eARMMS, August/September 2012

This is the latest edition of the ARMMS and CAIS newsletter, eARMMS, that we also post here. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.

In this edition:

1. Dundee and Science Exhibition
2. Artist in Residence in the Zoology Museum
3. Dr Mary Young Collection
4. Other Recent Accessions
5. ARA Conference Brighton
6. Skills for the Future Programme
7. Dundee and the Great War
8. European Erasmus Commission Intensive Programme Summer School
9. CAIS Study School
10. Oral History Interview
11. Twitter
12. Enquiries
13. Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia – inForum 2012
14. Update from the Records Management Unit
15. International Council on Archives Congress
16. British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ontario (BIFHSGO)

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1. Dundee and Science Exhibition

Museum Services have curated a special exhibition at Dundee Central Library to mark the centenary of a major scientific conference. In September 1912, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (now called the British Science Association) held a meeting in Dundee that attracted over 2,000 leading scientists from across Britain and the world. The exhibition has been created to tie into this year’s BSA science festival, which is taking place in Aberdeen on exactly the same dates as the Dundee meeting 100 years ago. The exhibition tells the story of the meeting and focuses on some of the scientific topics discussed, showing how they relate to current research – for example work on fruit growing, pollution, numeracy and Antarctic discovery. The displays also explore what Dundee was like in 1912, with dozens of rarely seen photographs on show. Archive Services contributed both text and images for this section of the exhibition, while members of the Tayside & Fife branch of the British Science Association contributed to the science section. The exhibition will be on show until 29 September.

2. Artist in Residence in the Zoology Museum

As part of an Art Funded project to build a collection of art inspired by D'Arcy Thompson, Museum Services has collaborated with the Barns-Graham Charitable Trust and the Royal Scottish Academy to host an artist-in-residence in the Zoology Museum over the summer. Lindsay Sekulowicz studied at the Glasgow School of Art and is now based in London, where she has worked on various natural science projects in the past. Lindsay's studio space is being provided at Balmungo, the former home and studio of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, one of the many 20th-century artists inspired by D'Arcy's work.

3. Dr Mary Young Collection

Archive Services have received eight boxes of research papers of the late Dr Mary Young, deposited by her son, John. Mary was associated with the department for many years, firstly as a researcher than as a member of the ARMMS team. Mary is remembered fondly and missed by all. We are delighted to provide a home for these research papers which will be an important resource for future researchers.

4. Other Recent Accessions

A number of additional accessions have been received during the past month. They include family papers relating to the Anderson and Kerr families who were connected with a house called the Grange in Monifieth, which complement the Anderson and Kerr papers already contained in our Thornton collection; a four volume set of The Works of John Glas and two nineteenth century Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum volumes. Additional items have been received from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, accruals to the college's archives.

5. ARA Conference Brighton

The annual Archives and Records Association (UK & Ireland) Conference was held during August, in Brighton on the theme of 'Progression, Innovation and New Landscapes'. ARMMS and CAIS were represented by Caroline, Craig, Jennifer and Keren. Sessions included sessions such as Documenting the 21st Century, Innovations in User Services and The New Digital Landscape. As Chair of the conference committee Caroline was busy with the organisation and programme, which included papers on Wikileaks, the collapse of the Cologne archive and funding. Tony Ageh, Controller of the BBC Archive and inventor of the iPlayer, was one of the keynote speakers. 220 delegates attended and it was a great opportunity to meet other archivists, records managers and conservators and share experiences in different repositories throughout the UK. A drinks reception was held at the end of Brighton Pier with a welcome from the Mayor of Brighton (a former employee of DC Thomson) and a 'Latin' gala dinner was held in the hotel. This involved delegate participation and many took to the floor to show off their best salsa moves!

6. Skills for the Future Programme

Caroline recently attended an event organised by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland at Stirling Castle, to showcase the work of their Skills for the Future Trainees. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Skills for the Future Programme provides opportunities for training and work experience in the archive and heritage sector. CAIS has been involved in the programme since it started and provides modules in Archive Management and Outreach and Education for the trainees.

The current students attended an induction in Dundee to the CAIS courses in September and were introduced to the VLE, archive issues, oral history principles and transcription issues by Craig, Pat, Kenneth and Keren.

7. Dundee and the Great War

Planning for a series of events to commemorate the Great War and its impact on Dundee is underway. Archive and Museum Services will be joining representatives of History, McManus, the Wellgate Library and other Dundee heritage institutions in organising a range of talks, exhibitions and other activities over the next few years.

8. European Erasmus Commission Intensive Programme Summer School

Two CAIS students were among a group of over 25 students who attended a European Erasmus Intensive Programme (IP) Summer School Archives and Records Challenges in the Digital Information Society (ARCHIDIS). The Programme is supported by 13 European universities and took place from 30th July - 10th August, hosted by the Mid-Sweden University, in Harnosand, Sweden. The students examined issues surrounding appraisal and gained 10 credits towards their masters degrees from group and online work and written submissions. Next year the Summer School will be hosted by CAIS in Dundee. Craig and Pat were part of the teaching team in Harnosand.

9. CAIS Study School

A CAIS Study School for 28 new distance-learning students took place from Tuesday 4th September and Saturday 8th September. Students attended sessions including Archive Management: Principles and Practice, Electronic Records Management and Digital Preservation, Ethics and Palaeography, Diplomatic and Family and Local History. CAIS now has over 200 continuing Masters students from the UK, Europe and other areas of the world. The twice yearly study school is a great opportunity to meet our students in person.

10. Oral History Interview

On 28th August Kenneth and Michael conducted an oral history interview with John Carvell, who studied at Queens College and the University of Dundee in the 1960s. While attending the University he was a member of the 1968 expedition to Scoresby Land, Greenland, the records of which are held by Archive Services. The interview, which has been added to our oral history collection, includes fascinating details about the expedition and provides valuable insight into life at the University of Dundee at the time it became independent.

11. Twitter

The @UoD_Archives and @CAIS_Archives twitter accounts continue to be be popular. The number of people following the former has almost doubled this year and we are delighted with the number of our tweets which are being retweeted by a diverse range of users. We have even started to receive enquiries via Twitter! @The UoD_Museums account is also going from strength to strength with over 1600 people following it..

12. Enquiries

Archive Services continue to receive many enquiries from people across the globe. Recent subjects include the Great War, the jute industry, records of people who died in Dundee Asylum and the reorganisation of the University's sport teams in the 1960s. As ever, a wide range of people have sent enquiries in the past few weeks including academics, students and family historians. Enquires can be made in person, via telephone or by e-mail. We also have an online enquiry form which can be found here: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/enquiry.htm

13. Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia – inForum 2012

Following the recent ICA Congress, Alan was invited by RIM Professionals Australasia to give a keynote presentation at two one-day conferences held as part of inForum 2012. His paper, 'Digital (dis)engagement: Recordkeeping Risk or Recordkeeping Reward?' examined the challenges faced by recordkeepers when dealing with digital information and asked whether recordkeeping theory and practice was robust enough to cope with rapidly evolving online environments. Other papers at the conferences included and excellent exploration by Kathryn Crawford of the methods used at Victoria University to capture records created in social media services and a keynote from Miriam McIntire Nisbet, Office of Government Information Services, NARA, on the Freedom of Information and Openness agenda in the United States.

14. Update from the Records Management Unit

As predicted, August was a particularly busy month for requests. A preliminary tally of retrieval forms indicates that nearly 400 items were produced. That will need to be double checked, but it is one of the highest monthly totals that RMU has ever seen. September has also started quite briskly, so let’s hope things get a bit calmer soon so that plans for the next shred can be resumed and further work done on all the records which are still waiting to be properly sorted out for listing and boxing up.

15. International Council on Archives Congress

Pat, Caroline and Alan attended the Congress and presented a session on ‘Communities, engagement and risk: Developing sustainable recordkeeping services in a changing world.’ They attended sessions and meetings of the Section Bureau of the Section on Archival Education (ICA/SAE) and Pat also attended her final meeting as Secretary to the Section on University and Research Institutions (ICA/SUV).

16. British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ontario (BIFHSGO)

Pat was invited to attend the BIFHSGO conference in Ottawa in September and presented a three hour workshop on Scottish Archival Sources online and a lecture on the Scottish Poor Law as a source for family historians. Over 250 delegates attended and leaflets on CAIS family history degrees and short courses and the Scottish Council on Archives were available.

Culture Day is on its way!

On Wednesday 3rd October the University of Dundee will hold its Annual Culture Day, an afternoon of short talks by University staff from a diverse range of disciplines. This will be the 8th year of an event which has proved to be highly popular both within the University and with the wider public. The theme of this year’s event is ‘Feeling Good? - Health, Well-Being and the Arts’ and it will feature  ten presentations which examine the connections between culture & the arts and health & well-being.

As in previous years staff from Archive Services and Museum Services will be among the speakers. Museum Curator Matthew Jarron will open proceedings with a talk on the remarkable story of art collecting by Dundee dentists in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  Later Archive Service’s Kenneth Baxter will use materials held in the archives to examine the stories of some of Dundee’s early female doctors and medical graduates and the impact they made upon the city and the wider world. Other speakers include Beth Lord, Brian Hoyle, Billy Kenfeick, Derek Partick and Sandra Wilson.

Culture day is organised by the University’s Culture and Arts Forum (CAF), an informal network  developed to support and promote the various departments within the University that are involved in cultural activity. Matthew  is Convener of CAF, and Deputy Archivist Caroline Brown is its Secretary.

The event is free and is open to anyone.  As in previous years, the talks will be held in Baxter Conference Room 1.36. The event will commence at 1.45pm and is scheduled to finish at about 5pm. More details including the full programme for Culture Day can be found here:  http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/caf/.

The Mission work of Dr D.W. Torrance and Dr. H.W. Torrance in Tiberias.

The Torrance collection, which includes thousands of photographs and colour slides of Israel, Palestine and medical illnesses, has now been fully updated on our online catalogue. The photographs were taken by David Torrance and his son Herbert  Torrance who established a hospital in Tiberius in 1885 which lasted for over a hundred years helping the local communities.

David Watt Torrance (1862-1923) was educated at Glasgow University before travelling to Palestine in 1884 and assisted in the inauguration of the sea of Galilee Medical Mission. In 1885 he returned to Tiberias and opened the first hospital for those of any race or religion in two rooms near the Franciscan monastery. By 1984 there was a fully functioning hospital with 24 beds and 6 cots. In 1890 Dr Torrance married Lydia Huber and they had four children: Gordon, Stuart, Herbert (1892) and Lydia (1894). Dr D. W. Torrance died in Tiberius on 26 August, 1923.

Herbert Watt Torrance (1892-1977) was educated at Glasgow University and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps serving in France and Serbia and was awarded the Military Cross. In 1923 he went to Tiberius and become superintendent of the hospital. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and received an OBE.

Following the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948 the mission hospital became a maternity hospital in Northern Galilee under the Israeli Department of Health. In 1959 the Israeli Government closed the mission hospital and a hospice for travellers was established in the buildings with a resident minister continuing the mission work. Dr H.W Torrance returned to Dundee in 1953 and died in 1977.

These photographs provide a glimpse into the world of both David and Herbert Torrance and their lives and work alongside the Israeli and Palestinian people. The collection of over 4,500 items can be searched online at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/ and can be consulted in the Archive searchroom.

 

We would like to thank our volunteers and Elizabeth Thompson and Hazel Elder for their hard work on this collection.

eARMMS, July/August 2012

This is the latest edition of the ARMMS and CAIS newsletter, eARMMS, that we also post here. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.

In this edition:

1. Staff Member Leaving
2. History Dissertations
3. Local Societies Display
4. Imag(in)ing the Past
5. Scottish Word and Image Group Conference
6. Recent Accessions
7. Photographing Changing Dundee
8. The Great British Story Event
9. Glasite/Sandemanian Papers
10. 100 Year Anniversary of the First World War
11. Returning Volunteer
12. New Archival Standard for Preservation
13. Records Management Update
14. Partnership with the University of Stirling
15. The Archives and Records Challenges in the Digital Information Society (ARCHIDIS) 2012
16. Preparing for September Student Intake

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1. Staff Member Leaving

CAIS said goodbye to a member of staff in July. Ms Angela Morton, CAIS Programme Administrator, has left to take up a post in education. CAIS would like thank Angela for all her excellent work over the past two and a half years and she will be sadly missed.

2. History Dissertations

The latest batch of 45 Arts and Social Science dissertations has been added to the Thesis database for 2011-2012. That is an increase in dissertations of 13 from 2011 figures. The dissertations cover a wide variety of subjects from the Boer War to fallen women of the nineteenth century. A large number of the dissertations look at local issues such as the Tay Bridge and why the 1960’s Overgate shopping centre failed. The dissertations are a valuable source of information as well as providing guidelines for up and coming students. Many also acknowledge the University Archives staff who were thanked for their help.

3. Local Societies Display

Jennifer has created a small display in the exhibition cabinet outside the Archive Searchroom showing items from various collections of local societies and organisations. This is to go with the display boards which were put together by Ruth Macdonald, the HLF funded Skills for the Future Trainee who was with us for two weeks in May. The boards show images from MS 21 Abertay Historical Society, MS 138 The Grampian Club and MS 342 Dundee Art Society. The items in the display case are from MS 155 Dundee Working Men’s Field Club, MS 80 Dundee Naturalists Society and MS 107 Calcutta and Mofussil Scots Society. For more information on all these collections you can search our online catalogue, www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/

4. Imag(in)ing the Past

The latest exhibition by Museum Services in the Lamb Gallery explores some of the many ways that art has represented, challenged and been inspired by history, mythology and our ideas of the past. Rather than straightforward history painting as such, this is about artists who explore issues relating to the past in more interesting ways. Some artists – such as Will Maclean – draw on the history of traditional Scottish and Gaelic culture to make us more aware of the impact of its loss. Ian Hamilton Finlay is one of several artists in the exhibition who draw on classical mythology, while updating Biblical imagery results in very striking works by Edward Burra and Neil Dallas Brown. There are also artworks inspired by archaeology and by the artists’ own personal past. All of the works shown come from the University’s own extensive collections of art, and many have not been shown publicly before. They include oil paintings, watercolours, prints, drawings and artists’ books. The exhibition runs until 8 September.

5. Scottish Word & Image Group Conference

The exhibition, Imag(in)ing the Past, was launched as part of a conference called Excavating Time, organised by the Scottish Word & Image Group (SWIG). The conference examined the various ways that the past is interpreted and distorted through interactions between word and image. Curator Matthew Jarron was one of the conference organisers and also gave a paper called 'Form and Number / Word and Image - Exploring the ideas and collections of D'Arcy Thompson'. The conference was attended by delegates from across Europe, Canada, the USA and Australia and also included tours of the McManus, a civic reception hosted by the Lord Provost and a walking tour of historic Dundee by Adam Swan of the Dundee Historic Environment Trust.

6. Recent Accessions

Recent accessions to the archives include material from the University Cash Office including information relating to flats the University owned in Whitfield; additional material on the Dundee Mountain Film Festival; a note book relating to the Angus Jute Mill; material relating to Duntrune House and records relating to the impact of the creation of the University of Dundee on the teaching of medicine at the University of St Andrews. The last item will be of particular interest to anyone interested in the history of university education in Scotland.

7. Photographing Changing Dundee

As you may have seen on Twitter over the past few months Kenneth has been taking photographs of the area around the waterfront which is currently undergoing extensive redevelopment. By doing this we aim to build a detailed photographic archive of this period of change in Dundee, which will see the demolition of Tayside House and the Olympia, as well the construction of several new buildings, including the striking new V&A.

8. The Great British Story Event

On 30th June Caroline, Jennifer, Kenneth and Keren represented Archive Services at the BBC's Great British Story Dundee event at the McManus. Several people visited our stall to try writing with a quill pen, to take part in our guess the date of the photograph competition and to have a look at some of our maps, photographs and documents relating to old Dundee. We were also able to help many people with their own research.

9. Glasite/Sandemanian Papers

The process of cataloguing the Glasite/Sandemanian papers is continuing. Of recent interest was a bundle of letters written by Michael Faraday and his wife Sarah to a friend and fellow believer who lived in Edinburgh. Faraday’s writing can be difficult to decipher, but it seems that he was losing sleep over the stand taken by the London Sandemanian church – of which he was a member – on accepting back ex-communicated believers. The practice of the church was to accept a person back only once – if they were ex-communicated again then presumably they had to remain ex-communicated forever. Faraday was quite upset by this; the two letters from his wife to their friend were written without his knowledge, and she in them she asks their friend to give Faraday advice based on Scripture. His response did seem to have succeeded in appeasing Faraday. It is little wonder, however, that Michael Faraday found the subject of ex-communication painful. Some years earlier he had been ‘excluded’ from the church and stripped of his eldership – all because he had accepted a dinner invitation from Queen Victoria. The problem was that the dinner was on a Sunday, when Faraday was supposed to be fulfilling his duties at the church.

10. 100 Year Anniversary of the First World War

Caroline and Matthew are involved, along with representatives from History, Mcmanus, the Local History Centre at the Wellgate Library and others, in planning a series of events to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the First World War. Starting in 2013 Dundee will see a range of lectures, exhibitions and other projects relating to the war and its impact.

11. Returning Volunteer

We are pleased to welcome back a volunteer. Hazel Elder, who was with us last summer, has returned for July and August and is currently working on the Torrance archives. The Torrances were medical missionaries in Tiberius and Hazel is checking the numbering of some of the thousands of their photographs that we hold.

12. New Archival Standard for Preservation

Archive Services staff held a meeting about the new archival standard for preservation, PD 5454: 2012 which replaces and updates BS 5454. Currently temperature and humidity levels in our stores are within recommended levels for mixed collections and Jennifer regularly monitors the conditions with thermohygrometers. We discussed recommendations for the filing and storage of different media, including photographs and PD 5454’s recommendations for nitrile rather than cotton gloves.

13. Records Management Unit Update

July was an unusual month in the Records Management Unit. Client requests were considerably lower than normal which meant that more time could be given over to processing new accessions than in recent months. Mhairi has been able to finalise consignments from Accounts Payable, Cash Office, Research Finance, Environmental Sciences, Careers and Registry. There are yet more consignments waiting to be dealt with from Management Accounting & Planning, Payroll, Residences, HR, Duncan of Jordanstone, Dental Health Services Research Unit and Education, Social Work & Community Education. However, with three audits by the Chief Scientist’s Office looming before the end of August, Mhairi is waiting for the requests to start coming in from Research Finance and will soon be busy scribbling out retrieval forms and searching for the required documents.

14. Partnership with the University of Stirling

A new partnership between ARMMS and the University of Stirling began this month. Alan will work with their information compliance team, providing guidance and support as required, based upon his knowledge and experience as the University of Dundee's Records Manager and Information Compliance Officer and as a professional educator and Programme Leader in CAIS. This is the first formal collaboration between institutions in this area in Scottish Higher Education and we are excited to be working with our partners in Stirling.

15. The Archives and Records Challenges in the Digital Information Society (ARCHIDIS) 2012

Pat and Craig attended ARCHIDIS 2012 in Härnösand, Sweden during August. ARCHIDIS is an Erasmus-funded Intensive Project, which has 14 European University partners. 30 students from the participating universities stayed at Mid-Sweden University and, in workshops, presentations and group sessions, discussed aspects of Appraisal and Social Memory. The current three-year programme finishes next year when ARCHIDIS will be hosted by the University of Dundee.

16. Preparing for September Student Intake

CAIS is currently processing offer documents for the September student intake. We expect to have over 50 new students studying a range of courses with us, including modules on our Masters, Family and Local History, and CPD programmes as well as on our 6 week vocational course Beyond the Internet.