Over Summer 2024, WCIA have enjoyed contributing to the UK-wide heritage initiative ‘Our Heritage Our Stories‘, managed through Glasgow University alongside a range of partners, and funded through the AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council). The programme supports heritage bodies UK-wide in moving ‘Towards a National Collection‘ – identifying ways to pool the digital resources, knowledge and materials produced by heritage and community organisations across the 4 nations, using AI (Artifical Intelligence) to connect collections to reach the widest possible audiences – as one of WCIA’s student placements suggested, ‘a google for heritage’.
WCIA have contributed a case study of a small community organisation – in devolved Welsh context – with active heritage programming, but no ‘core funding’ or external resourcing towards our public activities. ineligible for archives, libraries, tourism or other heritage funding streams. How can / do similar small organisations harness the energies of volunteers and community goodwill, towards preserving the UK’s rich heritage? In a world where technology is developing exponentially and websites / resources replaced every few years, how can recently digitised archival materials be made accessible to future generations?
WCIA’s ‘OHOS’ Project
A community grant through OHOS enabled:
- WCIA organised a series of weekly ‘Archiveathon’ events over 3 months, May to July 2024.
- These Wednesday afternoon ‘drop in sessions’ enabled WCIA to provide structured support and mentoring to Temple Friends and volunteers so they could work on a range of projects.
- The existing (part-time) Heritage Advisor staff member capacity was supplemented by a (temp) Archiveathons Assistant to support the Wednesday sessions / heritage research projects, plus one member of WCIA’s international volunteering team in a supervisory / support capacity.
- This has enabled onsite volunteering to be brought under the banner of the ‘Temple Friends’ support network,
- both to be supported going forward by the wider WCIA team, rather than reliant on the single Heritage staff member (who is part-time and not Cardiff-based).
- With this capacity in place, WCIA recruited one student internship, working on updating our Hidden History publications for transfer to People’s Collection Wales; and 8 student ‘insights’ placements, each undertaking indvidual work experience activities and projects (see below for example outputs).
- Archiveathon Events were held weekly on Wednesday afternoons: May 1, May 8, May 15, May 22, May 29, June 5, June 12, June 19, June 26, July 3, July 10, July 17 and July 24.
- Ongoing over Autumn 2024, WCIA are working with the National Library of Wales / People’s Collection Wales team on production of a short report exploring ‘Digital Directions’ – using WCIA’s case study to offer insight towards current challenges of online collections management and volunteer participation, for staff and trustees of small organisations.
- WCIA worked with PCW to seperate our Archives from 1 into 3 clearer accounts (WCIA Peace Archives, WW1 Book of Remembrance, Women’s Peace Appeal), with a new navigation and collections structure for each.
- WCIA Peace Archives homepage has been updated.
OHOS Supported Project Outputs
WCIA produced 2 short papers for OHOS, sharing learning gleaned over the course of work during 2024 on digitising the Temple’s Archives.
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| Dec 2024 Paper, WCIA with PCW / National Library of Wales, exploring Digital Strategy & Sustaibaility for Small Organisations (Case Study using Temple of Peace Archives Collections) | Summer 2024 Paper by WCIA for OHOS, sharing reflections and key tips for other small heritage organisations deploying archives pacements and volunteers. |
Redesigned Hidden Histories publications on PCW:
- David Davies, Internationalist Founder of Wales’ Temple of Peace
- Wales’ WW1 Book of Remembrance
- Minnie James’ Children’s Collection
- Women’s Peace Petition of 1923-24
- Architect of Peace – Sir Percy Thomas’ Design of Wales Temple to Peace
- Great and the Good – Opening of Wales’ Temple of Peace
- ‘A New Mecca’ – the Story of Wales Temple of Peace
Friends of Wales’ Temple of Peace and Peace Garden
- Temple Friends home
- Temple Friends Volunteering projects
- Peace Gardening Bees
Supporting Information for Volunteers
- View May-July 2024 Placement Projects feature and OHOS review article
- Volunteers ‘How To’ Guide
- Hidden Histories Toolkit updated for online volunteers and community groups
- Updated Temple Archives Catalogue
- The National Archives / TNA Discovery portal uploaded with Temple Archives listings (for organisations WLNU, CEWC, UNA Wales, UN UK, FFHC, WCIA)
- Updated Temple Library Catalogue
- Updated People’s Collection Wales profile
- Updated WCIA Peace Archives home page
