Recipes Across the Years Competition, Top Ten!

The Day Has Finally Arrived!

After a successful month of recipe related events, WYAS is pleased to announce its TOP TEN recipes received from September’s Recipes Across the Years events.

Damson Jam – Lorna Brooks

Auntie Nellie’s Rissoles – June M Jamieson

Cheese Scones – Mrs G Fielding

Doris’s Christmas Pudding -

3 Ingredients Fruit Cake -  Mr KR Frost

Auntie Miriam’s Stew – Mrs E Houldin

Rhubarb Mess -  Miss C Rawnsley. Pemberton

Wholegrain Goody – Mrs Shelley Morris

Callum’s Cake – Callum Hutton

Chocolate Fudge Cake – Lewis Candlin

And the overall winner is . . . . .

June M Jamieson for Auntie Nellie’s Rissoles

A huge thank you to everyone who took part! We had many entries, all of which were fantastic and will be bound by our conservation department into a recipe book.  This will be accessioned at our Wakefield office for future generations to enjoy.

“Computer discs aren’t archives, are they?”

 Well yes, they can be.

 Many people think of archives as dusty old manuscripts, parchment deeds and sepia photographs. It’s certainly true that an awful lot of the records we hold at the West Yorkshire Archive Service fit that description (apart from the “dusty”- our Conservation team work very hard to ensure that doesn’t happen!).  The truth is, though, that history doesn’t ever stop.

One of the oldest documents we hold – a notification of a grant of land at Ripley from before 1157 (Ref: WYL230/165, WYAS Leeds)

As new technologies emerge the format in which records are created has always changed.  The glass plate negative gave way to 35mm film; the quill pen gave way to the fountain pen, then the biro and the typewriter; parchment gave way to paper and wet letter books disappeared with the rise of carbon copies. 

The mission of the West Yorkshire Archive Service has always been to collect, preserve and make available the county’s documentary heritage, for legal purposes and historical research.  The documents and records which were once produced on paper are now being created on computer and even though the email has replaced the letter and financial ledgers have been replaced by spreadsheets we still have a responsibility to ensure the records being created today are preserved for future generations to access.

Some of the computer records we hold in the archives already

So what are we doing about it?

Well today is a Day of Digital Archives as archivists across the world tell people about the work they are doing to help preserve the digital age,  so it seemed like the ideal opportunity to tell you all.

Our Digital Archives Policy is available on our website and sets out our commitment to exploring the ways in which we can best meet the challenges of preserving digital materials.  These challenges include the physical deterioration of digital storage media, rapid changes in hardware and software which mean we may lose the ability to access older records (remember 3 ½ inch floppy discs, anyone?) and developing the resources we need to collect, process, preserve and make available digital records.

We’ve got a special computer, which is isolated from our main network, where we can check digital records deposited with us for viruses and use tools to gather the technical information we need to preserve alongside the digital records themselves so they can be accessed in the future. We have dedicated server space to store the digital records once they have been processed.  We’re talking to our colleagues in the IT department about how we can make these digital records available to our researchers.

We’re developing training materials and advice for all our staff to help them deal with digital records and we’re taking part in wider training opportunities like this National Archives web-archiving pilot study .

If you want to know more about what we’re doing, think you might have some digital records you’d like to deposit with us for future generations, or maybe just want some advice on where to look for help in caring for your own digital “stuff” so your children and grandchildren can enjoy all those digital photos you’re taking, feel free to contact us for help, information and advice.

Follow us at @wyorksarchives or follow #digitalArchivesDay for more information about the Day of Digital Archives.

Rawson Family and Estate Archive – Listed and Available!

WYAS is delighted to announce that the 405 page catalogue of the family and estate papers of various branches of the Rawson family of Sowerby, Halifax, etc has now been completed and the records are available for public consultation. 

This sees the final stage in a process which began with a survey of the records in the owner’s house, followed by conservation work which primarily took the form of freeze drying of the records at risk. 

The 113 boxes of records cover the years 1216-2005 and include a wide variety of records relating to the Rawson family and to many other distinguished local families with whom the Rawson family intermarried, such as the Saltmarshes of Saltmarshe, the Stansfelds of Field House, the Waterhouses of Well Head, the Empsons of Knaresborough, and the Prestons of Green Royd, Skircoat. A particularly large number of documents covering the years 1734-1894 originate with the Priestleys of White Windows with whom the Rawsons of Sowerby married three times, in two consecutive generations and the Walker family.

Golden Wedding of William Henry Rawson and Mary, nee Priestly 1856

 

The following selected items in the collection will hopefully show the range of records now available!

Deeds 1407-1952; wills, testamentary papers and marriage settlements 1614-1949; business records 1758-1951; list of subscriptions offered to enable raising of men to assist ‘His Majesty’s endeavours to put a stop to the unnatural rebellion in America’ c1777; genealogical notes 1777-1998; plans c1790-1951; roll of signatures of recruits for a Volunteer Corps for the security and protection of the neighbourhood of Halifax 1794; household notes and recipes c1800-1900; travel journals 1817-1890s, including visits to India, China, South America, etc; note book on musical matters 1823-1836 compiled by William Priestley (1779-1860), founder of the Halifax Choral Society; Sowerby Almshouses records 1854-1930 including register of inmates 1854-1930 and minutes 190-1912; photographs 1856-1936; goat registration cards 1890; records c1900-1938 relating to the distinguished career of  Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson (1843-1910), Governor of New South Wales 1902-1909; letter of condolence from Princess Marie-Louise of Schleswig-Holstein to Alice Rawson on the death of her mother in the Suez Canal 1905; press cutting of the Local News Section of the Halifax Courier including article relating to the awards for F P S Rawson after his attempt to save two lives at Zennor, Cornwall; records relating to St John’s Thorpe, Triangle 1856-1930; Sowerby Division Conservative Association minutes 1885-1953.

 

To view this collection please contact WYAS Calderdale