Projects

The Trust’s central aim is to improve access for everyone to Northumberland’s Archives.

It does this by raising funds to ensure that primary source material is collected, catalogued, and digitised and thus made available for use by people both in the county and far beyond.

Core funding for the work of the Archives Service comes from Northumberland County Council but is inevitably constrained by the Council's other commitments, so the Trust aims to raise funds to allow additional work relating to the County's Archives to be undertaken.

What sort of work comes under our definition of ‘Project’? Here are a couple of recent examples. The cost can vary enormously depending on the time and resources required.

Swinburne Deeds - In December 2015, the Archives Service was awarded funding from The National Manuscripts Conservation Trust to support the conservation of the Swinburne deeds - a collection of 758 deeds and charters mainly relating to the history of the Northumberland/Scotland border.

Northumberland At War - In May 2014, the Heritage Lottery Fund made a grant to Northumberland Archives to allow the service to explore some of the many collections that are held relating to the First World War.

New projects identified, which cannot be funded by core income, are shown below. Please click on the icon to see more detailed information and budget estimates.

If you feel you would like to support the work of the Archives Service in general, then please click here to reach our online donation page to donate any gift you may wish to make.

If, after reading the descriptions, you would like to help fund a specific project then click on the ‘Donate to Project’ icon.

In the event of any project being over-subscribed, donations will go to the General Fund.

Our Current Projects

Ashington to the Future Project for Local Schools

Strathmartine Trust Awards Grant for Work on the Atkinson & Marshall Papers

Community Foundation Grant for Work on Clayton Family Papers

The Community Foundation has made a grant to allow cataloguing of the Clayton Family papers.

Northumberland’s Hidden Stories – A Major Cataloguing Project

The Trust is launching a major fund-raising effort to allow the employment of dedicated staff to work on the cataloguing of many, as yet, unexplored collections held by the Archive Service.

Northumberland Healthcare

This project will look at healthcare in Northumberland prior to the establishment of the NHS in 1948. It will have two main strands:

An oral history project, interviewing Northumberland residents who recall receiving healthcare or recall their parents speaking about receiving healthcare prior to 1948.

A study of maternity care in Northumberland focussing on Castle Hills Maternity Home in Berwick, Mona Taylor Maternity Home in Stannington and Ashington Hospital in south-east Northumberland.

General Fund

The Northumberland Archives Trust's aim is to improve access for everyone to Northumberland's superb collection of archives and historic records. It does this by raising funds to ensure that primary source material is saved from destruction, collected, catalogued and digitised so that it becomes available to all. The Trust also works with the County's Archives Service to promote knowledge and understanding of the varied and colourful source material which is available.

List of wages of ‘servants’ engaged by Atkinson & Marshall between Whitsun 1815 and Whitsun 1816.

Atkinson & Marshall Papers and the Highland Clearances in Scotland

Material of trans-national interest has been discovered amongst documents relating to 19th century Northumberland farmers, Atkinson and Marshall. From 1805, Atkinson & Marshall began to lease land on the Sutherland Estate eventually leasing more than 100,000 acres.

Blyth’s Industrial Heritage

The premise of the project is to work with five primary schools in Blyth to explore the town’s industrial history and use this to design how Blyth might look 100 years in the future.

Photo Centre Berwick

The Berwick Record Office and the Friends of Berwick & District Museum and Archives jointly purchased this collection in 2012. It contains over a million negatives which document all aspects of life in North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. It covers the period from 1951 when David Smith founded his photojournalism business until 2012 when his son, Ian retired.

Harriet Carr: Artist and Traveller

In the 17th and 18th centuries it was usual for sons of wealthy families to undertake ‘The Grand Tour’, a tour around Europe. The purpose of the Tour was to educate travellers about the art and culture of the classical period and the Renaissance and to introduce them to members of European society. Harriet Carr (1771-1848) was the daughter of Ralph Carr, merchant, and his wife, Isabella (nee Byne). The Carr family lived at Dunston Hall, near Gateshead, then in County Durham. John Carr, Harriet’s eldest brother had spent time in Europe between 1788-1790. In 1791 John and Harriet set off together on a Grand Tour.

Northumberland Archives Trust