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)