Between 2007 and 2013 I acted as a volunteer with the Yorkshire Waterways Museum. Assisting the then Museum Officer – Rachel Walker (my sister) – the Museum made great strides in inputting it’s collection onto computer databases, enhancing gallery spaces and undertaking conservation projects to new and existing Museum exhibits. To record how I spent my time volunteering with the Museum I would like to share on my blog the state of play of the archives of the Museum on my last day of volunteering in October 2013.
Museum Archives
In c.2007 the Museum Officer won funding for Museum Data Software and a volunteer project began to input the Museum back catalogue onto Catalist Software. During 2011 the software was updated and the Museum Catalogue is now based on Modes Archive software. The information currently available on Modes includes:
Of the Modes entries it is estimated that 7500 have attached images and all have item descriptions and storage locations.
Personally I can take responsibility for inputting around 7000 items and scanning 4500 images. The remainder was undertaken by the Museum Manager and other volunteers.
Museum Library
The Museum has a vast collection of books and during c. 2008 a Library was established in the Museum. Over the past several years the collection has increased substantially and consists of new and old books and periodicals of all aspects of Waterways heritage, culture, boating and engineering. In total the Library contains 4,160 volumes, searchable on an excel spreadsheet.
My part in the project was to input just a small proportion of the entries onto excel and to a greater extent bound books in protective coverings, using skills remembered from previous Library volunteering.
Conservation and Exhibitions
The Museum greatly expanded upon it exhibitions during my tenure as a volunteer and I was lucky to be able to gain hands on experience of Conservation. One such instance was a project to conserve the St Aidan’s Rudder. Under the guidance of the York Archaeological Trust an 18th rudder was removed from outdoor display and cleaned and stabilised so that it could be exhibited within the Sail and Keel Gallery. Another project in which I was proud to assist was with the re-decoration of the Museum Foyer; thanks to 2012 Olympic funding secured by the Museum Manager. During December 2011 and January 2012 I donned by paint brush and assisted where I could to provide a new entrance for the Museum.
Objects on Display and Audit
Being a Museum for over 20 years objects has been put on display over a tenure of several museum officers and as such not everything was recorded. Towards the end of my photograph inputting project I began a system of auditing. The aims of the audit were:
1. To identify what items were on display and if they had been accessioned. The items would then be inputted onto Modes.
2. Cross referencing the Museum Acquisition books against all items inputted on Modes. This would give an indication of what percentage of museum items had a known location, items missing and what remained to be inputted onto Modes.
On display there are around 350 objects and the next phase of the data inputting project would have been to input outstanding items onto the Modes Database
The audit, as of October 2013, consisted of inputting all records within Museum Accession books between 1991 and 2008, with missing records inputted from Acquisition forms for the period between 1994 and 1995. In total there were around 1000 items which had been accessioned but had yet to be processed on Modes software for the period upto 2008.
The Grant Total
With assumptions the Grand Total for the Archives of the Yorkshire Waterways Museum would be 12,000 items of all types and 4,200 printed publications of which around 70% is searchable via Modes and Excel data bases.
Museum Archives
In c.2007 the Museum Officer won funding for Museum Data Software and a volunteer project began to input the Museum back catalogue onto Catalist Software. During 2011 the software was updated and the Museum Catalogue is now based on Modes Archive software. The information currently available on Modes includes:
|
Items
|
Number
|
Notes
|
|
Paintings
and Portraits
|
71
|
100% finished.
|
|
Objects
|
44
|
A small proportion
and the next phase of works would have been to input the exhibits on display.
|
|
Documents
|
691
|
Around 80% of the
archival material.
|
|
Pictures
and Slides
|
7,936
|
Around 95% of the
archival material.
|
|
Total
|
8,742
|
c.70% of the
Archives.
|
Of the Modes entries it is estimated that 7500 have attached images and all have item descriptions and storage locations.
Personally I can take responsibility for inputting around 7000 items and scanning 4500 images. The remainder was undertaken by the Museum Manager and other volunteers.
Museum Library
The Museum has a vast collection of books and during c. 2008 a Library was established in the Museum. Over the past several years the collection has increased substantially and consists of new and old books and periodicals of all aspects of Waterways heritage, culture, boating and engineering. In total the Library contains 4,160 volumes, searchable on an excel spreadsheet.
My part in the project was to input just a small proportion of the entries onto excel and to a greater extent bound books in protective coverings, using skills remembered from previous Library volunteering.
Conservation and Exhibitions
The Museum greatly expanded upon it exhibitions during my tenure as a volunteer and I was lucky to be able to gain hands on experience of Conservation. One such instance was a project to conserve the St Aidan’s Rudder. Under the guidance of the York Archaeological Trust an 18th rudder was removed from outdoor display and cleaned and stabilised so that it could be exhibited within the Sail and Keel Gallery. Another project in which I was proud to assist was with the re-decoration of the Museum Foyer; thanks to 2012 Olympic funding secured by the Museum Manager. During December 2011 and January 2012 I donned by paint brush and assisted where I could to provide a new entrance for the Museum.
Objects on Display and Audit
Being a Museum for over 20 years objects has been put on display over a tenure of several museum officers and as such not everything was recorded. Towards the end of my photograph inputting project I began a system of auditing. The aims of the audit were:
1. To identify what items were on display and if they had been accessioned. The items would then be inputted onto Modes.
2. Cross referencing the Museum Acquisition books against all items inputted on Modes. This would give an indication of what percentage of museum items had a known location, items missing and what remained to be inputted onto Modes.
On display there are around 350 objects and the next phase of the data inputting project would have been to input outstanding items onto the Modes Database
The audit, as of October 2013, consisted of inputting all records within Museum Accession books between 1991 and 2008, with missing records inputted from Acquisition forms for the period between 1994 and 1995. In total there were around 1000 items which had been accessioned but had yet to be processed on Modes software for the period upto 2008.
The Grant Total
With assumptions the Grand Total for the Archives of the Yorkshire Waterways Museum would be 12,000 items of all types and 4,200 printed publications of which around 70% is searchable via Modes and Excel data bases.
