Following on from my previous blog posts I am continuing my work checking the Hughes catalogue. Given the sheer size of the archive and the need to check and add information to a variety of different fields from date and quantity to a description of the archival material this is going to take quite a while.
I thought that some statistics about the archive might be useful at this point. When the archive first arrived at the library it was housed in an assortment of over 220 box-files, folders and cardboard boxes. This material has now been placed in acid-free folders and boxes and in total there are 420 folders, 3 large volumes, 10 oversize items (which will not fit into standard size archive boxes), 1 box and 1 large envelope. From these figures it seems almost as though the archive has grown, which I should say that it hasn't! Hopefully though, by repackaging the archive into acid-free containers it should be possible to help ensure its future preservation.
In addition to this work I am also currently preparing information about the Hughes archive for a talk that I will be giving later this week as part of the Ted Hughes festival being organised by the Elmet Trust. The festival, which takes place in Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge from Thursday 22nd until Sunday 25th October includes evening events with the poets, John Hegley and Jackie Kay; a talk from Keith Sagar, a Hughes academic and a guided walk led by Hughes' childhood friend, Donald Crossley. Further information about the festival can be found on the Elmet Trust website. Now I had better get back to my talk...
Comments