The 8th August 2019 marks 3 years since I began work as an Assistant Archivist at the Richard Burton Archives, embarking on a project to catalogue and develop the University’s archive collections in preparation for the University’s centenary in 2020, and beyond. In 1920 the University College of Swansea opened its doors to 90 students, … Continue reading Preserving the Memory of Swansea University
Who and what were they? There doesn't appear to be that much information about the Cymric Federation Press (CFP) - a Google search only brings up evidence of them as being a printers, mainly for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) over a 50 year period (1920’s-1978). From opening the first CFP box, it became … Continue reading Cymric Federation Press Archive
Amazingly, we are now two thirds of the way through the project, which completes in early November. Cataloguing is progressing well, with approximately 70% of the collection now having a basic catalogue entry. Repackaging is taking place alongside this process. It has been a pleasure to make contact with so many friends and colleagues of … Continue reading Raissa Page project update
May has been a busy month in the Richard Burton Archives. We've been delighted to welcome many visitors - some new, some who've visited many times before. There have been a few popular research topics including the history of the University (in case you didn't know it will be Swansea University's centenary in 2020), as … Continue reading It’s been a busy spring in the Archives
We're having fun in April with #Archive30. This Twitter initiative has been put together by Archives and Records Association Scotland. Along with other participating archive services we're doing our daily #Archive30 tweet through our Twitter account - @SwanUniArchives. Every day throughout April we'll be sharing things from our collections, so do follow us to find … Continue reading #Archive30
We’re delighted to announce that we are taking part in the Swansea Learning Festival 2019. Join us on Wednesday 3rd April! Visit the Archives between 1.30pm and 4.30pm to find out about the history of the University and how the University’s archives also reveal the history of Swansea. As well as documents from the early … Continue reading Unlocking the Archives, Opening the University
In February we welcomed volunteers researching the copper industry in Swansea, particularly the Musgrave engine. We have previously worked with groups researching the copper works at White Rock and Hafod Morfa. It has been great to be able to support the heritage projects and regeneration that is taking place in the former centre of the … Continue reading Welcome to the Archives!
2019 has gotten off to a whirlwind start! Here’s an idea of some of the research that people used our collections for in January: 1984-5 Miners’ Strike – Raymond Williams – the history of Swansea University – the copper industry – coal mining – South Wales Miners’ Federation / National Union of Mineworkers (South Wales … Continue reading A summary of the year so far …
The last few months seem to have passed in a whirlwind. After kicking the Raissa Page project off in November, and then enjoying the Christmas break, we joined the returning (to work) throng on January 2. Then, in the second working week of the new year, the Project Archivist (that’s me) was on the train … Continue reading Raissa Page project trip to London
As another year draws to a close we thought that we would share some of the goings on from 2018, before we start looking ahead! Raissa Page Project In September David Johnston-Smith joined the Archives as a Project Archivist on a one-year contract to catalogue and promote the Raissa Page collection. You can find out … Continue reading A Few Highlights from 2018
Richard Burton Archives 