The Cumbria Archive Service has appealed for volunteers to help in various tasks as follows:-
(Last updated March 2011)
Conservation Unit (Carlisle):
A wide range of opportunities for teams of up to 6 volunteers digitising sources held in the four Record Offices and six main Local Studies Libraries. Meetings are organised for 3 separate sessions - Monday mornings and afternoons and Wednesday mornings. Much of this preparation work is to do with organising/cleaning/copying, it is repetative and wouldn't provide the opportunity to read the documents I'm afraid but it would be very helpful to them!
The new facilities offer tremendous opportunities to undertake this work in a purpose-built environment. Anybody interested in this project should contact Brenda Dreghorn on 01228 227281 referring to this website.
Barrow:
The record office staff would welcome additional volunteers to help in making up individual phase boxes of Parish registers. Volunteers need to have a reasonable hand strength and dexterity for this task. Please contact Brenda Dreghorn on 01228 227281 or Hazel Gatford on 01229 407377 if you are interested in helping. Notice updated 2010.
Kendal:
A volunteer is needed to input entries from a printed version of Historical Manuscripts Commission catalogue, 'Rydal Hall Manuscripts' in CALM computerised cataloguing system. The Fleming family papers (WDRY) are one of the most renowned estate collections in the country, particularly for Sir Daniel Fleming's 17th century letters.
Contact Elaine Brison, 01539 713540 or email.
Notice posted March 2011
Volunteers are also cataloguing of Mike Davies Shiel photographic collection prior to digitisation.
Whitehaven:
Cumberland Pacquet newspaper index. Volunteers are sought for the ongoing project to help enter the Cumberland Pacquet newspaper card entries into a computer database. No particular IT skills are needed as staff are happy to show anyone interested how to enter the basic details from the index cards onto a computer. Although we would like volunteers to confirm the timing of their visit in advance, we also are not asking for a significant or unending commitment of time – why not volunteer to enter simply the surname from your family? Or if you’d prefer we are happy for you to volunteer for the same 1 hour/ part day at the same time each week.
Originally compiled in the mid 1980s by workers on a job creation scheme the original card index is an invaluable tool for family and local historians as the original indexers referenced many fascinating snippets from by-gone editions, including all birth, marriage and death announcements from the paper’s start in 1774 until about 1855. Although volunteers will not be reading the full entries in the papers (as the work just involves the index entries) this is such a valuable task as the original cards are presently stored in wooden card index drawers and there is no other place for these but on the floor, which makes accessing the drawers’ contents difficult and leaves many potential researchers ‘floored’.