In 2017-18, ISWE received an ESRC Impact Acceleration Award for a knowledge exchange project which succeeded in bringing archivists together with academics and other users of archives to discuss ways of making estate archives more accessible, discoverable and usable.
Estate archives constitute a significant component of the nation’s archival holdings and provide unique insights into social, economic and political developments in Wales over centuries. However, these collections are notoriously complex and difficult to engage with.
The project proceeded as a collaboration across Bangor and Aberystwyth universities, led by Dr. J. Gwilym Owen, Dr. Shaun Evans and Dr. Julie Mathias, with the support of Archives Wales, National Library of Wales and several Welsh county record offices.
Three knowledge exchange workshops were held at the National Library of Wales, Glamorgan Archives and Bangor University Archives and Special Collections, which brought together archivists with academics, local historians, family historians, heritage professionals, land managers and environmental agencies to discuss the cultural and intellectual value of estate archives, their various uses, challenges associated with their nature and composition, and opportunities for improving accessibility and discoverability.
The workshop participants concluded that an online toolkit to help users navigate different record types and explore particular themes or questions would be highly advantageous. A report of the project is published in Archives and Records 40, 1 (2019), 86-109.
ISWE is committed to the co-creation of such a resource as a long-term objective.