Mining Durham's Hidden Depths
The Record Office is working on a six-month project, funded by the Department for Business, Industries and Skills Learning Revolution Transformation Fund, to open up the Durham Miners’ Association records. The DMA records were deposited in the Record Office between 1973 and 1993 and include records from the DMA head office at Redhills, records of individual lodges, and the papers of Sam Watson, the DMA’s general secretary from 1946 to 1963. The records have been available in the Record Office for many years but the existing catalogue entries have not revealed the wealth of material which exists, nor has the collection been used widely.
The project has a number of aims:
- to re-catalogue the items in the collection with expanded catalogue entries to make it more obvious to users what can be found in them
- to create on-line indexes to the records with the help of adult volunteers including adults with a learning disability who are interested in local history, and residents of care homes; volunteers will develop skills and meet like-minded people, while helping to create an index focusing on the working lives of miners rather than mining disasters
- to create exhibitions to illustrate the work and encourage the preservation of similar records not yet deposited in the Record Office
The project will run until the end of March 2010. Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help with our mining heritage project. We have had an overwhelming response to our appeal for help, so cannot, at the moment, accept any new offers to volunteer.
