Service feature: Archives Hub goes from strength to strength

The Archives Hub includes the institutional archives of our contributors, but there is far more to it than that. There are now over 18,000 descriptions on the Hub, and a very wide range of people and organisations originally created the documents in these archives. They include the records of shopkeepers and multinational corporations, the personal papers of writers and artists, memoirs of soldiers and nurses, and the records of churches and government agencies.

On the first of every month, our 'Collections of the Month' feature highlights collections of topical interest or ones that tie in with exhibitions being held by our contributors. These features remain in place as the months roll on to the next feature, and the website includes a list of previous features.

The Archives Hub's very first Collection of the Month feature was for Manchester-born, Oscar-winning actor Robert Donat (1905-1958). This was to coincide with an exhibition in  September 2001 at the John Rylands University Library of Manchester. The Library holds Donat's personal papers, which are described on the Hub.

At that time, this was no more than a highlighted link to one archival description. However, this popular feature has expanded so that now it includes a dozen or more descriptions, with an article setting them in their historical context, and where possible illustrated with photographs from the collections. There are also links to related web sites, particularly for archives, libraries and museums.

These features have in turn attracted links from the websites of higher education institutions in both the UK and the US, and even from personal web 'blogs'.  In March 2003, the theme was Britain's historical connections with Iraq, and this was swiftly picked up by Unesco's news service.

The Archives Hub only provides textual descriptions of archival collections. The Collections of the Month features help to remind researchers of the kind of material that they can find within archives. Each description on the Hub includes a link to up-to-date contact details for our contributors, so that researchers can make arrangements to view the original material.

You can receive regular updates on Collections of the Month by joining the Archives Hub Jiscmail list. The Archives Hub also has an RSS 'news channel' which is updated monthly. This carries information about our Collections of the Month themes, and a link to the current feature. Details of how to subscribe to the mailing list and the news channel are on the website. You are welcome to send us suggestions for future Collections of the Month themes to archiveshub@mimas.ac.uk.

This October has a Norwegian flavour, celebrating the centenary of Norway's independence, and the theme was suggested by one of our Scottish contributors. 

Paddy Collis, Archives Hub.