Archives for Learning and Education Section Annual Conference - 30th May 2014: The Archivist as a Teacher

The Archivist as a Teacher

The Frith Centre, Gloucestershire Archives, 30^th May 2014

Archivists are often portrayed as professional multi-taskers. One of the most valuable skills they possess is the ability to present, disseminate and make information accessible to a variety of audiences in a wide range on contexts and formats. In some respects, archivists share skill-sets with teachers and more broadly speaking with education professionals. This is particularly the case when archivists become involved in the development of educational resources.

This one-day conference would like to explore that aspect of the archivist’s work. Some of the issues we wish to address on the day include:

·         should archivists consider themselves to be 'teachers' - what is teaching and is that what we do in these situations?

·         what are the skills that archivists need to share with teachers?

·         what do archivists bring to the classroom that teachers and other education professionals can't?

·         what should archivists create? – (perspectives on changes to the curriculum in England and Wales and Scotland)

·         how can archivists market/advertise their existence and the existence of their resources/services?

The conference will be held at the Frith Centre, which is on the same site as Gloucestershire Archives, on Friday 30^th May. The event will be followed by the ALES AGM which everyone is welcome to attend.

For information about how to get there please see: http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/article/107383/The-Frith-Centre.

Cost: £25 for ARA members, £30 for non-ARA members, including lunch and refreshments.

For online bookings please see: is http://www.archives.org.uk/events/viewevent.html?eventid=281

PROGRAMME

9:00 – 9:20      Registration and coffee

9:20 – 9:30      Introduction and housekeeping

9:30 – 10:15    Keynote lecture 1 – Ian Coulson, Schools History Project, title tbc

10:15 – 10:45  Pupils in the Archive, Archives in the Classroom: Experiences of an Archivist/’Teacher’ at Westminster School, Elizabeth Wells, Westminster School Archives

10:45 – 11:15  In Your Own Backyard: Using Local Services to Support the Primary National Curriculum from 2014, Becky Sheldon, Derbyshire Record Office

11:15 – 11:30  Discussion

11:30 – 11:45  Tea/Coffee break

11:45 – 12:15  Engagement Through Participation: Designing Research, Edward Bottoms, Architectural Association Archives

12:15 – 12:45  Every Picture Tells a Story: Using Old Photographs as a Teaching Aid for NEETS, Dr Ann McVeigh, PRONI

12:45 – 13:00  Discussion

13:00 – 13:45  Lunch

13:45 – 14:30  Keynote lecture 2 – Scotland’s Archives and Excellence in Learning, Douglas Roberts, Scottish Council on Archives, and Rachel Hart, University of St. Andrews Archives and Special Collections

14:30 – 15:00  Learning to Read: The Archivist as a Teacher in the Provision of Palaeography Classes, Peter Lester, Nottinghamshire Archives

15:00 – 15:30  Making the Case for Archives Learning and Outreach as a Standalone Profession, Sarah Chapman and Lynsey McNab, University of Aberdeen Archives and Special Collections

15:30 – 15:45  Discussion

15:45 - 16:30   ALES AGM

16:30               Conclusion and departure

Institute Of Education Archives Event - Tuesday 25th March 2014

On Tuesday 25^th March 2014 the Institute of Education Archives will be holding its annual Friends of Newsam Library & Archives’ (FNLA) Study Day. This year’s event, “Anthem for doomed youth”?: exploring conflict and resolution through archives, considers the concepts of war, conflict and peace through the lens of learning and education.  

It is an informal day of talks and discussion from a range of people looking at the impact of war on education provision and the current work of the Institute of Education to teach today’s children about war and peace through archive collections – including the Centenary First World War Battlefields Project which was announced last year.

The day’s programme:

9.45-10.00	Welcome and Introductions (Sean Curran)
10.00-10.30	Activities in the Library and Archives (Sarah Aitchison)
10.30-11.30	Professor Stuart Foster & Simon Bendry Centenary First World War Battlefields Project
11.30-12.30	Dr Barry Blades, Teachers and the Great War, 1914-1919
12.30-13.30	Lunch (please bring your own). Tea and coffee will be provided.
13.30- 14.30	Walter Lewis, Educating Service Children in the 20th Century
14.30-15.30	Alix Hall, Thinking Outside the Box: Using Archives to Teach Perspectives on Wartime
15.30-16.00	Archive showcase of relevant collections from the Library Special Collections and Archives

Where: Newsam Library & Archives, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London
When: Tuesday, 25 March 2014 from 09:30 to 16:00
Register for free tickets here

Becky Webster

Archivist

Newsam Library and Archives
Institute of Education, University of London
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL

Tel: +44 (0)20 7612 6983

http://www.ioe.ac.uk/

Archive Catalogue

Twitter @ioelibrary / @NUWT_archive

Blog: http://newsamnews.ioe.ac.uk/  

Library & Archive Guides http://libguides.ioe.ac.uk/

Follow our HLF-funded Education Officer, Alix, as she creates a learning programme using the archive of the NUWT 

Please note that when we answer archive collection enquiries we retain a small amount of your personal data in our secure database. This data is stored and disposed of in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998

Archives for Learning and Education Section Annual Conference 2014: Call for Papers

The Archivist as a Teacher

The Frith Centre, Gloucestershire Archives, 30^th May 2014

Archivists are often portrayed as professional multi-taskers. One of the most valuable skills they possess is the ability to present, disseminate and make information accessible to a variety of audiences in a wide range on contexts and formats. In some respects, archivists share skill sets with teachers and more broadly speaking with education professionals. This is particularly the case when archivists become involved in the development of educational resources.

This one-day conference would like to explore that aspect of the archivist’s work. Questions that we wish to cover in the day include:

• should archivists consider themselves to be 'teachers' - what is teaching and is that what we do in these situations?
• what are the skills that archivists need to share with teachers?
• what do archivists bring to the classroom that teachers and other education professionals can't?
• what should archivists create? – (perspectives on changes to the curriculum in England and Wales and Scotland)
• how can archivists market/advertise their existence and the existence of their resources/services?

We are inviting 30 minute presentations focusing on practical experiences and case studies around these topics. If you are interested please email me (m.castrillo@nls.uk) an abstract with an outline of your proposal.

The deadline for submissions is 18^th March. Once all submissions have been received a small committee will meet to review them and make a selection.

Kind regards

Maria Castrillo (ALES Training Officer)

Dr Maria Castrillo

Curator

Manuscript and Archive Collections

National Library of Scotland

George IV Bridge

Edinburgh EH1 1EW

Tel: 0131 623 3871

Email: m.castrillo@nls.uk

New ALES Committee Members

We have two new ALES committee members, Sarah Chapman and Lynsey McNab. Sarah and Lynsey both work as Learning and Outreach Officers at the University of Aberdeen.

Sarah and Lynesy  would  both like to introduce themselves.


Sarah Chapman

I have worked in archives education for over five years now. Prior to moving to Aberdeen in 2011, I was Education and Outreach Assistant at the Heritage Hub in Hawick, the home of Scottish Borders Council Archive Service. Before that I worked at Tweeddale Museum and Art Gallery on a variety of projects in different areas including museum education and collections care.

I studied History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, and worked for The National Trust for Scotland at Newhailes after graduating as a tour guide and conservation volunteer. This gave me a taste for working in the heritage sector and I went on to do my Masters in Art Museum and Gallery Studies at Newcastle University, part of which was a two-month placement at the Bowes Museum, Co. Durham.

Lynsey McNab

My background is in visual arts. I studied Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art, and while there worked on a range of community art projects working with schools, families and the elderly. My summer job was working at a local after school care club which gave me a fabulous education in childcare! I studied for my Masters in Art Museum and Gallery Education at Newcastle University and as part of my course I did a two-month placement with the education team at the Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, working with Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums. I went on to volunteer and intern at a number of venues including a six month internship at the Geffrye Museum of the Home in London as part of the Cultural Olympiad youth project, Stories of the World. In September 2011 I moved to Aberdeen to start work at the Special Collections Centre. 

Watch the blog over the next few months as we introduce the rest of the ALES team (probably minus the costumes!!)

Education Workshops for Scottish Archives (7 & 19 November 2013)

The Scottish Council on Archives is holding two one-day education workshops. Each workshop explores a method of creating simple and effective education resources for primary or secondary-age students using archive records.

Both workshops are led by our Education Development Officer Douglas Roberts, with input from other archives education professionals. Using existing tried-and-tested resources as examples, you will learn how to select suitable archive records, and how to create your own learning materials based on those records for school students.

The resources we create together on the days will be written up and made available for you to use.

The workshops are each standalone and deal with different approaches (Enquiry-based and Drama-based), so you will benefit from attending one or both of them. Space is very restricted on these free sessions so please register early. Lunch will be provided.

Click on the following links for more details and to book.

·         7 November 2013 - Workshop One (Glasgow): Click here for information

*Book before 9am on Monday 28 October 2013*

·         19 November 2013 - Workshop Two (Edinburgh): Click here for information

*Book before 9am on Monday 11 November 2013*

Best wishes,

Ben

Benjamin Bennett

Communication and Operations Officer

SCOTTISH COUNCIL ON ARCHIVES

General Register House  2 Princes Street  Edinburgh  EH1 3YY

W  www.scottisharchives.org.uk  E  b.bennett@scottisharchives.org.uk  T  +44 (0)131 535 1362  M  +44 (0)787 520 0694

Follow us @ScotsArchives

A Mark in Time: A Journey through East Lothian

The John Gray Centre is continuing its collaboration with illustrator Lucy Roscoe to bring stories our archive and local history to life. Our Development Officer, Caroline Mathers attended an art fair in Edinburgh with an idea for creating visual interpretations of our collections. Caroline met Lucy and knew straight away that she as the artist for the job. Lucy’s style compliments the historic nature of archive collections perfectly and her love of all things paper really sealed the deal. One pot of tea later, The Illustrated Archive was born. After a few days buried in our archive Lucy found something she loved and produced 25 original illustrations based on entries from the Haddington Criminal Record (1894-1901). The outcome was a fun and witty cartoon newspaper bringing some of the characters from the register to life.

Not content with this, Lucy then decided to explore East Lothian with her sketchbook, capturing some of her favourite scenes as she went entwining them with stories she came across while researching our local history resources. The result was a new piece of work called A Mark in time: An Illustrated Journey through East Lothian. This is a beautiful representation of Lucy’s travels; from Haddington High Street to Dunbar Harbour and the Strawberry pickers of Ormiston to Cockenzie Power Station, Lucy has worked her magic, creating a beautiful set of illustrations for us to enjoy in our new publication.

This has been a hugely successful collaboration and highlights how imaginative and creative archive learning projects can be.

You can see The Illustrated Archive and illustrations from A Mark in Time on our web site www.johngraycentre.org

If you would like a copy of the Illustrated Archive (free) or A Mark in time (£10) please contact:

Caroline Mathers

John Gray Centre Development Officer

cmathers@eastlothian.gov.uk

Life is for Livingston - Art Inspired by Archives

West Lothian Archives and Records Centre has been working with partners in Arts Services to deliver an education based art project which takes its inspiration from archives. Arts Officer, Len McCaffer, gives an overview of the project. 

In October 2011 I had several conversations with community group that I work with and they were interested in doing a project around Livingston’s forthcoming 50^th Anniversary.  In partnership with West Lothian Archives and along with support from the Community groups we were successful in an £49,800 application to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The archive is already home to the records of the Livingston Development Corporation which capture the history of the town from a corporate perspective.  This collection would prove to be the catalyst in discovering the community history and stories that are integral in making Livingston what it is today.  We aimed to allow the residents of Livingston to express, through different art and heritage projects, their stories and feelings.  What was it like coming to a ‘New Town’?  What was it like to grow up in Livingston?  How has it developed over the 50 years?

The Arts strand of the project had four main programmes; a visual art project where seven community groups and schools worked with artist Tessa Dunlop by looking at the archives and then expressing what Livingston meant to them.  These would become huge mock stain-glass windows that became a semi-permanent exhibition at the Howden Park Centre.  There was also a photography project that began by looking at archive photographs as inspiration to create new images.  Participants, superimposed themselves into old photographs, created plates, t-shirts and even skateboards.  Award winning filmmaker Thomas Sheridan worked with residents to create a documentary film that not only took the participants to the Archive department but uses footage as part of the film, this will be screened and entered into film festivals nationally and globally.  Lastly, a Livingston Art App that records all of Livingstons 29 pieces of public art and directs the user to the art and tells them about it, this will be an online archive. 

Over 360 people aged between 8-89 have been involved and over eleven community groups.  The groups all came together for the launch of the windows and photography exhibition and through the arts project they have helped to illuminate their own history and stories and preserve them for future generations to enjoy.