Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by both Authorities, no interests were declared.

To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee Meeting held on 16 September 2016 be approved as a correct record.

The County Archivist indicated that further to Minute No.7 (Neath Antiquarian Society) the strongroom environment at the Neath Mechanics Institute has been stabilised with the aid of portable dehumidifiers.

The Chair stated that further to Minute No.7 (West Wales Regional Archives Partnership) that he would be writing personally to the Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor Swansea University to seek clarity from the University on its current thinking on a shared archive facility.

The County Archivist presented a report which outlined the work of the

Archive Service during the period September - November 2016. 

Use of the Service - Statistics for September - November 2016

The County Archivist reported on the use of the Service for the quarter and detailed the background and rationale behind the quarterly statistics.

He indicated that a current problem with recording and reporting online usage of West Glamorgan’s parish registers would not apply when a large number of other WGAS records went online in March on the website Ancestry. These new statistics for online use of the collections will be reported to meetings from June onwards.

Exhibitions and Outreach Work

The County Archivist reported on the various areas of outreach work that staff

have been involved in during the quarter.

He detailed the Service’s involvement in the ‘Visions of Steel’ project which is focused on the history of steelmaking in Port Talbot.  The Service, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council, has produced a 12 panel exhibition which was initially displayed in October at the Archives and is now on display in Ysgol Bae Baglan.

He indicated that the Service had been successful in obtaining a 100% Welsh Government grant to create a mobile exhibition which chronologically records the positive contribution to the City of Swansea of its diverse communities as well as its record of welcoming refugees.

He also detailed the Service’s participation in the HLF-funded project ‘Cynefin: Mapping Wales’ Sense of Place’ and its local sub-project ‘Exploring Gower’s Ancient Woodland’,

Education Service

The County Archivist referred to the various activities carried out with schools from both Authorities during the quarter.

Staff/Training

The County Archivist detailed the appointment of two Archive Trainees, one of which has been appointed for a two month period via a 90% grant from Welsh Government to assist with data inputting from hard-copy accession registers.

He referred to the training courses attended by staff during the quarter.

Professional Meetings and Partnership Working

The County Archivist referred to the professional meetings and training

attended by staff during the last quarter.

Archive Collections

The County Archivist reported on the comprehensive list of archives received during the period September to November 2016 and outlined that work has almost been completed on further conservation of plans from the Neath Abbey Ironworks collection.