Austin 7 Clubs Association Archive project, Meeting No.6
Thursday 26^th May, 10:00 am
Triumph Sports 6 Club
36 Main St, Lubenham, Market Harborough LE16 9TF

1. Those present:

Phil Baildon – Association Archivist

Hugh Barnes – Cambridge Austin 7 and Vintage Car Club

Chris Garner – Association Vice-chair and PWA7C

2. Apologies for absence

Chris Charles – Association Web Master

Ruairidh Dunford – Scottish A7 Club

Andy Lowe – Association Chairman and Midlands A7

Dave Martin – Asst Archivist and PWA7C

Nick Turley – PWA7C

3. Minutes of meeting 5

Were deemed correct

4. Progress since last meeting
   1. The Collection to be reorganised (Action PB, DM, CG et al)

This task is now largely complete. The ‘Swarm Day’ held recently, when extra hands were brought in to assist the normal Thursday working party, was particularly effective and now all photographs are in one place, ready for further work. The rest of the collection has been gone through and sub-sorted and the inevitable collection of non-Archive materials filtered out and disposed of. A team made a final pass through the rejected material to ensure nothing of any value had been swept up in the process.

1. covered when not in use (Action PB)

Complete.

1. High level Inventory created (Action PB, DM, CG et al)

Ongoing work. AL is progressing with cataloguing the Handbooks and Parts List. Other areas can now be looked at after the completion of the reorganisation.

1. Approach those with known collections of Handbooks (Action PB, CG)

PB has been in communication with a well known Motoring Books dealer about access to his collection and will be following this up when they meet at Wollaton Park Autokarna. CG is in discussions with an Austin 7 owner with an extensive private collection regarding access

1. Create Spreadsheet catalogue for all Handbooks and Parts Lists (Action AL)

In progress. AL has suffered a terminal failure of his PC which has delayed this.

1. Create a specification for digital files (Action HB)

Not yet done. HB was hoping that a Digital Archivist appointment might help this.

1. Association Dropbox account to be increased to 1Tb (Action WebMaster)

Complete

1. User Specification for Archive pages (Action HB, RD)

Draft produced. Further work is ongoing and should be complete for early June. The Webmaster is involved in the discussions and will base his development of the Archive pages on this spec. It will be circulated to the wider Project Team for comment before final sign off.

1. Open Day Draft Plan (Action PB)

PB is working on this. It will be documented to a detailed level and a draft circulated to the Project Team by June 15^th. Sign off for the completed plan will be the end of June. See item 7

1. Copyright research (Action CG)

Proving more complex than at first hoped. Advice will be sought from external sources

1. Trophy storage and Insurance (Action CG)

Complete, but the initial period of storage arranged will soon end. CG to negotiate an extension of the arrangements.

1. Job Description for Digital Archivist (Action HB)

Complete

1. Geoff Roe guidance for Bert Hadley collection (Action CG)

Complete. Geoff Roe attended the ‘Swarm Day’ and focussed on the Bert Hadley Collection. Our heartfelt thanks go to Geoff for his efforts.

1. All photographs sorted and counted (Action all)

Now the work on the Swarm Day sees all the photos in one place, work can start on this.

1. Digital Archivist advertising (Action HB)

Complete

5. Photo Collection sorting

Now the photos are sorted into one place, work on this topic can start in earnest. It is recognised that this will be a significant part of the Archive Project. Initially photos will be sorted into year order for further work. The point was made strongly that as the photos begin to be sorted some way of identifying them from a catalogue point of view was required. Ie, once a photo has had initial identification, we must be able to immediately find it again. This might be a catalogue identifier being written on the back of the photo in soft pencil or a small sticker being applied. PB to refer back to our Archive course notes in Winchester to decide on best approach. It was also recognised that many other ‘keyword’ attributes will be required for each photo as well as date (eg, location, driver, model, etc, etc) *Any* work should be captured in Excel so as to be able to add this to the formal Catalogue being created. First piece of information required is how many photos do we have?

This is now the next prioritised strand of work in the Project. The Thursday working party will be welcoming local Austin 7 owner Alan Garaghty, printer of the last 2 chassis registers to its ranks who has offered to help with this task.

6. Appointment of a Digital Archivist

HB had received one approach from a highly qualified candidate but was unable to make any progress after the person declined to take his application any further. This is a matter of some concern, the post is considered crucial to the success of the Project in the longer term. CG will repeat the advert in the July edition of the Pre-War A7 Club Magazine. HB will contact the person he had the approach from suggesting that if he has more time in the future, his contribution would still be welcome.

7. Open Day

PB outlined his plans for the day. These are shaping up well. PB was asked to document his ideas at a detailed level and circulate them for comment from the Project Team by June 15^th. The final plans to be signed off by the Project Team by the end of June.

Specifically, photos will be taken on the day and a write up for the Grey Mag be commissioned.

8. Budget

The development of the Archive pages on the Association Web site is going to be undertaken by Chris Charles, Association Web Master. As this is not an inconsiderable piece of work and if done commercially, would likely cost in the region of £3000, the Project has deemed it reasonable that Chris should be awarded an honorarium of £1000. This will be put to the Association Meeting on July 10^th for sanction. This will be in addition to the monies for the Project from Association funds already granted. HB will sanction payment on completion of the work.

9. Digitisation

HB and RD continue to be in contact with Hampshire County Council. It is clear that they have now started in earnest on the Handbooks and Parts lists as there has been a recent exchange of emails regarding technical aspects of the images from this part of the work.

RD will approach HCC to ensure that the work will be complete by mid July (so we can get the original materials back in time for the Open day). We will remind them that we will arrange for their collection by a local Austin 7 owner with car (along with Project Team Members).

RD will also supply a list of show brochures that PB has supplied to get a quote for our next tranche of digitisation.

10. Publicity

Continues to be a priority issue. Any opportunity to advertise the content of the Archives and the work of the Project must be taken. A recent exchange on Austin 7 Friends forum was a perfect example when information held in the archive went some way to answering a question. PB was encouraged to play a greater part in the forum offering information from the Archive where possible.

Specific topics mentioned were the Open Day, to ensure the best possible turn out and for HB to follow up on a Cambs A7 Member with paint charts from 1936.

11. AOB

Nothing raised

12. Date of next meeting

Sunday July 10^th after the Association Meeting at the Dun Cow, Dunchurch.

Task List for next Meeting

1. Approach those with known collections of Handbooks (Action PB, CG)
2. Create Spreadsheet catalogue for all Handbooks and Parts Lists *NB* required to be complete soonest (by end June at the latest) for Webmaster’s development of Archive pages (Action AL)
3. Specification for Archive Web pages complete (Action HB, CC, RD)
4. Archive web pages development commenced (Action CC)
5. Open day plan complete at detailed level (Action PB, All)
6. Photographer and Article author secured for Open Day
7. Copyright research (Action CG, HB)
8. Trophy storage extended
9. Photos counted (Action PB, AG, DM)
10. Initial ordering and catalogue of photos in progress (Action PB, AG, DM)
11. Digital Archivist post re-advertised (Action CG)
12. Paper for Association requesting additional funding (Action HB)
13. Collection arrangements from HCC (including local Austin 7 owner {preferably with an open car} in hand (Action PB, CG)
14. Publicity of Project and greater involvement in Forum etc (Action All)
15. Paint charts access from Cambs A7 owner (Action HB)

Austin 7 Clubs Association Archive Project, Meeting No.5
Sunday April 10th
Meeting Room,
Heritage Motor Centre
Banbury Road, Gaydon, Warwickshire, CV35 0BJ

1. Those present:

Phil Baildon – Association Archivist
Hugh Barnes – Cambridge Austin 7 and Vintage Car Club
Chris Garner – Association Vice-chair and PWA7C
Andy Lowe – Association Chairman and Midlands A7
Dave Martin – Asst Archivist and PWA7C

2. Apologies for absence

Nick Beck – Bristol and Scottish A7 Clubs
Chris Charles – Association Web Master
Ruairidh Dunford – Scottish A7 Club
Nick Turley – PWA7C

3. Minutes of meeting 4

Were deemed correct

4. Progress since last meeting
   a) The Collection to be reorganised (Action PB, DM, CG et al)

The distraction caused by the revision of the Source Book by the PWA7C has taken the time of PB and DM on their Thursday visits. As a result, the reorganisation of the collection has slowed of late. Source Book work should be completed in the next couple of weeks and efforts returned to Project work. This task is now becoming pressing (see other references to it in these minutes) and the team needs to become more pro-active to resolve this problem. There is a need to increase the work rate and to complete this task in a more realistic timescale. As a first suggestion, each member of the Working Party will, if possible, find a willing volunteer to accompany them to the next work day (See also note under item 3o)

We should also look more actively about handing tasks to others who can be given aspects of the collection to go through away from Lubenham.

b)Collection covered when not in use (Action PB, DM, CG et al) –

Still not complete. PB to acquire suitable material as discussed at last meeting and resolve this outstanding item immediately.

c)High level Inventory created (Action PB, DM, CG et al) –

Still not complete and is now beginning to seriously hamper the Project in a number of ways. An assessment of the collection at high level (different categories of item and numbers thereof) must be produced. Any information must be recorded in Excel spreadsheet (not Word documents) to allow further enhancement and manipulation. To kick start this further attempt at understanding the collection, a specific day will be put aside to concentrate on the photo collection (See also note under item 3o)

d) Approach those with known collections of Handbooks (Action PB)

CG has commenced discussions with a well known A7 owner with an extensive private collection of material

PB is yet to contact a well known Motoring Book dealer to explore opportunities for loan or acquisition of his personal collection

Any items secured by these routes will not be sent to Hants CC yet but will go as part of the second tranche of work they undertake for us.

AL has offered to create a Spreadsheet version of the Handbooks and Parts list collection from the Word document created by PB. HB will provide him with a suitable template to use.

e) Create a specification for digital files (Action HB)

Not yet complete. WIP

f) Create Association Dropbox account (Action NT)

Task was not required as it turns out we already have a Dropbox account. However, the Webmaster has pointed out that this will need enhancing to a 1 Terabyte option which will require a subscription. CC to handle this in conjunction with Funds from the Association 

g) Community Sites follow up (Action CG/HB)

Community Sites are a commercial company that specialise in creating Archive Web sites for organisations such as ourselves. With our experience in publishing some of our interim digitised material (ie Trophy photos, Handbooks and Index cards) it has been decided to bring this work in house. The Webmaster has been approached to see if he would be willing and has the time to do this work for us (and not interfere with his University studies). He has agreed and the decision has been made to offer him an Honorarium of £1000 for his efforts. (To put that in context, that’s probably a third of what Community Sites would have charged plus there will be no ongoing costs)

HB has approached RD to produce a ‘User Specification’ – a document outlining how an end User might wish to interrogate the Archive material, outlining search and filtering options, download options etc etc. This specification can then guide CC’s design approach. This document will be available for review at the next Project Team Meeting

h) HLF Grant follow up (Action CG/HB)

With the continued lack of a high level inventory and, therefore, the inability to define any likely costs for digitisation work, further work on this option has been suspended. See further discussion under Item 8 – Budget.

i) Open Day planning (Action PB)

See detailed discussions under Item 7- Open Day

j) Copyright research (Action CG)

Ongoing. CG has purchased the appropriate book for guidance but it does seem this is an area of considerable complexity. Research continues but it may be that we will have to take professional advice to be certain of our position

k) Trophy storage issues (Action CG)

Trophy Insurance is still a matter of concern however, the Trophy Collection now being held at a secure storage facility is a major step forward

l) Advert for Digital Archivist (Action HB)

See discussion under Item 6- Appointment of a Digital Archivist

m) Job Description for Digital Archivist (Action HB)

In progress. Draft produced which is in the process of refinement

n) Bert Hadley collection assessed (Action PB, DM, CG)

Initial assessment has been carried out and Geoff Roe has volunteered to undertake more detailed work. However, Geoff will need to be given guidance of what is being asked of him and further thought needs to be given to this.

o) Archive photograph collection assessed (Action PB, DM, CG)

A major effort is to be carried out to deal with this part of the collection on Monday 25^th April. All members of the Project Team are invited (PB, HB, CG, AL and DM have confirmed they can attend) Those coming are encouraged to bring one other person with them. The intention is that by the end of the day, all photos will have been found and stored in a single location with a count made.

The day will start at 10:00

5. Heritage Lottery Grant (CG to report)

As mentioned elsewhere in these minutes, further work on an HLF grant has been suspended through lack of detailed understanding of the Collection contents and volume. We may return to this as that information becomes available. See also discussion under Section 7 – Budget

6. Appointment of a Digital Archivist

The job advert has now been published in the Grey Mag. HB will follow this up with an announcement on A7 Friends and will ask all Club Magazine Editors to find space in their next editions for a copy of the advert he will supply. A more detailed job description is in preparation and applicants will be assessed against this job description. The right person with the right skills will be sought, not just the first volunteer. This is an important role now and for the future.

7. Open Day

This is planned for Sunday August 15^th , 10:00 – 15:00. TSSC have been approached and have no issues with us holding the event. A detailed plan is required for the day’s events. It will not be just a matter of having the doors unlocked but specific displays will be planned around particular items of interest.

Publicity will be key to this event.

Items to be considered are:

• Which items should be focussed upon
• How they could be best presented
• Trophies retuned to Lubenham for the day
• Volunteers to man the event
• Refreshments
• Advertising (PB to draw up something for the next Grey Mag, CG to contact Club Editors)

 

PB will circulate a draft ‘detailed’ plan for the day by May 19^th (at the latest – earlier will be quite alright) for discussion at the next Project Team meeting

8. Budget

Our committed expenditure still stands at around £4250 of the initial £5000 grant. With an HLF Grant application now on hold a discussion took place on our ‘fall back’ position. This would be to revert to our initial position that the Association would fund the Project in its entirety and would commit up to £20,000 (subject to sanction by the membership of the Association). True costs for the Project are still unknown and the production of a high level inventory is crucial to gaining a better understanding of those likely costs. The high level inventory will also give us the opportunity to prioritise our work in the digitisation process and ensure we spend any monies in the most effective way. As we have no expenditure planned until at least July (when our first tranche of materials are completed by Hants CC) we still have time to develop a better understanding in this area.

9. Digitisation

Hants CC have proved excellent partners and have already returned samples of their work for both Handbooks and Index Cards. These are of very high quality and have already been published on interim pages on the Association Web Site. It is expected they will finish this first tranche of work in July.

10. Publicity

Is still a matter of concern. Monitoring views of postings on A7 Friends has continued to show that these are only read by about 100 people, a smaller number than had been hoped. Response to a request to Club Magazine Editors to publish articles has been good and the Project will have a permanent place in the Grey Mag in future with an additional article each edition of an ‘item of note’ from the collection. We must not underestimate the importance of this topic and should continue to advertise our progress as and where we can.

11. AOB

AL has donated a filing cabinet to the Archive which PB confirms will be a useful addition.

12. Date of next meeting

Thursday 26^th May at Lubenham, 10:00

Task List for next meeting

1. The Collection to be reorganised (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
2. Collection covered when not in use (Action PB)
3. High level Inventory created (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
4. Approach those with known collections of Handbooks (Action PB, CG)
5. Create Spreadsheet catalogue for all Handbooks and Parts Lists (Action AL)
6. Create a specification for digital files (Action HB)
7. Association Dropbox account to be increased to 1Tb (Action WebMaster)
8. User Specification for Archive pages (Action HB, RD)
9. Open Day Draft Plan (Action PB)
10. Copyright research (Action CG)
11. Trophy storage and Insurance (Action CG)
12. Job Description for Digital Archivist (Action HB)
13. Geoff Roe guidance for Bert Hadley collection (Action CG)
14. All photographs sorted and counted (Action all)
15. Digital Archivist advertising (Action HB)

 

Today represents another landmark in the life of the Archive Project, with the publication of our first sample of digitisation work back from our contractors, Hampshire County Council. They have provided us a copy of the very first Handbook, no. 352 and the first section of the famous ‘Index Cards’ for our review.

As we have done with the Trophy photographs, Chris Charles, our Web Master has published the Index Cards on an interim web page, so you can get to see them in all their glory, the Handbook has been published using the template already set up for Handbooks etc.

The items can be found here:
The Handbook is on the usual literature page –

https://a7ca.org/austin-seven/archives/literature/

click on the high-lighted Handbook link ‘352’

The new Index Cards Page can be found here:

https://a7ca.org/austin-seven/archives/index-cards/

It is expected that we will have the full set of digitised images of Handbooks, Parts Lists and Index Cards back in the summer and we are currently working on plans to have a more sophisticated Archive web site ready by that time. We are in the early planning stage for that.

Austin 7 Clubs Association Archive project, Meeting No.4
Thursday 3rd March, 10:00 am
Triumph Sports 6 Club,
36 Main St, Lubenham, Market Harborough LE16 9TF

1. Those present:
Phil Baildon – Association Archivist
Hugh Barnes – Cambridge Austin 7 and Vintage Car Club
Nick Beck – Bristol and Scottish Austin 7 Clubs
Chris Garner – Association Vice-chair and PWA7C
Andy Lowe – Association Chairman and Midlands Austin 7 Club
Dave Martin – Asst Archivist and PWA7C
Nick Turley – PWA7C
2. Apologies for absence:
Chris Charles – Association Web Master
Ruairidh Dunford – Scottish Austin 7 Club
3. Minutes of meeting 3
Were deemed correct.
4. Progress since last meeting
a. The Collection to be reorganised (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
Much good progress has been made in the reorganisation of the collection. This work continues by the Thursday Group (Action CG, PB, DM)
b. Extra shelving erected and items moved off floor (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
Complete. New shelving units have been purchased and the reorganised collection stored in a sensible order. Other items not stored on the shelves are now off the floor on plastic ‘shelves’ about 2” high. This would mitigate any damage from flood should the worst happen again.
c. Collection covered when not in use (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
Efforts have been made to cover the shelf units with ‘Decorators’ plastic sheeting. This has proved somewhat unsuccessful due to the ‘weight’ of the material. Attempts will be made with heavier gauge plastic sheet or roller blinds as suggested by NT. This should be resolved by our next meeting.(Action PB, DM, CG)
d. Trophy photography complete (Action NT)
Complete
e. High level Inventory created (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
WIP. A list of all different categories of the collection and a count of the number of items is now a pressing need. Eg, Photographs, film and video resources, books, magazines, drawings etc and the number of each type of resource. Any records produced need to be recorded in an Excel spreadsheet to permit sharing of information and further manipulation. This should be resolved by the next meeting (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
f. Lubenham Internet connection established (Action PB)
Complete
g. Approach those with known collections of Handbooks (Action PB)
Still to be done. PB will approach Barry Pook in the first instance (action PB)
Offers of materials from outside the UK may mean that those items will be digitised locally and digital files transferred to the Project. To aid that:
• Create a specification for digital files (Action HB)
• Create Association Dropbox account (Action NT)
h. Index to CD of Stanley Edge documents provided to PB (Action NB)
Complete
i. Community Sites follow up (Action CG/HB)
On hold. Our meeting with Bottesford local History group (see next item) encouraged us to believe Community Sites are a company that work well for projects such as ours. Any further contact with them will take place after we have a better understanding of an HLF Grant application as we would include their costs in any application. We also are exploring options of in-house developments. (Action CG/HB)
j. HLF Grant follow up (Action CG/HB)
CG and HB have had successful meeting with a Local History Group and Historical monument preservation Society regarding their experience of an HLF Grant application. Their experiences has encouraged us to pursue an HLF Grant and an initial enquiry has been made which was well received, CG and HB will attending an HLF Grant symposium on March 23rd during which time we will get a face to face interview with HLF Staff to discuss our Project and seek guidance to our intended Grant application (Action CG/HB)
k. Arrange with Hants CC for digitisation work (Action RD)
Complete. RD to continue to be main point of contact for any communications with HCC. (All to note)
l. Create inventory list for materials for digitisation. (Action PB, DM, CG)
Complete. However, it should be pointed out that in future any such inventory should be created in Excel, data recorded as such can be manipulated to help with catalogue creation and to aid the ongoing work of the Project generally. (All to take note)
m. Arrangements for training course (Action RD, HB)
Complete
n. Chairman to add Archive Project notes in Grey Mag (Action AL)
Complete
o. Web site to be enhanced (Action Web Master)
Complete
p. Quarterly report for Grey Mag and Club Magazines (Action HB)
Complete
q. Quarterly Grey Mag article on Archive Items of note (Action PB)
There was some confusion over this which was resolved in the meeting. For the next Grey Mag issue, Dave Martin has written a piece on some specific Index Cards which will suffice for this issue. In future, PB will produce an article on a specific Item of interest in the collection, will highlight any accessions made by the Collection and will make reference to any specific items sought by the Archive and encourage any further donations of material.
r. Grey Mag to highlight Assn. Web site (Action CG, Editor)
Complete
s. Explore Open Day possibilities with TSSC (Action PB)
After some discussion, it was decided that we should plan for an open day on Sunday August 14th. It was suggested that we should invite Bob Wyatt to attend on the day and that we should also make it the formal launch of the Spare Parts list publication. PB will take on the organisation of this. A draft plan for the day should be developed and available for review by the next meeting. (Action PB)
t. Consider possibilities and need for watermark on downloaded items (Action HB)
A discussion took place. The general feeling of the group was that images should not be watermarked
u. Copyright issues (Action PB)
These were discussed from two standpoints. A) Copyright held and claimed by the Association on Archive materials and B) Copyright held on materials by bodies other than the Association. It was decided not to approach any other bodies at this time, but that it may be enough to acknowledge the possible copyright of others when publishing items on the web. This may also be covered by expiry dates of copyright, this is also to be researched (Action CG)
v. Trophy storage issues (Action PB)
A number of options were discussed. The general mood of the group was that the Trophies should be stored in a more secure location. Even though Lubenham had alarms etc, entry to the Archive room would be simple and items could be removed in a very short space of time. The decision was made to place them in secure storage location (rented) for a period of 3 months while a more permanent location was found. A number of locations were suggested to be researched (Action CG) Insurance cover to be checked and put n place for the Trophy collection when stored away from Lubenham (urgent Action PB)
NB. After the meeting, it was confirmed that the Trophy collection is now in secure storage – thank you Chris
w. ‘Disclaimer’ wording for technical drawings (Action PB)
RD had recently published the content of the Stanley Edge Notebook and, with assistance from NT, had come up with suitable wording to cover this point. It was suggested that this wording should be adapted for our needs.
(For the record, this is the wording referred to:
This notebook belonged to Stanley Edge. Following his wishes, it is shared with you for personal information and interest. It should not be used for specifying parts manufacture. Respecting Stanley’s intentions it must on no account be reprinted, republished or reshared in any form, either whole or in part and strictly not for reward. Copyright: Ruairidh Dunford)

5. Heritage Lottery Grant
CG made the following presentation
From the overview provided by CG to the HLF, our project is deemed suitable for funding
HLF encourage the use of volunteers in cataloging, archiving and the production of digital records. Training. eg Hants CC ,is encouraged and can be costed for.
In developing a website, using Digital Technologies ( DT ) is vital and there are HLF specific requirements. DT is defined as anything in a digital format, designed to give access to heritage and to assist in helping people engage with it – eg images, sound, on line, exhibition etc.
Prior to application we must have an idea where the physical archives are to lodged. County archives?

The use of DT is to encourage greater access to our archives, copies of fragile items and widen our audience. Make the DT interactive. eg allow comments on a dedicated website.
One can divide DT into;
Generative technology. ie create content
Preservation tech.
Interpretive tech. ie understanding the content
Administative tech. ie everyday tools

It is vital that a Digital Archivist is appointed to oversee all digital elements, intellectual content, technology and ongoing maintenance.
Use open DT eg WordPress and Community Sites, as we have touched upon.
Consider the state of data / files. CD, hard drives and increasingly, on line – these need to be safe.
Need to catalogue information as it is generated, keeping track of it so it can be easily found – so called “ metadata “ – collections of many files.
Make sure websites are usable and friendly. Keep it simple but informative. Also recognise disabilities in your audience.
Copyright & intellectual property. Very important
Audience’s use of our data. Protection…but at the same time the archive should be made freely available to individuals. Investigate “ Creative Commons “ – a set of licences specifying what users are allowed to do with our digital files.
Determine engagement. Who is the target audience?, how to engage with them and what degree of feedback we need or expect. Think of the benefits to the audience in terms of knowledge, ideas, discussion stimulation.
Need to market, and to some degree, educate the audience by making them aware of the archive.
Once the digital content is out in the field, the need to evaluate its effectiveness and also manage and maintain on a long term basis.
Assess what we want to achieve after the project is completed.
What resources are required? Digital archivist!
Always seek outside advice if necessary to make your project “the best “
6. Appointment of a Digital Archivist
This volunteer role was outlined by HB. The duties would broadly to be ‘Curator’ of the digital Archive with all that might encompass. A formal Job description will be drawn up (Action HB) and applications invited from suitable candidates. Candidates will go through a formal interview process. Personal attributes shall include good computer literacy and communication skills with a career background in either Archive management, Library or IT disciplines. An advert for the current issue of the Grey Mag will be written (Action HB). The vacancy will also be advertised on A7Friends and the Archive pages of the Association Web site (action HB)
7. Bert Hadley Archive
Geoff Roe has been asked if he will go through the ‘Bert Hadley Archive’ (consists of 3 boxes of assorted materials). He is the best person to assess its contents given his knowledge of the subject. Geoff does not use a computer so he must be asked to create a written list of the materials that can be transferred to a spreadsheet when complete.
CG to organise with the Thursday working party a high level review of the contents. (Action CG, PB, DM) CG will also look to the purchase of appropriate storage materials – eg archive quality polyester photo envelopes etc (Action CG)
8. Budget
Of the £5000 initial grant from the Association, we are committed to approximately £3000 with Hants CC (will vary a little from that figure) Training costs came in under budget at about £600. There was also £150 to clean and prepare the Trophy collection for photographing. Training costs have been re-imbursed as have cleaning costs. We will not receive an invoice from Hants until the work is complete (probably July time). We are therefore left with approximately £1250 of our initial budget.
9. Digitisation
As reported elsewhere, all materials from the first tranche are now with Hants CC. They will provide us with some samples from their early efforts for us to review and prototype some processes and procedures for storage and handling from an IT perspective.
Next category to be assessed will be the Archive collection of photographs. The Thursday working group will focus on this over the next few weeks (Action PB, DM, CG)
10. Training
Our training course with Hants Archives had been a great success. All delegates had got a great deal form the course and it had helped us form opinions on aspects of the Project where we had outstanding decisions. One area that had been of particular interest was the concept of ‘oral histories’. It was apparent to the group that although we may have missed the opportunity to interview many characters, there were still many people that would be interesting to talk to. In discussion, it soon became apparent that some resources of this type already exist and that, in the first instance, we should try and track down these items and hopefully secure them for the Archive. We should then undertake a project in its own right to identify more people and interview them. This could be a task overseen by the Digital Archivist.
A request for candidates should be made in the next Grey Mag (not the April Edition). To be discussed further at the next meeting.
11. Publicity
Additional publicity of the Project has been instigated with the article penned by HB appearing in Club Magazines. Similarly, a further article from HB on the Project and one from DM on Index cards will appear in the next Grey Mag.
Chris Charles (Web Master) provided stats on views of relevant pages on the Web site. These are as follows:
stats from the website from 11th Feb (Trophy launch) to 1st March.

Trophies –

/trophies/ 244
/trophies/hadley-trophies/ 65
/trophies/other-trophies/ 43
/trophies/waite-trophies/ 42

Then from 2nd December (previous report) to 1st March

/austin-seven/archives/archive-project/ 301
/newsarchive/missing-publications/ 93
/newsarchive/stage-1-of-digitisation-project/ 65
/newsarchive/archive-project-meeting-19th-december-2015/ 42
/newsarchive/archive-project-meeting-10th-january-2016/ 41
/newsarchive/archive-progress-update-14th-january-2016/ 28
Views of the web site appear to be increasing as our publicity of the Project is beginning to extend past A7Friends. Publicity of the Project remains a priority.
When the group were in Winchester, we met up with Bernard Griffith, an A7 owner of note. Bernard has agreed to find a local Chummy owner that would be prepared to use his car when we collect the first digitised material from Winchester as a photo opportunity for both Hants Archives and ourselves.
12. AOB
NB will start to go through the non A7 items in the Stanley Edge material to assess different types of material in an effort to find more appropriate homes for it. Items to be handed over to NB at next Association meeting (Action PB)
AL has discovered that the Shelsley Walsh archive has interesting records of entries made by Austins (Works and Privateers)
13. Date of next meeting
Sunday April 10th after the Association Meeting at Gaydon. Bob Prophet to be informed (Action HB)

Work items for next period
a. The Collection to be reorganised (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
b. Collection covered when not in use (Action PB, DM, CG et al) – to be completed by April Meeting
c. High level Inventory created (Action PB, DM, CG et al) – to be completed by April Meeting
d. Approach those with known collections of Handbooks (Action PB)
e. Create a specification for digital files (Action HB)
f. Create Association Dropbox account (Action NT)
g. Community Sites follow up (Action CG/HB)
h. HLF Grant follow up (Action CG/HB)
i. Open Day planning (Action PB) draft to be complete by April meeting
j. Copyright research (Action CG)
k. Trophy storage issues (Action CG)
l. Advert for Digital Archivist (Action HB)
m. Job Description for Digital Archivist (Action HB)
n. Bert Hadley collection assessed (Action PB, DM, CG)
o. Archive photograph collection assessed (Action PB, DM, CG)
p. Take non A7 items to Association Meeting for NB to review (Action PB)

The Project has reached a bit of a landmark today with the publication of our first set of digitised images. Through the efforts of Nick Turley and the generous provision of some of his staff time, we now have a wonderful set of photos of this part of the collection. Chris Charles, our web master, has also been busy and has created a set of new pages on which to to display them. These can be found at www.a7ca.org/trophies/ They can also be navigated to via the menu on the Association web site under Austin-Seven>Archives.

I should point out that this is only an interim solution and that we will be creating a more sophisticated system in the fullness of time that will allow searching, the ability to leave comments etc, etc,..

Hugh Barnes
archiveproject@a7ca.org

Minutes of Meeting 3 for the Austin 7 Clubs Association Archive Project
10th January 2016
Gaydon Motor Museum

1. Those present:
Phil Baildon – Association Archivist
Hugh Barnes – Cambridge Austin 7 and Vintage Car Club
Nick Beck – Bristol and Scottish Austin 7 Clubs
Chris Garner – Association Vice-chair and PWA7C
Chris Heeley – Association Treasurer
Andy Lowe – Association Chairman and Midlands Austin 7 Club
Dave Martin – Asst Archivist and PWA7C

2. Apologies for absence:
Chris Charles – Association Web Master
Ruairidh Dunford – Scottish Austin 7 Club
Nick Turley – PWA7C

3. Progress since last meeting
a. Collection to be reorganized
Much work has been completed but there is still work to do. Gatherings on Thursdays will commence again Thursday 14th January (Action PB, CG, DM)

b. Extra shelving acquired and all items moved off the floor
Shelving has been purchased and will be assembled on the next Thursday working party. Some items still require moving from the floor (Action PB, CG, DM)

c. Differing collections checked against data entry system
Deferred. The layout and operation of the data entry system is now well understood but the fine detail can only be determined after the Project team have attended the Archive Training course in February. Final decisions will be made after then

d. Collection covered in plastic sheeting
Sheeting has been purchased and efforts made to cover the collection. These were not satisfactory. A new approach will be adopted and this will be dealt with by the Thursday working party (Action PB, CG, DM)

e. Trophy collection cleaning and photography in progress
The Trophy collection is now all cleaned ready for the photography. This will start in January and Nick Turley will keep us informed of progress (Action NT)

f. Notes on initial progress published
Done

g. High level inventory created
WIP. To be continued by Thursday working party (Action PB, CG, DM)

h. All minutes published
Done

i. Budget request proposal submitted
Done

j. Gaydon room booked
Done

k. High capacity internet connection for Lubenham
Work to provide this by TSSC staff is nearly complete. Connection should be able to be tested very soon (Action PB, CG, DM)

l. Options for paid help researched
Deferred until after training when requirements will be better understood

m. Response to request for additional Handbooks/Parts lists
So far, response has been disappointing. 2 Handbooks have been provided by Chris Garner and a further one. Many thanks are offered to both individuals. PB is contacting a couple of people he knows with extensive private collections to see if they can help. This item will also be picked up under Agenda item 9, Publicity (Action PB, HB)

n. Other progress
Nick Beck has finished analysing the content of the CD and has documented all the files it contains. Many of them are Austin 7 related, though many are from periods in Stanley Edge’s working life after his Austin involvement. The scans are in .TIF format and may be of sufficient quality to use in the online archive. That will be determined by the Web Master. There was a brief discussion about the best home for non Austin 7 material that has been included in the collection to date. That will be decisions made on an ad hoc basis when such material is dealt with.NB will provide PB with an Excel spreadsheet documenting the files he has found (Action NB)

4. Budget
The proposal for a grant of £5000 for initial funding along with supporting documents was put to the Association Meeting 10/1/2016. After a discussion, the proposal was unanimously accepted. It should be noted that with spending already committed (the first tranche of digitisation and the training we will undertake) at least £4000 of that amount is spoken for. Expenditure will be monitored and recorded by the Association Treasurer (who will also make the payments)

5. Web Master’s report (See attached)
The Web Master’s (Chris Charles – CC) report was discussed. HB explained some more of the detail of the OMEKA system, how it had been brought to our attention and discussions that had been had with an Academic at the University of Glasgow who had used it in her archive project. With Technology decisions we should be guided by CC but more in this area will be revealed on our training course – Hampshire County Council Archives were keen to point us to CommunitySites for possible web development.
Subsequent to the meeting, HB has spoken with CC to clarify his views. Reviewing the final paragraph is CC’s report, it became clear that CC has concerns about the amount of effort he can put towards the project given his upcoming work load with his studies. It has been unanimously agreed within the Project (and the Association generally) that we should not put expectations on CC that might jeopardise his studies in any way. As a result, CC’s candid recommendation is that we should pursue the web site development with Community Sites and look to working with them to secure a Heritage Lottery Grant for the funding. CC is more than happy to act as Liaison between the Project and CommunitySites. Conveniently, their offices are ¼ mile from where Chris lives. A specification for the web site and its operation will have to be developed.
Similarly, following this up after the meeting, we have arranged to meet with Bottesford Local History Society who have had a successful project working with Community Sites. We will chat through with them their experiences which hopefully we can learn from. (Action CG/HB)

6. Heritage Lottery Grant
As a result of our discussions with Hampshire County Council (who will be our Digitisation Contractor and Training provider) we were made aware of Community Sites, a firm who specialise in providing bespoke web based archive solutions for bodies such as ourselves. Their documentation made mention of the Heritage Lottery fund and how it could be used to cover the cost of their work. Following up on that topic more generally has convinced HB that we would be eligible for a grant for other aspects of our Project. We are to continue to research these possibilities and will try and find someone in the Austin 7 world experienced in writing such grant proposals. (Action HB)
After the meeting, we made contact with the wife of a fellow A7 owner who has been involved in a successful HLF grant application. We have a ranged a meeting with her to discuss her experiences and the process. HB/CG will report back at the next meeting (Action CG/HB)

7. Digitisation: Next steps
With the initial funding now secured from the Association, we can push ahead with the first tranche of digitisation by Hampshire County Council. With a number of the Project team attending Training in Winchester at the end of February, the opportunity will be taken to deliver the articles to be scanned at that time. A number of issues need to be resolved; Insurance of the items when held by Hants Archives, the arrangements for payment of their invoice, the length of time the work will take (it is hoped that this work can be complete by the next Association meeting on 10th April). (Action RD)
Chris H also asked that when we send archive material to Hants CC it should include an inventory list and that they should sign for it. (Action PB, DM, CG et al)

8. Training
The training can now go ahead with the provision of funds from the Association. 5 members of the Project Team (Phil Baildon, Hugh Barnes, Chris Charles, Chris Garner, Dave Martin) will attend the course on Wednesday 26th February in Winchester. Full details of the course content can be found here. This training should give us insight into how we should be preserving, cataloguing and digitising our collection.
We need to confirm attendance on the training course for members of the Project Team (Action RD) And accommodation needs to be booked for the night before the course (Action HB)

9. Publicity
Until now, it had been hoped that publishing documents on the Association web site under the ‘Archive Project’ pages and advertising that fact on the A7Friends forum would be sufficient. Monitoring visits to the web site and number of times postings on A7Friends have been read has shown this to be an unsatisfactory approach. Documents on the web have been read between 14 and 48 times with the list of missing Handbooks etc having been looked at 65 times. A7Friends readership appears to be about 100. This is a very small percentage of the total Austin 7 owners and we need to work harder to get information out to a wider audience. As such the decision was made to make a information more widely available in the following ways:
Andy Lowe will take the (ongoing) opportunity in his ‘Chairman’s Chat’ article in the Association Magazine to bring out the highlights of progress of the Project and encourage people to visit the Web site (Action AL)
Chris Charles, Assn Web Master, will make the Archive Project pages on the web site more prominent by making them a permanent ‘side bar’ entry that appears on every page (Action Web Master)
Phil Baildon, Archivist will write a short article for every Association Magazine highlighting a single item of interest held in the collection (Action PB)
HB will write a quarterly report for the Association Magazine, also circulated to all Club Magazine Editors for their inclusion reporting on progress in greater detail. First report to specifically draw attention to missing Handbooks/Parts lists (Action HB)
Ed Waugh, Association Magazine Editor will give prominence to advertising the Association Web site whish, it has been realised, is not referred to anywhere in the Magazine (action Editor)

10. AOB
• Phil Baildon reported that the TSSC have a small number of open days each year. This would be ideal for us to have an open day at the Archive and this will be looked into. It is hoped the first such day might be in July 2016 (Action PB)
• The possibility of adding a ‘watermark’ to any digitised resource downloaded from the Web site will be examined (Action HB contact CC)
• Copyright ownership of items in the Collection is to be examined. (Action PB to contact Fay Mcleod)
• Recommendations for storage of conserved Trophies etc (Action PB to contact Fay Mcleod)
• The issue of liability on the Association for parts made from plans that we are to publish has been raised by Faye Macleod. She writes ‘my only word of caution is that in both automotive archives I’ve worked in, copies of drawings were not made available to the public, due to liability issues. There was a case in the USA a number of years ago where a part created by an enthusiast, from a drawing supplied by an archive, failed and caused serious injury. The archive was found liable.’
NB provided the following suggestion
“If we put a watermark on the drawings that contains a similar warning saying “parts made to this drawing may not be suitable for use,” that would remove any liability to the Association.”
It was decided that we very much do want to publish drawings in all their detail and that we should seek advice on some ‘disclaimer’ wording that we could publish alongside them (Action PB)
• The date of the next Association Meeting is Sunday 10th April. All Project Team members should keep this in mind, we hope to be able to report significant progress by then.(Action all)

11. Date of next meeting
Thursday 3rd March, TSSC, Lubenham, 10:30 am

12. Work list for next period
a. The Collection to be reorganised (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
b. Extra shelving erected and items moved off floor (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
c. Collection cover when not in use (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
d. Trophy photography complete (Action NT)
e. High level Inventory created (Action PB, DM, CG et al)
f. Lubenham Internet connection established (Action PB)
g. Approach those with known collections of Handbooks (Action PB)
h. Index to CD of Stanley Edge documents provided to PB (Action NB)
i. Community Sites follow up (Action CG/HB)
j. HLF Grant follow up (Action CG/HB)
k. Arrange with Hants CC for digitisation work (Action RD)
l. Create inventory list for materials for digitisation. (Action PB, DM, CG)
m. Arrangements for training course (Action RD, HB)
n. Chairman to add Archive Project notes in Grey Mag (Action AL)
o. Web site to be enhanced (Action Web Master)
p. Quarterly report for Grey Mag and Club Magazines (Action HB)
q. Quarterly Grey Mag article on Archive Items of note (Action PB)
r. Grey Mag to highlight Assn. Web site (Action CG, Editor)
s. Explore Open Day possibilities with TSSC (Action PB)
t. Consider possibilities and need for watermark on downloaded items (Action HB)
u. Copyright issues (Action PB)
v. Trophy storage issues (Action PB)
w. ‘Disclaimer’ wording for technical drawings (Action PB)

14^th January 2016.  Meeting at Lubenham

Present: PB, DM, CG.

1. Two new steel 4 tier shelves erected. Old wooden shelving discarded ( as advised by Fay, JLR) 750 MC and PWA7C Club magazines reorganised on same.

2. Austin Service journals held are only from 1932 onwards. Thought that Bob Wyatt may hold the remaining originals. Action: PB

3. List of original ( largely ) brochures, as listed in report dated 19/12/15,     re- sorted, placed in transparencies and ready for digitising.

Also included ready are all hand and parts books as per the list + the factory index cards.

Additional Brochures etc sorted and deemed suitable for digitising.

Additional colour chart pub no 982C
Austin models colour and upholstery 617H   Sept ‘31
Austin Cars specification data (copy )           674
Austin models colour and upholstery 924      June ‘32
Austin Stock colours 924C    Dec ‘32
Austin Stock colours 924D    Oct ‘33
Austin Stock colours 924F    Nov ‘33
Austin Stock colours 924J    Sept ‘34
Austin models colour & upholstery 1441     Aug ‘36
Austin models colour & upholstery 1441     Nov ‘36
Austin models colour & upholstery  ( copy )  1441B   Feb ‘37
Austin Seven table of suggested stock of
Spare parts 1939 Season                                   no number
Austin Unity Song. Cover & music “
Austin Seven Car Club Official Handbook dated 1927
+ photograph of badge.
Austin Service tools ( A4 – similar to Journals ) 1269  Feb 1936
Pictorial Austin News for 1937 1581
Pictorial Austin News for 1938  1690
Here’s to Power ( silent film commentary ) 289/1

4.Four boxes of miscellany gone through. No original material present, although some photocopies of early Seven brochures not seen before.  Placed on one side for further examination.

All items covered with plastic protective sheeting and awaiting transportation to digitising company.

CRG/14.01.16

For the first tranche of the Digitisation Project Ruairidh Dunford has obtained several quotes for the work. This stage includes scanning the Factory Index Cards, Handbooks, Spare Parts Lists, and Colour Brochures.   The full report can be downloaded here.

Secondly the Hampshire County Council Archiving Service offer a training course – including cataloguing archive collections, the conservation and preservation of archives and the creation of digital archives.  A proposal to attend this can be downloaded here.

Further discussion on these proposals will occur at the A7CA Committee Meeting on the 10th January.

Austin Handbooks and Parts lists required to complete the collection

Austin 7 Handbooks

1923  early      352a 2^nd
mid       352b 3^rd
late       352c  4^th
1924  early      352d  5^th
1924 early       352e 6^th
1924  mid        352f  7^th
           late        352g  8^th
1925  early      352h  9^th
late       352j   11^th
1927 Jan          352n   15^th
1929 Dec         715     21^st
715e   22^nd
1932   Jan        715f   22^nd
1934   Aug       1182  28^th
1936   Jan        1183a Thetis marine
1936   May      1400
1937                1400e
1937   Lindblads Stockholm Sweden

Austin 7 Parts lists

1923 mid         353b 3^rd
1924  early      353c 4^th
1924 late         353e 6^th
1925 mid         353g 8^th
1927 Nov        353m 13^th  Car Nos A1-2-3-4 CHA1 & A5
1931                670e   17^th
1933                1029b
1934                1029c  21^st
1937 Apr         1521   Body parts 249701 on

Big Seven Handbooks

1937 Oct         1523a

Big Seven Parts Lists

1937  Dec        1598
1938 Mar        1648   Body parts type CRV

If you are able to help out please contact our Archivist