Hastings Museum & Art Gallery receives National Archives scoping grant

Hastings Museum & Art Gallery has been given a National Archives scoping grant through their Archives Revealed programme, one of only four announced this month.

The grant is used to appoint a specialist to produce a report on the collections at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery.

Archives Revealed focuses on transforming access to archives for a wide range of users, enabling more people to engage with the UK's rich documentary heritage. Archives Revealed is a partnership programme between The National Archives and The Pilgrim Trust, and is the only funding stream in the UK dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archives.

The recipients of this funding are Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, Charlton Athletic Museum, the Centre for Human Ecology, and Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council. The scoping grants awarded to these organisations are to appoint a specialist tailored reports that incorporate expert advice on a range of areas relating to collections management and development. In particular, these assessments provide:

• an overview of the current status of the collection
• analysis of its overall condition, significance, existing and potential use, levels of access, and existing documentation
• recommendations about the next steps to achieve the development goals for the service
  

Cllr Paul Barnett, lead councillor for Regeneration, said,

"It's brilliant to see that Hastings Museum and Art Gallery has been chosen for this grant.

"The archives are really important to the brilliant work our museum does, and also to help us all better understand the history of our wonderful town. I am delighted that this grant will mean our archives become far more accessible"

Damian Etheraads, Museum and Cultural Development Manager said,

"We are really delighted to have been awarded this scoping grant. It will enable us to better understand our extensive archives of local books and directories, maps, newspaper cuttings, photographs and local interest journals and magazines so that we can make better of use of these collections in the future. We would like to thank the Archives Revealed team and judging panel for their generous support of Hastings Museum & Art Gallery."