Outside the box
Volunteers from the County Record Office’s national award winning project ‘Outside the Box’ came together for a special reception last week.
The project won the Highly Commended award at the Archives & Records Association (ARA) in 2009 in the category of the National Archive Volunteering Project of the Year. In recognition of this, Warwickshire County Council hosted an event at Shire Hall in Warwick acknowledging the work of the 30 project volunteers’ and their dedication to the project.
The two year project was completed earlier this year and the result - the Waller family collection containing over 1,700 documents dated from the 12th century to the 1930s – is held at the County Record Office. Work involved transcription, cataloguing and collation of the documents including seals, maps, land surveys, household accounts and letters.
Mark Ryder Head of Trading Standards, Heritage & Culture at the county council thanked the group for all their valuable contributions. He said: “The project would not have been possible without the support of our enthusiastic volunteers who worked in their own time on the Waller documents, collectively clocking up 271 working days over the project lifespan.
“The result of their work goes beyond the collection - a book has been published, a recipe booklet and map have been produced, more visitors have come to heritage education venues and a small group of the volunteers have set up their own history group.”
County Record Office Service Development Manager Alaina MacGregor led the project. She added: “Outside the Box has vastly improved conservation and cataloguing of the collection which offers a fantastic insight into the history of Warwickshire communities and brings the Waller and Wise families to life.
“I couldn’t have asked for a more committed and enthusiastic group of people to work with. Throughout the project, our volunteers were very much members of the team. Their positive and ‘can do’ attitude towards ‘all things Waller’ was infectious.”
For more information about the County Record Office including the Waller Collection please visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/cro.