Plans to develop the Archives service alongside the Dorman Museum, to improve access to the collections of both services, expand gallery space and provide an on-site store that complies with up-to-date standards are now being developed.
The first step of this journey is to rehome the front of house and access to Teesside Archives within the Dorman Museum.
In the short-term the archive collection will be stored off-site, so how users access the collection will change. A fully operational reading room will be provided within the Dorman Museum, this will have the benefit of being available for use by all researchers who visit Teesside Archives and the Dorman Museum.
We will develop opportunities for community engagement both within the museum and across communities of Teesside.
There will be opportunities for the archives team to work more collaboratively with the museum departments of our authority partners. This will include our conservator who will work with partners to provide advice and upskill their teams and volunteers to improve the preservation of their own collections.
The archivists will work with collections officers to create a better understanding of holdings and improve collection development. They will also work with information governance teams to ensure the most important records are deposited, including records that are created in born digital format.
In future all researchers should speak with the archives team in advance of making viewing requests as the team will be able to advise them on the most relevant resources available.
There will be a push to improve access to collections in digitised format, a great deal of work has already been carried out in this area, and a large amount of material is available digitally, including plans, photographs and other manuscripts.
During this period of transition we will not be accepting new deposits or requests for access until we reopen in our new home early in the New Year.
Volunteers will be able to return this autumn and will also benefit from new opportunities within the museums.
The following collections access arrangements are proposed moving forward:
- Opening hours: Tuesdays Wednesdays Thursdays and the First Saturday of every month 10:00 till 16:00
- All collections access requests should be received by 15:30 each Wednesday for viewings to be scheduled the following week.
- Requests can be made for a more rapid access to Archive documents but charges will be applied to this service in order to cover the additional costs incurred to provide this access.
- Personal access to archive documents will remain free but a limit on the number of documents users can call forward to view each month will be in place.
- Professional researchers and business related access to the archive will be charged for. Researchers should contact the Archives team to discuss and arrange this access.
This transitional period of development and relocation will begin in June 2021. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to stakeholders during this time. We look forward to welcoming you all back again in person when the Archives reopen within our new home at the Dorman Museum.
