It was wonderful for me to have the chance to attend the Society of Archivists’ conference. Many of the papers addressed the future of electronic records, something very important to the EAP. Included in the programme was a talk by Will Prentice on internships for Archivists offered by The British Library’s sound archives team. The conference also gave me the chance to discuss cataloguing, copyright, metadata and other issues with colleagues. And, because I arrived a few days early, I also had a chance to see Bristol, a lovely city.

Back at the Library, I spent most of last week answering emails and checking new accessions. But it was a busy week for two other reasons. Firstly, we put out an advertisement for a new temporary cataloguer. Details of the post are on the Library's main careers site. Secondly, the EAP sent out a call for the next round of applicaitons. Details of how to apply are on the web pages.

This looks like a good place to give some information on how the Programme works. After the call for submissions goes out, interested applicants fill out a Preliminary Application form. These are assessed and the applicants may then be invited to submit a Detailed Application. The detailed application form allows the intended projects to be explained in full: in terms of what the project hopes to achieve and how the work will be organised. When these are received, they are discussed and evaluated by our international advisory panel who meet in April each year. Successful applicants are informed shortly afterwards.

The amount of funding varies, as do the timescales, from project to project. A recent tally revealed that the EAP has funded 118 projects so far. Of these, 50 have been completed.

After a break in posting last month, the EAP blog will be quiet for another two weeks. Next week I'm taking some leave and then I'll be attending the UK Society of Archivists' Conference. I'm looking forward to the holiday and to the Conference which should be particularly relevant to the EAP. The Conference title is: "Fast Forward: preservation and access in a digital world".

Preserving the material we receive is a big responsibility; providing access to it is a joy. The EAP has already accumulated a large number of digital files and microfilms. The data, stories, information and memories contained within these files and rolls of film are a treasure. They need only be accessed and researched to fulfil one of the original aims of the Programme, that of making the material available for use by scholars worldwide.

The dual focus of the conference is thus welcomed. I'm eager to be brought up-to-date on new theory and approaches to these ever-present digital challenges.

My apologies for not posting for over a month! Where does the time go? Unfortunately, I spent the past couple of weeks recovering from a bout of the flu. This explains some of my inactivity blog-wise. For the rest, well our new cataloguing system went live last month and we've been receiving final submissions of material from projects, keeping me busy cataloguing and accessioning.

The results of two newly-finished projects were waiting for me when I returned. The first consisted of over 300 DVDs worth of historical periodicals from Jerusalem. This project - Preservation of historical periodical collections (1900-1950) at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library in East Jerusalem - successfully copied 24 titles, including 13 newspaper titles and 11 magazine and journal titles. These items record the history of Palestine in the first half of the 20th century, documenting important historic events and political movements as well as the development of the Arab press during this period.

The second project to submit material - Archiving 'popular market' Bengali books - copied almost 3000 examples of street literature from Bengali. These books cover such a variety of themes and genres it's impossible to adequately summarise thier content. But, to mention a few of the topics covered, there are books on local history, folk culture, songs, religion, cooking, agriculture and farming techniques, general knowledge, citizens rights and political reform, as well as astrology, films, plays and fiction of all types. Although immensely popular with their readers, literature of this type is endangered because of their short print runs, the quality of the paper they're printed on and the nature of their use.

This week we received material from another project copying records relating to slavery: Inventory of archival holdings in Jamaica. It seems appropriate to highlight this material, following on from my last post.

The project focused on undertaking a survey of endangered records, but also copied items from the Jamaica Archives and Records Department, the National Library of Jamaica, the Library of the University of the West Indies and the Roman Catholic Chancery in Kingston. All four institutions contain valuable material relating to the lives of enslaved Africans and free blacks in Jamaica during the period 1655-1800. The material chosen to be copied covers birth, death and marriage registers, manumission registers, indentures, correspondence and petitions. The surveys reveal many other records containing genealogical and historical information relating to slaves and slavery in Jamaica.

Here's a page from one of the Manumission Registers:

These Registers were deposited with the Office of the Island Secretary of Jamaica. They contain certificates, or deeds, of freedom for free people of "colour", which included people with both black and mixed-race backgrounds. They're written in English and Spanish and give names, dates and other information. They're currently housed at the Jamaica Archives and Records Department.

While looking over this new accession I noticed the poor condition of some of the original records. Jamaica's tropical climate and warm temperatures provide less than ideal conditions for storing historical material long term. Paper and other materials suffer from heat and fluctuations in temperature due to their chemical make-up; and vermin and insects particularly like hot and humid climates, and can be very tenacious in discovering ways into archival stores. In this, the records of Jamaica have something in common with those from Tuvalu.

In 2007 Britain marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The same year saw the completion of the following EAP project: Pilot Project to Identify Endangered African Diaspora Collections at the Major Archives of the Province of Matanzas, Cuba.

Slavery wasn't legally abolished in Cuba until 1886. In colonial Cuba, the Province of Matanzas was an important centre for sugar production and thus a major destination for African slaves. The office of the Governor of Matanzas was responsible for regulating the slave trade and for supervising, or administering, issues relating to slavery. The Governor's office thus created and kept records documenting the activities of slaves, slave traders and slave owners.

These records cover topics such as slave revolts, runaways, the arrival of ships carrying slaves (both legally and illegally) and abolition. Some of the correspondence includes:

Communication to Don Ignacio de Acosta authorising him to land and transport African slaves on two [inappropriately named] American ships, the Liberty and the Friendship, March 1800 (EAP060/1/1/5)

Communication of the Matanzas Governor on a runaway slave found dead inside an empty house, May 1816 (EAP060/1/1/10)

Communication to Don Juan Tirry y Lacy on the expenses to protect white colonists from African slaves, October 1818 (EAP060/1/1/18)

Communications to Matanzas' Governor on measures to eradicate the African slave trade in Cuba, April 1826 (EAP060/1/1/26)

Draft of a communication to the Captain of Ceiba Mocha on two horses abandoned by two runaway slaves, June 1838 (EAP060/1/2/61)

Communication to Matanzas' Governor on the dissolution of a police battalion that failed to prevent slave revolts, July 1837 (EAP060/1/3/11)

Measures taken by O'Donnell to prohibit cockfighting among slaves, February-June 1844 (EAP060/1/3/47)

Here is a page from a communication by the Matanzas' Medical Officer noting that African slaves landed in Matanzas have been vaccinated (EAP060/1/1/19):

The project also copied registers of births, death and marriages for "blacks and coloured peoples" kept by the Matanzas Cathedral. These registers show how Cuban society divided itself according to colour and ethnic origin. The Cathedral organised its registers into three categories: Blancos (Whites), Indios (Natives) and Pardos y Morenos (Blacks). The project copied those registers recording births, deaths and marriages for the Pardos y Morenos.

The outcome of the project, including a full catalogue, can be found on the EAP webpages.

 

I have spent most of this week helping to test a new cataloguing system the Library is designing for its archive and manuscript holdings. The introduction of this new system will be an exciting development in the life of the EAP. Most importantly, it will more fully integrate our catalogues with the Library's systems. But more pleasing still, for me, it will make the task of cataloguing both easier and quicker.

I hope to give more details when the new system is available.

Existing EAP catalogues can be found on our webpages, under the "Collections" tab.

Human beings use the spoken word and written texts to pass on knowledge. In keeping with the theme of story-telling, here as a part of knowledge transfer, I thought I'd point to the material copied by one of our completed projects: Preservation and digitisation of Yi archives in public and private collections in Yunnan, China. This material is endangered not only from the physical conditons of its storage but also from its history of neglect and unfriendly government policies. The Yi archives contain the history and culture, religious beliefs, etc of minority groups in China.

Texts from the Yi archives, originally, were written for a local audience. They preserve a body of knowledge that is peculiar to the Yi that informs and explains aspects of how they view the world and the afterlife. Their oral literature, as tales or fables, are embedded with traditional wisdom, their clan histories re-tell the past, relating it to the present, and their religious practices help them make sense of the world and their place within it. These stories, histories and rituals belong to the Yi socieites from which they grew. They contain knowledge that connects the generations to each other and to the world as they experience it.

Here is a page recording the beginning of a sutra to pray for fortune:

It is important to preserve what remains of these written records as this will save also the language they are written in. Preservation of the language will in turn allow further study of the Yi people and Yi culture. Texts copied by the project include almanacs, sutras and practices used in ritual, the histories of families and records of oral stories. Traditionally the Yi texts are kept by priests who have responsibility for recording, saving and using them. These records are fast becoming all that is left of the story of the Yi people. For this reason the Project had a strong focus on making them widely available, to facilitate and encourage further research.

This page is from an almanac:

During May the National Literacy Trust, along with the rest of the UK, is celebrating National Share a Story Month. I thought the EAP blog should join in the fun. Several of our projects have copied manuscripts and printed books that contain stories, tales, myths and popular narratives of all sorts. This post is dedicated to the importance of story and the role stories have in our lives.

One of our projects working in India, Archiving texts in the Sylhet Nagri script, has digitally copied 103 texts. The Sylhet Nagri script was once widely used in north-eastern Bengal. The script was used in both printed texts and hand written manuscripts to record aspects of popular culture, including religious stories. The project copied several texts telling the story of the Battle of Karbala, a significant event in the history of Sunni and Shi'a Islam.

The battle was fought between the adherents of Yazid and the family and followers of Husayn, on Muharram 10 in the 61st year of the Islamic calendar (October 10, 680 CE). Yazid and Husayn both claimed the title and position of Caliph. Husayn and his 72 followers were travelling to Kufa when Yazid, who had a much larger military force, ordered an army to intercept them. Yazid's forces surrounded Husayn at the desert oasis of Karbala.

After days of fruitless negotiations, during which the water supply to Husayn's encampment was cut off, Husayn and his band prepared for the fight that could not be avoided. The night before the battle he offered his followers the choice to flee. None accepted. The battle itself saw Husayn and his male followers killed. The women and children, including Husayn's sister Zainab bint Ali and his son, were taken prisoner.

The story of the Battle of Karbala has been seen as a fight between good and evil - the pious Husayn, who wanted to protect Islam, against the wicked Yazid, who lived impiously and owed his position to greed and bribery. Four tellings of this story have been copied by the EAP Project. Three of these are in compilations that have been called Jamnama, stories of wars and battles. These texts also contain "Jari" songs. The story is told and the songs are sung together. The other edition of the story is in a text that has been called Sahide Karbala.

The version of the story told in the Jamnama is significant for its literary innovations and the creative narrative style that made this story of a distant land rouse spontaneous and heartfelt emotions in different regions of Bengal.

National Share a Story Month is organised by the Federation of Children's Book Groups.