Transforming Collections Care at Gwent Archives

Thanks to Welsh Government, and their Collections Management Capital Improvements Programme, the team at Gwent Archives will spend the next 6 months transforming several of our collections processing rooms to create more effective spaces to look after our archives.

£80,000 of funding will allow us to:

• Remodel the current digitisation room as a triage room for assessing new collections, identifying items that may be damp, mouldy, infested by pests or require conservation treatment and repackaging new collections into archive boxes.  The digitisation equipment will be moved to a smaller room so that space is used more effectively.

• Fit out an unused strongroom with mobile racking for use as an Isolation room for any items that require isolation to prevent cross-contamination, for example if they are affected by mould, pest or damp.  A cold-storage cabinet will be purchased for items that require treatment by freezing

• Refit the conservation storage room to better store materials, freeing up space in the adjacent studio for additional equipment such as a cast-iron floor standing guillotine for box making.   Current worktables will be replaced by height-adjustable tables to improve accessibility.

• Enlarge the current ‘workroom’, where cataloguing the collections takes place, to absorb an unused room next door.   This will allow more staff to catalogue the collections, making more collections available for research, and height-adjustable tables will increase accessibility.  

Work started in early November and will complete by the end of March 2025.  There should not be any impact on access to the collections at Gwent Archives, but there may be a little more noise than usual!

We’ll post regular project updates on our social media, so follow us to find out more!