Over Summer 2022, WCIA are embarking on an ambitious project to complete cataloguing of the Temple of Peace Archives, Library and Collections – with the crucial and greatly appreciated financial support of the Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity. And WCIA are appealing for volunteer support over the coming weeks of August, to rise to the challenge, by joining our August Archiveathons!
The Davies Charity grant has enabled WCIA to take on 2 student placements through Cardiff University to lead the cataloguing work over July and August 2022. They will supporting teams of volunteers to complete inventories of the Temple’s collections, to format these in line with recognised Library and Archives standards, and to migrate the data to online search portals so that the catalogues become fully publicly accessible.
Archiveathons: Can you Help?
Over August 2022, WCIA will be hosting 4 volunteer Archiveathons – where a team of helpers take a cabinet, shelf or box each, and document the contents into a prepared spreadsheet. Could you spare a few hours to help?
- Tuesday 9th August 2022, 2pm-5pm
- Tuesday 16th August 2022, 2pm-5pm
- Tuesday 23rd August 2022, 2pm-5pm
- Tuesday 30th August 2022, 2pm-5pm
Meet the Team
As Library and Archives Officer, Georgia Osborne (from Cardiff University’s History department) will be leading work on completing the cataloguing and inventory of the Temple’s many cabinets and boxes, identifying which areas volunteers can best focus their energies on.
As Digital Archives Officer, Georgia Wood (from Cardiff University’s Archaeology department) will be setting up systems to enable the Temple’s materials to be uploaded, searched and curated into online collections.
From late July, Georgia & Georgia will be joined by 4 International Volunteers undertaking 1 year heritage placements through ESC, the European Solidarity Corps. Arina & Gunel will continue Georgia & Georgia’s work at the Temple beyond September for the year ahead, whilst Ludovica & Aleksandra will undertake similar experience with the team at Gregynog Hall in Powys, the original home of the Davies Sisters (whose brother David Davies founded Wales’ Temple of Peace).
In addition, over August WCIA will be joined by a group of Cardiff University students undertaking work experience ‘Insights’ placements for a few weeks: Georgia Ash, Morgan McCarthy and Louise Brookes.
Project Outputs
Building on work started by volunteers in April 2022, this Summer’s ‘Safeguarding’ project was developed by WCIA following an external Risk Audit by professional archives expert Kevin Bolton. Following 2 years of being closed to the public and volunteers over the COVID-19 pandemic – and the loss of both venue hire income and many heritage project funders – WCIA’s Trustees commissioned the Risk Audit to inform decision-making on how best to safeguard the Archives & Collections, and public access to them, for future generations.
It is hoped that by Autumn 2022, WCIA’s website will feature improved:
- Library Search: The Temple Library contains 33 cabinets of books and reference materials on peace and international cooperation from Edwardian times to today, including the personal library of temple of Peace founder Lord David Davies of Llandinam. Our aim is to make these available through WorldCat, the world’s largest online library catalogue.
- Archives Search: Over 250 archive boxes from organisations headquartered at the Temple of Peace from 1938 to today, will be uploaded to the National Archives’ ‘Manage Your Collections‘ database.
- Artefacts Search: Objects and artefacts ranging from the 1928 WW1 Book of Remembrance, to a ‘Matryoshka‘ – a Russian Doll gifted in 1966 by an International Youth Service exchange – will be photographed, classified and curated on People’s Collection Wales and the National Archives’ ‘Manage Your Collections‘ database.
- Digitised Materials search: WCIA volunteers have already digitised many thousands of Peace Archive materials on to People’s Collection Wales and Flickr. These will be curated into more easily searchable online collections, organisationally and chronologically.
Supported by the Davies Charity
WCIA are grateful to the support of the Gwendoline and Margaret Davies Charity, based in Newtown, Powys, whose funding has enabled this work to go ahead. Sisters of Temple of Peace Founder Davies Davies, Gwendoline and Margaret Davies were early supporters of WCIA’s predecessor body, the Welsh League of Nations Union (WLNU). Through the 1920s-30s, the Davies sisters quietly funded the WLNU’s first offices in Museum Place, and the educational work of the Welsh Education Advisory Committee – which became CEWC-Cymru after WW2, and latterly merged in to WCIA. The work continues through WCIA’s Global Learning programme.
Archiveathons – Photo Album
Scroll LH / RH to view images from April 2022 Archiveathon events
