BAC Cataloguing Grant for Business Archives
BAC is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2021 cataloguing grant for Business Archives is Friends of the Huntley Archives (FHALMA) Foundation at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) for cataloguing important additional archives of Bogle-L’Ouverture Publishing Eric & Jessica Huntley’s business records: The Ananse Society papers.
In this, a bumper year for the grant, BAC was pleased to have received several applications with a very high standard of entries. After much discussion, the judges came to a unanimous decision and felt that FHALMA’s cataloguing project would make a real difference, was achievable and realistic, and would lead to further projects and initiatives. The educational outreach programme was well planned and clearly thought out to achieve a number of outcomes.
The Eric and Jessica Huntley records were the first major deposit of archives of Black British publishing received by LMA, and significantly one of largest collections of business documents from the African Caribbean community, coming from one source. The ‘Black Lives Matters’ campaign and the outpouring of interest in the Windrush generation have placed a focus on the need to serve requests from academics, PhD students, filmmakers, broadcasters and community organisers requesting access to the records.FHALMA is a voluntary organisation that benefits from the support and archive expertise from LMA, their strategic archive partner, who catalogue, archive and document the Huntley records. FHALMA is responsible for bringing the archive materials to life by creating heritage animation projects, workshops and conferences, research opportunities.
Beverley Mason, Chief Executive, FHALMA Foundation commented:
“It's a great privilege to have been awarded this year’s Business Archives Council grant. The funding supports the important ongoing work of documenting more of the 50 years’ of community activism by Eric and Jessica Huntley, but also for the massive potential that grant has to ignite of “A-ha” moments of self-discovery for young people whilst underpinning the necessity of African storytelling to be part of building confidence in their identity, heritage and cultural background. With thanks to our valued partners, the City of London/London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), for their support and the contributions from FHALMA’s community of volunteers, this project grant pump-primes a new programme of online educational outreach activity – and this is of great significance – the BAC grant enables us to make tangible links and strong connections to existing business records across the wider, physical Huntley collections housed at LMA.
In order to open up the Archives to wider audiences, working together with LMA, we plan to produce a digital Schools/Creative learning resource, making it available online through our partners and in a range of community workshop sessions. We anticipate that the sharing some of the key discoveries in the business records, and in particular to focus on the vision that The Ananse Society had around underpinning the significance of African folklore to the Caribbean community, will unlock the roots connections, explanations about identities that are missing elsewhere - driven by the emotional and political impact of suppressed cultures and heritage during slavery and colonial regimes.
Serving an intergenerational audience, we believe that our new catalogue project is an important catalyst for all to learn from – especially pertinent to those interested in understanding more about Black British heritage – this initiative it is destined to help fill specific research needs and connect gaps in our shared cultural history, sparking interest in developing new creative forms of engagement and ways to communicate learning.”
BAC is proud to support this project, particularly at a time of increased pressure on cultural resources when the need to develop, promote and encourage greater use of such resources has never been more important.
For more information on the FHALMA Foundation please follow this link: https://fhalma.org/
Any questions about the grant should be addressed to Natalie Attwood at natalie.attwood@rothschildandco.com
Previous winners of the grant
2020 - West Sussex Records Office
2019 - Northern Ballet
2018 - Clevedon Pier and Heritage Trust
2017 - British Motor Industry Heritage Trust (BMIHT)
2016 - Lancashire Archives
2015 - University of Manchester Library
2014 - Gloucestershire Archives
2013 - West Sussex Record Office
2012 - Durham County Record Office
2011 - Norfolk Record Office
2010 - Dorset History Centre and The National Railway Museum