Outside the Box - Volunteer Week specials
As part of Volunteer Week 2023 we launched a short series of volunteering specials as part of our Outside the Box podcast series. Volunteering happens all year round and in this series of special podcasts we talk to three very different organisations with correspondingly different ways of volunteering.
Jen Evans from #Crowd Cymru talks to us about this pilot digital archives volunteering project being run jointly with Gwent Archives, Glamorgan Archives and Cardiff University Special Collections and Archives and how the volunteers bring their own specialist local knowledge to the various elements of the project.
We talk to Fran Allfrey at the Avebury Papers Project alongside Alexander Keiller Museum Curator, Ros Cleal and three of the volunteers from the project about how their existing knowledge of the site and history helps with their volunteering and how in turn the knowledge they gain from their work on the archive informs their interactions with members of the public at Avebury.
At the Mass Observation Archive we talk to Kirsty Patrick and Suzanne Rose as well as new volunteer Jean Southey. The archive runs on the contribution of volunteer writers and in this episode we look at both the empowering nature of the volunteering and the huge contribution made to social history by the contributions of the volunteers.
You can listen and/or download the podcasts here as they are released - or find them on your usual podcast places (Spotify etc).
Information about each project:
#CrowdCymru
#CrowdCymru is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and run jointly by Gwent Archives, Glamorgan Archives and Cardiff University Special Collections & Archives.
It is a PILOT digital archives volunteer project, everything the volunteers do is online via a bilingual, digital, crowd sourcing platform.
This platform, established by the National Library Wales, allows remote volunteers, anywhere in the world [as long as they have online access/device] to work on the digital collections that the project partners are providing.
Archive services across Wales hold millions of irreplaceable records, but many are only minimally catalogued and therefore difficult to identify and find.
This project will harness the knowledge of individuals in communities across Wales and beyond to enrich our collective heritage for the benefit of current and future generations - locally, nationally, and globally.
Website: https://www.gwentarchives.gov.uk/en/partnership-and-projects/crowdcymru/
The Avebury Papers
The Avebury Papers is an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project to digitise, explore, and share the archive of Avebury’s Neolithic origins and its subsequent life-history. Part of this research involves making finds and documentation from 1930s excavations at Avebury - including letters, diaries, and photographs - searchable and freely available. National Trust volunteers are generously contributing their skills, time, and enthusiasm to bring this exciting collection to the world!
Find out more at aveburypapers.org and @AveburyPapers on instagram.
Mass Observation Archive
The Mass Observation Archive specialises in material about everyday life in Britain. It contains papers generated by the original Mass Observation social research organisation (1937 to early 1950s), and newer material collected continuously since 1981 (Mass Observation Project). The Archive is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in the care of the University of Sussex. It is housed at The Keep as part of the University's Special Collections.
The Mass Observation Archive hosts an active public engagement programme and is able to arrange talks, workshops and teaching sessions. We welcome enquiries about visits from individuals and groups as well as those about collaborating with Mass Observation for research and community projects.
Mass Observation is currently recruiting new volunteer observers, find our more here.