Butetown History and Arts Centre: Sound Archive

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): BHAC/Sound Archive

Title: Butetown History and Arts Centre: Sound Archive

Date(s): 1979 - 1994

Level of description: Fonds

Extent and medium of the unit of description: c.1000 items

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s): Glenn Jordan (Director, Butetown History and Arts Centre)

Administrative/Biographical history: Butetown History and Arts Centre was established in 1987 as a centre for the collection and preservation of resources documenting the social history of the communities in Cardiff's docklands (also referred to as 'Tiger Bay' and 'The Docks').
Funded by the Glamorgan County Council, the Arts Council for Wales, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Home Office 'Connecting Communities' funding and a grant from the EU the centre is currently involved in a range of community outreach activities, educational projects, local history research initiatives and arts exhibitions (mainly photography) geared towards raising awareness about Cardiff's multicultural history and heritage and preserving the history of Butetown's diverse communities for posterity.

Glenn Jordan (Director, Butetown History and Arts Centre) recorded all the life-history interviews with residents that are listed in the sound archive, many of which were recorded when the Centre operated as the Butetown History and Arts Project between 1979-1987.

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: The sound archive at the Butetown History and Arts Centre contains audiotaped life-history interviews and oral recollections from Butetown's older residents and former residents, primarily recorded during the decade 1979-1989. 150 tapes contain life history interviews from both male and female residents in their 70s and 80s discussing life in Butetown during the early 20th century. In addition, the collection includes a further 115 audio tapes covering information on the following themes: taped lectures on the history of Butetown, given by Glenn Jordan (academic and director of Butetown History and Arts Centre) and Neil Evans (local historian and author of the book 'The Tiger Bay Story', published by Butetown History & Arts Project, 1993); 45 tapes specifically focussing on women's lives in Butetown; tapes of Butetown Residents' Association Meetings recorded during the 1980s; tapes of Butetown housing seminars recorded in 1984 and 1988; a recording of the opening of a photographic exhibition showing images of Old Butetown in 1989; taped interviews with Rastafarian residents; recordings of press conferences held by the Butetown History and Arts Project (1989); 7 recordings of BBC Wales radio broadcasts featuring information about Butetown 's history and biographies of famous residents.
The main strength of the collection is the series of life-history interviews, entitled 'Life Histories from Tiger Bay', of which 61 have been summarised and 23 have been transcribed. A printed catalogue for the life-history interviews provides date of birth details for each interviewee, dates of interviews, number of tapes held and summary/transcription details for each recording.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

System of arrangement:

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: Access to the sound archive is at the discretion of the director of Butetown History and Arts Centre. Applications to use transcripts, synopses or copies of audio tapes should be made in writing to: Glenn Jordan (Director), Butetown History and Arts Centre, 5 Dock Chambers, Bute Street, Cardiff CF10 5AG.

Conditions governing reproduction: © Butetown History and Arts Centre

Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids: Printed catalogue

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

Existence and location of originals: Butetown History and Arts Centre, 5 Dock Chambers, Bute Street, Cardiff CF10 5AG.

Existence and location of copies: Working copies are made of all the master tapes in the sound archive, which can be used at the discretion of the BHAC director.

Related units of description:

Publication note: Information about the history of Black and Asian peoples in Cardiff and the work of the BHAC is also available in the following publication: Jordan, Glenn and Weedon, Chris (1995) 'Cultural politics: class gender, race and the post-modern world', Oxford: Blackwell. (See Chapter 5, 'Whose history is it?' pp.112-175).

DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Recorder's note: Record completed and indexed June 2002. MR.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: 20th September 2001

Interest: Asian, Black

Specific group: Multiple heritage peoples

Subjects

Oral history

Ethnic groups

Social history

Interethnic relations

Multiple heritage peoples

Communities

Personal/Corporate names

Jordan, Glenn

Places

Cardiff, United Kingdom

Butetown, Cardiff, United Kingdom