Cataloguing steam

1:39 PM

The Business Archives Council (BAC) Cataloguing Grant awards 2010 were announced today and they have gone to two collections close to our hearts here at the Ballast Trust (railways and paddle steamers).

The Dorset History Centre - to catalogue the archives of Cosens of Weymouth, Paddle Steamer Company.
"Operating out of Weymouth, Dorset for nearly 150 years, Cosens’ fleet of pleasure paddle steamers were once a familiar sight serving numerous towns along the south coast, the Channel Islands and France. Cosens were also coal and ice merchants, yacht builders, mast makers, smiths, millwrights, iron and brass founders. The Cosens collection consists of 26 boxes. The panel was impressed by the potential benefits this collection will make to the wider community by supporting Dorset History Centre’s Family Learning project based around seaside holidays, and its relevance in giving historical background to the 2012 Olympics, in which Weymouth will host the sailing elements of the event."

(my favourite paddle steamer photo)

The National Railway Museum - to catalogue small railway engineering and business collections.
"The National Railway Museum’s collections covered by the grant comprise 60 small archives ranging from a few files or volumes up to two boxes. The panel was impressed by the national importance of these items and their benefit to researchers in helping them better understand the birth and growth of railways. The famous names of 19th century engineering business feature, including reports, accounts and letters by George and Robert Stephenson, I.K. Brunel, and John Rennie, and a unique commonplace book by Daniel Gooch, containing significant accounts of lines and locomotives they built."


The information in quotes about the collections was taken from here.

Both projects are due to be completed by 31 March 2011. The resultant catalogues will be made available by the repositories and submitted to the National Register of Archives.

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