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Borough’s archives get £10,000 grant to ask obvious questions

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It’s been a tough few years under Tory austerity for Croydon’s once cherished libraries and museum, and their hard-working staff.

So the news that the borough’s archives service has received a £10,000 grant to help research a special project has been warmly greeted by the Museum of Croydon.

The Museum, based in the Croydon Clocktower, lost its official accreditation when Jason Perry and his Conservative cronies flogged off a large section of the Riesco Collection of precious, antique and historic Chinese ceramics (they didn’t even get the true value for the items sold, either).

Meanwhile, four libraries have been closed, books thrown out on to the street, and the buildings renamed “hubs” and handed over to community groups and private companies, who have replaced professionally trained librarians. The Year of Culture, and £1million-plus of funding from the Mayor of London, came and went without making a lasting impact, after culture grants were allocated to business groups.

So the comparatively modest £10,000 research and innovation grant from The National Archives, placed directly in the hands of the council’s culture staff, is a welcome change in fortune.

The grant is basically to hire-in a researcher to try to work out why the Croydon public are not making use of the borough’s archives. Some of the answers to their questions ought to be pretty obvious…

The project is called: “Access for All: Researching and Redesigning the Croydon Archives Digital Experience”.

According to the Museum of Croydon: “This research-led pilot will explore how different communities engage with our digital platforms, identifying motivations, interests, barriers and opportunities.

“A freelance specialist will lead focus groups and user research, working with remote users, younger audiences and people who do not normally engage with our offer – to try out new ideas and co-design improvements to our website, catalogue and other digital engagement platforms.”

And then there’s this: “The project will culminate in a creative digital engagement output and a sector-facing guidance document…,” our italics. They mean “report”,  “… to support inclusive digital engagement across the archive sector.”

And the man who closed libraries, helped to flog off the ceramics and lined the pockets of his business mates with public funds, Jason Perry, said: “This project is about opening up our heritage to everyone and making sure our stories are accessible to all.” Which is nice.

Meanwhile, an exhibition of historical photographs of Croydon from a hundred years ago has just opened at the Museum’s Atrium Gallery.

Croydon Through the Lens of Charles Harrison Price comprises 50 images by Charles Harrison Price taken between 1903 and 1939, offering a remarkable insight into pre-war Croydon.

Price’s professional work work was studio portraiture, in the days before selfies, a must-have for Victorian and Edwardian up-and-comers, but when Price stepped outside his studio, he was always ready with his camera to capture people, events and local scenes.

“Travelling around the borough with a cumbersome box camera in the sidecar of his motorbike, Price supplemented his studio income photographing everyday scenes for postcards,” the Museum says.

The photographs in the exhibition are from the collection of John Gent, a former president of the long-established and widely esteemed Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, and the exhibition represents a welcome collaboration between the Museum of Croydon, CNHSS and another well-respected local history group, the Bourne Society.

The exhibition is open Monday to Saturday, from 9am to 5pm at the Museum of Croydon, Atrium Gallery, Level 0, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, CR9 1ET.

Entry is free and no booking is required.

Read more: Museums Association kicks out Croydon over Riesco sale
Read more: Mayor Perry lies to BBC over his closures of Croydon libraries
Read more: How Croydon’s ‘Culture Club’ was turned into a business clique
Read more: It’s hard to find signs of the borough’s musical heritage trail

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