Following on from the story that Northamptonshire County Council planned to severely restrict opening hours at the Record Office and introduce charges to use the archives, comes the news that councillors have voted to close 28 of the county’s 36 libraries. Three options were tabled but all involved closure, none to retain the status quo. Being a rural county, many of the libraries offer a community service way beyond that of lending books and with a poor public transport system people will lose access to food banks, children’s clubs, issuing of bus passes and so much more. Petitions have been launched and the campaign to the save the libraries has high profile supporters like authors Alan Moore and Philip Pullman. Here’s hoping that that campaign is as successful in overturning the council’s decision as was the reversal of the proposed cuts to the record office following the public outcry.

You can read more in this article in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/28/northamptonshire-may-close-up-to-28-of-its-36-libraries

Currently enjoying the “Museum of Lost Objects” series on BBC radio 4, which is tracing the stories of ten artefacts or sites in Syria and Iraq that have been lost through damage or looting, including the winged bull of Nineveh, the temple of Bel in Palmyra (see also my post of 12 September 2015) and the minaret of the Umayyed mosque in Aleppo. Having visited both Palmyra and Aleppo I found this particularly poignant. 

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Fantastic news for the continuation of heritage and tradition, and for William Cowley, the last vellum makers in the country, that British acts of parliament will continue to be printed on vellum after the Cabinet Office agreed to pick up the cost. The House of Lords had argued that using archival quality paper would save £80,000 – surely that’s a drop in the ocean compared to their and MPs expenses! And from a preservation point of view, conservators will tell you that parchment and vellum have a much greater chance of survival than paper, even archival quality paper. Abandoning the use of vellum was raised in parliament back in 1999 but thrown out. Let’s hope the battle has been won for once and all and won’t be resurrected in another 15 or so years time….. 

Great to see Sophie Clapp, the Boots archivist, featuring on this BBC2 programme and such a natural in front of the camera! The concept of the series is that a family give up all their modern technology and live life as if in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and so on, where they find, of course, that their lives – and roles – would have been very different. Sophie talked about the revolution in makeup and how it started to become a necessity, rather than a luxury, for women.  

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Can the situation in Iraq and Syria get any worse? Not only have ISIL extremists spread fear and terror amongst the population of those countries and elsewhere, they are now destroying culture and heritage which belongs to the world. In February they released videos of ancient statues being smashed in the museum at Mosul, and later bulldozed Nimrud, the ancient Assyrian capital. Since overrunning Palmyra in May they have started to systematically destroy that beautiful and impressive city. The murder of Khaled al-Asaad was unbelievable. This renowned scholar of antiquities was interrogated for a month – probably tortured – but refused to tell them where valuable artefacts had been hidden and was brutally killed in retaliation. He was a brave and honourable man. How many of us would be prepared to give our lives in such circumstances? And the irony is that ISIL claims that such sites are idolatrous yet it does not destroy everything for it is happy to sell looted artefacts to fund its murderous activities. 

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The South Downs National Park Authority has given planning permission to the Weald & Downland Museum’s ambitious Gateway Project. It will be the biggest development in the museum’s 40-year history which aims to maintain the site’s future viability and will transform the way in which visitors experience the museum.  There will be two new clusters of buildings: one providing a ticket hall and shop, leading through to new interpretation galleries, and the other will house new catering facilities and a community learning space to use as a classroom and for meetings. Two of the historic buildings will be dismantled and moved to new sites, providing opportunities for trainees and volunteers to be involved with conservation work and learn heritage related skills. The project is scheduled for completion in 2017.

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