"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."

"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."