (Stephen Noble, Archivist, British Red Cross introduced by Paul Beard, Lecture Room)

The British Red Cross is the only accredited charity archive service under the UK Archives Service Accreditation Standard. This session will use the accreditation framework to help you think through how to make the most of your organisation’s archives and records, with topics including governance, access, risk and audiences.

How to get the most out of interdisciplinary research with charity archives? (Georgina Brewis (UCL) and Angela Ellis Paine (Bayes Business School), Wohl Gallery)

The records of voluntary organisations can be valuable research resources both for academic research across many disciplines as well as for staff based within charities. This session will help you think through questions of access to archives, identification and ‘co-curation’ of records, ethics, analysis and dissemination of findings.

14.15 Break (Tea and coffee served in Lecture Room)

14.45 Session 3: Charity records leading the way? Research and practice on person-centred approaches (SHAPE Room)

Chaired and introduced by Anna Sexton (UCL)

Speakers:

Philip Milnes-Smith (Shakespeare’s Globe)

Megan Parker (Barnardo’s)

16.15 Closing comments and next steps

Georgina Brewis (UCL) and Kathryn Preston (TNA)

16.30 Close

About charity records

Charity records represent valuable assets. As strategic assets, they are vital for organisational identity, governance and accountability. As research assets, they provide unique insights into individual, organisational and societal change not available elsewhere. Their significance, however, is often overlooked. Over recent years there has been increasing recognition of the at-risk nature of many charity archives, prompting a range of initiatives. Challenges facing the voluntary sector have intersected with those facing the archives sector to create a perfect storm in the preservation of charity records. The acknowledgement of these difficulties has been welcome. It is, however, only one part of the story. It fails to recognise important work taking place within charities to preserve records, to make collections available, and to drive developments in wider archiving practice, such as person-centred approaches.

Read more: A collaborative, interdisciplinary project that promotes the preservation and use of the archives and records of charities, voluntary and community organisations.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher International Centre Historical Research Education