Archives in museums training day

11 January 2008
MLA East Midlands, 56 King Street, LE1 6RL

Museums across the region contain archives as part of their collections. While larger museums can employ specialist staff to deal with these items, smaller and volunteer-led museums are often unable or unclear how to manage, preserve and access the archives they hold.

This one-day course considers the important differences between museum objects and archive records and the difficulties that museums can have in storing, accessing and exploiting archives within their collections. Using a mixture of presentations, case studies and group working it aims to provide practical training to equip museum practitioners to manage and understand archives.

By the end of the day, participants will have considered:

• Why museums hold archives, what distinguishes them from their other collections and why this is important
• Practical strategies for the appropriate physical care of collections  
• Successful ways of exploiting archive collections to attract visitors, complement exhibitions, develop new users and to promote the museum

The course content is aimed at people with an active involvement in the museum world and is particularly suited to both qualified, non-qualified and volunteer museum staff working in smaller institutions without the benefit of professional support for their archive collections.

The training will be delivered by Jon Newman, a local authority archivist and archive and museum consultant, and Michael Cooper, Registrar of Nottingham City Museums and Galleries.

A sandwich lunch and refreshments are included.

To book a place on this free course please contact Audrey Thomas at MLA East Midlands by Mon 7 January. Telephone 0116 2851369 or email Audrey.