This IS good news!

Behind the Scenes Experience! See areas of the record office not normally accessible to the public including our strongroom, conservation studio and view some of our favourite documents. 📅 7 October 2025 ⏲️ 10:00-11:30 🎫 £7, booking essential buff.ly/4L4EDrm #behindthescenes

For this week’s blog, Archivist Nicola opens the page on the work she has been doing to safely move the archives and local studies collections from Sutton Coldfield Library to the Library of Birmingham - theironroom.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/s... Image Ref: BCU/13 #LibraryofBham #RoyalSutColTC

Staffordshire History Centre www.expressandstar.com/your-world/2...

🏆 Gloucestershire Archives has been named Record Keeping Service of 2025! 🎉 Celebrate with us this September: 📅 16/9 – Online talk (FREE) portal.sog.org.uk/Ev... 📅 17/9 – Library tour, SoG London portal.sog.org.uk/Ev... 📅 23/9 – Visit Gloucestershire Archives portal.sog.org.uk/Ev... #GenHour

Next Tuesday we'll be visiting our friends over at Wycombe Museum for one of our archive drop-in sessions! Come along and learn a little about what we do and have your questions on our upcoming move answered. We'll be there from 11am to 3pm with some historic documents out on display.

Happy Birthday to the wonderful NLS!

Huge congratulations to Lord Smith, outgoing Master of @pembroke1347.bsky.social, who has been elected Chancellor of the University.

If you have visited us recently, you may have noticed that we now have a Tap to Donate station. This goes towards our Documents Purchase Fund which enables us to buy Berkshire's archives that are at risk. They can then be preserved and made accessible. We appreciate your support!

Just a few days left to apply for our new Sector Development Manager role! Help strengthen the impact of archives & records across Scotland, shape sector programmes, and advocate for lasting change. 🔗 Apply now: www.scottisharchives.org.uk/latest/new-v...

*Jobs klaxon* A fantastic opportunity to train future generations of book & paper conservators and be part of the dynamic team at the @uofglasgow.bsky.social's Kelvin Centre for Conservation & Cultural Heritage Research. www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer...

Manuscript Makers at the National Museum of Ireland 📍 Kildare Street, Dublin 📅 Wednesday 16 July | ⏰ 10:30am–12:30pm Explore how manuscripts were made over 1,200 years ago! Handle replicas like vellum, wax tablets & quills Discover ancient inks & pigments www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museum...

We are excited to advertise three new roles as part of the Hall Marks project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The roles are project manager, project officer and project assistant. More details here careers.norfolk.gov.uk#en/sites/CX_... #hallmarks #norfolkcountryhouses #archivejobs

We are recruiting! Are you a qualified archivist who is looking for an 18-month, full-time position? Would you like to work in a stunning location with a wide range of collections? Enjoy being part of a team and talking up archives to a wide audience? www.northeastjobs.org.uk/job/Archivis...

Delighted we were able to support the BL to save for the nation five exceptional medieval mss from Longleat House - Including an unparalleled volume for the study of Hebrew in medieval England, comprising a trilingual Hebrew-Latin-Old French dictionary, glossed Hebrew Psalter, & Hebrew grammar.

@thomasplumes.bsky.social began to replace scarce 17thC books that were listed in early inventories but found to be 'missing' in the early 20thC. We have supported the library in this quest on many occasions over the years and were delighted to give a grant towards these latest acquisitions.

#DidYouKnow that the earliest document held by Kent Archives is quite possibly the oldest possessed by any county repository in the United Kingdom? 📜👀 It's a charter issued by King Wihtred granting freedom from taxation to the churches and monasteries of #Kent, AD 699 ☟ See U140/T1: bit.ly/4lioB0h

One of the most amazing aspects of Cornwall’s unique landscape is its richness of ancient sites. Two of our archivists recently spent their day off exploring ancient sites around St Just in Penwith. A couple of the beautiful manor maps we care for depict some of these sites.

Preeminent collection of working and design drawings of outstanding aesthetic quality and technical clarity - and acquired with the help of a grant from @thefnl.bsky.social !

Wonderful! And an opportunity to remind colleagues in UK libraries and archives that FNL doesn't 'just' award grants for the conservation of rare books, manuscripts etc etc, but also for fine bindings.

Last Monday we hosted a private viewing of our new exhibition 'Our River Thames'. It was wonderful for people to finally see the completion of months of hard work and hopefully learn something new about the River Thames. Come along and see the installed version for yourself now!

Delighted that we could help @cburycathedral.bsky.social acquire this interesting volume, which will help tell the story of the Cathedral's music in the 19th century.

Local authority run county record offices and local archives are absolutely the under appreciated repositories of British history.

Nell Hoare, Secretary of @thefnl.bsky.social, gave us a fascinating insight into their work and the Acquisitions Grants which can help libraries to purchase important items they couldn't otherwise afford. Key takeaways from Nell's talk:

Want to bid but your archive/library lacks the funds? Don't forget that you can apply to us for an acquisition grant and we can make speedy decisions!

Concerned about the current state of attacks on knowledge, our role in providing access to & preserving authentic knowledge, and what would be the role of AI? Join us at the inaugural Knowledge Futures Symposium on 27th June, 9am-4pm (BST), Online/In Person conferences.leeds.ac.uk/knowledgefut...

As the summer auction season gets underway, a reminder to the UK's national, regional, local, specialist, university and museum collectors of archives that you can apply to @thefnl.bsky.social for an acquisition grant. We can make a decision in days if necessary. www.fnl.org.uk/apply

Delighted we could help!

A great experience at Showtown, Blackpool last week. Congratulations on winning Permanent Exhibition of the Year at the Museums and Heritage Awards last week. Can see why you won!

All of this will be delivered by an all-star cast: @bibsoc.bsky.social President Nicolas Bell; @thefnl.bsky.social's Nell Hoare; antiquarian bookseller Simon Beattie (@simon-beattie.bsky.social); and our very own former Chair, Lucy Evans (@libraryluce.bsky.social).

Save the Archives and Special Collections department at Bangor University: chng.it/Z6T6dyRPPb

Good piece from @richove.bsky.social on the threat of the US govt to libraries, archives and thus knowledge on.ft.com/3FbaZ7h

Major news from our Special Collections and Archives! 📢 Our Head of Music, Prof Lisa Colton @lisacolton.bsky.social, identified that we hold the manuscript of Dame Ethel Smyth's Mass in D, which scholars thought was lost. It is now fully available on the Digital Heritage Lab: tinyurl.com/47ce8hkd

Delighted that we could support this with an acquisition grant!

Delighted that @thefnl.bsky.social was able to support this important acquisition by @uclspeccoll.bsky.social with a grant!

Good news @saraha73.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Dr Carla Hayden was a truly great Librarian of Congress. It is an outrage that she has been sacked - a national shame on the United States. I had the pleasure of knowing her and working with her - she’ll continue to do good in the next phase of her career whatever that is.

*Apply now* for acquisition grants for rare books, mss, archives, fine bindings etc. UK's national, regional, local and specialist collecting institutions are eligible. Next trustees' meeting is soon, so apply now if you have an acquisition in your sights & need support. www.fnl.org.uk/apply

📢We're #Hiring! Reporting to our Archivist, this Project Archivist role will focus on the cataloguing of the Percy Sladen Memorial Fund's paper archives, a trust that supported oceanic exploration. If that sounds like your cup of archival tea, apply before 22 May 2025! www.linnean.org/the-...

Excellent news!

Should have ref’d @lulgalleries.bsky.social!

Delighted that @thefnl.bsky.social was able to help with an acquisition grant - a wonderful addition to @universityofleeds.bsky.social ‘s designated cookery collection!

Eleanor Hunter’s manuscript recipe book, c18th, acquired with the help of @thefnl.bsky.social - in spite, rather than because, of some of its recipes…..

…and in 2008 we helped @uorspeccoll.bsky.social acquire the Knowlson/Samuel Beckett Collection! grants.fnl.org.uk/knowlsonsamu...

‘There is no political power without power over the archive’ Jacques Derrida as quoted in the Guest essay by @nannathylstrup.bsky.social and me in today’s @nytimes.com

Lovely to see the poem I wrote for Devon libraries turned into this starting librarians and library users @librariesunlimited.bsky.social @hulllibraries.bsky.social @librariesconnected.bsky.social @thefnl.bsky.social @britishlibrary.bsky.social @librarian.bsky.social @librarianjones.com #libraries

An enormously important acquisition and delighted that we could help save an export-stopped archive for the nation. The support from XTX Markets was quite incredible - well over half of the total cost, ensuring that this significant archive is now at King's and is accessible to all in perpetuity.

Today marks the 400th anniversary of the death of King James VI & I. He presented this spectacular copy of his writings to the University in 1619. The sumptuous velvet binding – now a little worn – carries his coat of arms in gilt leather. UL Sel.2.83. @theulspeccoll.bsky.social

If you haven't completed already, this week of extra time would be a great moment to. We need data to demonstrate the state of the sector robustly, this year and over time, and we can't do that without sector input.

Digitization alert! This 1590 manuscript of Chants for the Mass for the Feast of the Transfiguration would have been used annually on August 6 when Catholics celebrate the revealing of Jesus’ divine glory on a mountaintop. View the manuscript: https://findingaids.bc.edu/repositories/2/resources/838