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Progress Report 18January - February 2002Contents:
Action Points for March-April 2002 Project Personnel: Julie Evans (Project Manager); RSB (Roiyah Saltus-Blackwood - Project Researcher); MR (Mairi Robertson - Project Archivist); CD (Carol Dixon - Project Officer) 1. General Summary of Activity
2. ModulesArchivesThe Project Archivist, Mairi Robertson, conducted a pilot survey of the Public Record Office (PRO) collections during the period beginning December 2001- January 2002, following on from preparatory work undertaken by the Project Officer in liason with PRO staff earlier in 2001. As a result of this pilot survey a total of 53 PRO records have been collated for inclusion on the CASBAH database. These are composed of 7 collection-level descriptions and 40 series-level descriptions. In addition, 6 file level descriptions have been included as a result of searching for Caribbean, Black and Asian political figures and significant historical events. A record of the survey methodology was created to contribute a report about the PRO records to the project's final documentation on archive survey strategies at a later date. As with the Project Researcher's final reports it is hoped that all this information will be accessible online towards the end of March. The Project Archivist also conducted work on the Insitute of Commonwealth Studies (ICS) pilot survey which took place during the period January-February 2002. A total of fifty ICS collections relevant to CASBAH were identified from a printout of the CALM database (originally produced for AIM25). Searches were also carried out on CALM for the following terms: West Indies, Caribbean, Windward Islands, Greater Antilles, Lesser Antilles, decolonisation, independence, revolt, rebellion and abolition, as well as combinations of these terms with geographical names, though this failed to identify any further relevant collections. Some of the key collections now listed on CASBAH's database include the following: ICS 1 African National Congress ICS 2 Abdurahman Papers ICS 6 Mary Benson Papers ICS 8 Capricorn Africa Society Papers ICS 23 Granada TV: World in Action transcripts 1968 ICS 24 Willard G Grant ICS 26 Richard Hall Papers ICS 40 CLR James ICS 48 Julies Lewin Papers ICS 68 Royal Empire Society ICS 85 Records of the committee on training in public administration for overseas countries ICS 89 Commonwealth Secretariat: Senior Officials Meeting 1974 ICS 96 Records of the West India Committee ICS 97 West India Committee Archives ICS 98 Papers relating to the achievement of independence by St Kitts-Nevis ICS 101 Castle Wemyss Estate Papers ICS 112 Colonial Office Petitions ICS 118 Records of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation ICS 121 Records of the Commonwealth Press Union ICS 138 Barbados Workers Union Printed Sources and A-V MaterialsA total of 60 collection descriptions for printed and audiovisual materials housed in UK libraries have been uploaded to the CASBAH database, currently housed on a test server. Since the last progress report information has been received from the following repositories: Antislavery International, Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, Canterbury Cathedral Library, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Bristol Arts and Social Sciences Library, Heinz Archive and Library (National Portrait Gallery), National Sound Archive (British Library) and Southampton Oral History Archive. Having this sample on the database has enabled some comparisons of collections to be made, in terms of collection size, thematic/topic coverage and relative strengths. To-date the 10 largest collections of Caribbean studies material that have been reviewed by CASBAH are housed in the following repositories: 1. University of London Library = c.11,000 titles 2. University of Warwick Library = c.5000 titles 3. University of Essex Library = c.5000 titles 4. University of Liverpool Library = > 3000 titles 5. University of North London Library = c.2500 titles 6. National Library of Wales = >2000 titles 7. National Sound Archive = c.1200 titles 8. University of Exeter = c.1200 titles 9. Newcastle University Library = c.1100 titles 10. Open University Library = c.1000 titles The largest collections of printed and audiovisual materials covering information on the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain are housed in the following libraries and research centres: 1. Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations = > 7000 titles 2. Institute of Race Relations Library = >3300 titles 3. Orchard Learning Resource Centre (Univ. of Birmingham) = c.3000 titles 4. University of London Library = c.2000 titles 5. University of Sheffield Library = c.2000 titles 6. University of Warwick Library = c.2000 titles 7. University of Leicester Library = c.2000 titles 8. Oriental and India Office Collections: British Library = > 1000 titles 9. Bradford Libraries, Information and Archive Service = >1000 titles 10. Centre of South Asian Studies - University of Cambridge = >1000 titles Significant collections of audiovisual materials specific to the project's subject areas are housed in the following repositories: 1. National Sound Archive = c.1200 items pertinent to Caribbean studies 2. British Film Institute = > 200 film titles pertinent to Black and Asian history studies 3. Overseas Film and Television Centre (OFT) = c.200 film titles pertinent to Caribbean studies; c.70 film titles pertinent to Black and Asian history studies 4. Cambridge South Asian Archive = >200 film titles pertinent to South Asian diaspora studies (out of c.1200 films on South Asian countries) 5. Commonwealth Institute = c.50 videos and c.50 sound recordings on Caribbean and South Asian literature 6. Goldsmiths College, University of London = c.70 audiovisual items pertinent to Caribbean history and social anthropology 7. Concord Video and Film Council = c.50 film titles pertinent to Black and Asian history studies 8. Southampton Oral History Archive = c.65 sound recordings containing some material on the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain 9. North West Film Archive = c.50 film titles pertinent to Black and Asian history studies 10. Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Archive = 40 sound recordings and 10 video recordings pertinent to Black and Asian history studies Within the Caribbean studies collections recurrent topics and themes concerned general economic and social history of Caribbean countries, the history of slavery and abolition in the Caribbean, literature, political history (particularly material on independence struggles and decolonisation), and social anthropology. For Black and Asian history studies the collections mainly concentrated on issues of 'race' and interethnic relations in the UK (variously titled as 'race politics', 'race relations', 'racism and anti-racism' and 'ethnicity studies' resources), materials covering the history of immigration to the UK (including resultant social, political and legislative issues), and specific collections on education, employment and housing issues for minority ethnic peoples in Britain. Recently a periodicals survey was also conducted throughout the sample to compare the levels of availability of key journals and research bulletins for Caribbean studies and Black and Asian history studies. Through consultatons with members of the Black and Asian Studies Association and the Society for Caribbean Studies the following list of periodicals was agreed for the test: Caribbean studies periodicals:
Periodicals covering information on the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain:
The university libraries holding over 3/4 of the selected Caribbean studies periodicals were as follows: University of Warwick; ICS/ILAS (School of Advanced Study); University of North London; University of Essex; University of London Library (Senate House); University of Liverpool; Goldsmiths College (University of London); University of Edinburgh; University of Sussex; and University College London. The university libraries holding at least 8 of the 12 selected journals and bulletins for Black and Asian history studies were as follows: University of Liverpool, University of North London, Goldsmiths College (University of London), University of Sheffield, University of Warwick, Queens University Belfast, University of Leicester, BLPES, De Montfort University, Nottingham Trent University and Lancaster University. Full details about the analysis of printed and audiovisual collections listed in the CASBAH database will be posted to the web site in April. Collaborative Collection ManagementNow that analysis of the collections housed on the database is almost complete some work on identifying the significant gaps in the distributed national collection of research resources for both Caribbean studies and the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain has been initiated. To-date some resources that have not featured as prominently in the sample of printed sources collections as expected include:
To address some of the identified gaps work is underway on devising policy initiatives that could be employed by key resource providers in the academic library sector to build up their collections. Some of the suggested developments involve resource-sharing collaborations between UK academic libraries and Black and Asian community organisations already involved in research areas such as the history and practice of carnival and theatre arts in Britain. Other include the establishment of links between the UK university libraries and international HEIs housing specialist materials for Caribbean studies and Diaspora studies. Shared purchasing schemes and the development of shared collections of digitised materials between key libraries are also under consideration and these recommendations will be posted to the web site in April. Awareness Raising, Outreach and Training InitiativesInformation on the Historical Museum of Southern Florida's proposed research project about the transatlantic dissemination of calypso music during the mid-20th century has been uploaded to the CASBAH web site as the February 'spotlight report'. Please see the web page, entitled 'Calypso: a world music' at http://www.casbah.ac.uk/newsreport4.stm for the full text. Project Archivist, Mairi Robertson, has been liaising with colleagues at the Black Jewish Forum History Project - a research initiative which aims to look at the hidden history of Black-Jewish relations and the comparative experiences of the communities in Britain. The final outcome of the project will be a travelling exhibition including oral history and photographic sources. A member of the advisory committee for the project, Dr Jo Reilly, sought information from CASBAH on suitable photographic sources for this exhibition. In response to this enquiry, the Project Archivist undertook a search of the CASBAH database resulting in the following three collection descriptions being forwarded: (1) Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Archive; (2) Reminiscences and photographs of Punjabi people living in Bedford (Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service); (3) Donations and Deposits Collection - Sikh Family History Project (Greater Manchester County Record Office). Dr Gemma Romain, project researcher for BJFH, was invited to provide a short summary about the project for inclusion as a future spotlight report on the CASBAH website. This will be uploaded to the CASBAH 'News and Events' page in early March. Links have been established with Talawa Theatre Company and Tara Arts (Asian Theatre Company) regarding information on the history of Black and Asian performance artists in the UK theatre arts sector. Carol Dixon submitted a summary report about CASBAH's work to Angela Brevitt at the Archives and Museum of Black Heritage (Brixton, London) on 11th February for inclusion in the forthcoming AMBH newsletter. An interview was also given as part of the BBC Radio 4 series 'You and Yours' (broadcast on BBC R4, Friday 1st March), in which Carol Dixon spoke about the potential benefits of the CASBAH database and web site for a wide range of researchers beyond the higher education sector, as well as the strategies that were being employed to attract new audiences to archives and record repositories from within Britain's minority ethnic communities - not only to boost the number and diversity of user communities, but also to encourage the future deposit of archival materials relating to the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain. IT: Project Web Site, Database and Subject GatewayWeb designer, Rik Munday, was commissioned by the project to make improvements to the design of the CASBAH database search interface. A variety of possible page layouts and colour schemes have been drafted and circulated to CASBAH's partners and Steering Group representatives for consideration. One of the most recent designs can be viewed online at: http://www.casbah.ac.uk/test/CASBAH_S2.HTML The following web sites have been added to the CASBAH links page at http://www.casbah.ac.uk/links.stm:
Details about the project's subject indexing of collection descriptions on the database have been compiled into an interim report and circulated to the UK UNESCO Thesaurus Working Party and the BASA Research Resources Working Party for peer review. The full text of the report will be available online in April. A copy of the interim report can be downloaded from this page in word format by clicking here. Recent usage statistics for the CASBAH web site are given below:
Listserv: There are now 95 members of the CASBAH-RSLP listserv. 35 messages were posted to the list throughout January-February 2002. 3. Action Points / Priorities for March - April 2002
Carol Dixon and Mairi Robertson: 1 March 2002 (NB: The section on Archives and on the Black Jewish History Forum was contributed by Mairi Robertson - 20th February 2002)
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