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Independent charity the Wolfson Foundation has offered £225,000 in support of our Archives Revealed programme.

The programme, a partnership between The National Archives and The Pilgrim Trust, is the only funding stream dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archives in the UK.

Thanks to the Wolfson Foundation, Archives Revealed will benefit from £75,000 per year over the next three years to fund further essential cataloguing to create new and exciting opportunities for researchers and the wider public.

Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives said:

‘Archives Revealed is of huge importance to archives, their collections and our wider heritage. Through our work as sector lead, we know that many services hold rich collections of great interest to academics, researchers and the wider public, but which are currently uncatalogued and therefore inaccessible.

‘The Wolfson Foundation’s support will have a real impact in opening up those collections and reaching those audiences, and that is why we are fully committed to the scheme, both financially and in supporting the running of it, alongside our partners at The Pilgrim Trust.’

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation said:

‘Cataloguing is the golden key that unlocks the hidden treasures of archives. The Wolfson Foundation is delighted to be announcing this funding, which forms part of our wider funding of history, heritage, libraries and archives. We remain convinced of the crucial importance of our cultural heritage – and the careful cataloguing of the country’s archival riches is a key part of understanding and debating our past.’

Archives Revealed awards two kinds of support. Cataloguing grants of up to £40,000 will be available to create catalogues of archival collections. Scoping grants of up to £3,000 will also be available to help archives to conduct collection analysis which will support the development of plans for their future cataloguing priorities and projects.

Read more about Archives Revealed.