Last week, we were able to start work with our Archivist, Rebecca Evans, who is now on board to help us with the archive process. Rebecca trained with Archives+ in Manchester Central Library as part of the HLF Transforming Archives programme, specialising in digitisation and digital engagement. She has also worked for Homotopia for 6 years, including assisting with the initial organisation of April Ashley’s archive for the Portrait of a Lady exhibition, so her experience will be invaluable in guiding us to a good system for sorting and accessing the archive.
The first thing we decided to do was to sort through the boxes of photographs and remove any that were more personal to Sandi, such as family photos etc. We then started to sort the photos into numbered boxes and roughly logged the content of each box into an excel document that we can refer to later. This will put us in good stead for the next phase which is to go through the boxes again, with perhaps a larger group of people and do a more detailed analysis of each box. These sorted photos will then be taken to the Liverpool Central Library where they will be catalogued and scanned with additional support from a core team of volunteers.
Although slow, it’s exciting and thought provoking pulling this collection together and is making us think of ideas and alternative ways to share archive.
