Cambridgeshire's Archives service awarded prestigious honour
Cambridgeshire County Council’s Archives department has been awarded Archive Service Accreditation for the first time.
Accreditation is the UK quality standard recognising good performance in all areas of archive service delivery. Achieving accredited status demonstrates that the council’s service has met clearly defined national standards relating to management and resourcing; the care of its unique collections and what the service offers to its entire range of users.
Archive Service Accreditation is awarded by the UK Archive Service Accreditation Committee, representing the entire archive sector and ensures the long-term collection, preservation and accessibility of archive heritage.
Based at Ely and at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire Archives holds a wealth of unique historic records and other resources relating to Cambridgeshire, the former counties of Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely and their communities.
In total the service holds over 1,000 cubic metres of documents weighing over 900 tons and stored on seven miles of shelving. The oldest document is the Huntingdon borough charter of 1205, which is 10 years older than Magna Carta.
Other treasures held include the baptism entry of Oliver Cromwell in 1599, a letter written by Horatio Nelson from aboard HMS Victory in 1805, letters to the borough of Cambridge written by Thomas Cromwell in 1535, and the original contract with Cornelius Vermuyden in 1650 to drain the Fens.
Councillor Tom Sanderson, chair of the communities, social mobility and inclusion committee, said: “I’m delighted that the service is achieved this prestigious honour and that is testament to the hard work and dedication of their entire team.
“We’re very proud of our Archives service, it offers an important and unique facility charting our county’s fascinating history and provides many people with an invaluable resource. Having accreditation also opens up future funding opportunities for the service."
The Accreditation Panel noted that “the opening of the Cambridgeshire Archives at Ely represents the culmination of many years of strategic planning and development work. It demonstrates successful delivery of significant investment by Cambridgeshire County Council, and this combined with the retention of the archive centre at Huntingdon as a community asset in the west of the county is a strong statement by the authority of its commitment to opening up access to Cambridgeshire’s past in order to enrich its future.”
Archive Service Accreditation is supported by a UK-wide partnership of The National Archives, National Records of Scotland, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the Welsh Government through its Culture Division, Archives and Records Association (UK & Ireland), Scottish Council on Archives, and Archives and Records Council Wales.
For more information about Archive Service Accreditation visit: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/archive-service-accreditation.htm
The council’s online archive catalogue at https://calm.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/ contains details of nearly half a million individual documents, and more catalogue entries are being added every week
Details about how to visit the Archive found at https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/archives
