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Abstract
In 2011 The Glasgow School of Art in partnership with the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow was awarded an AHRC grant for an 18-month project entitled The Glasgow Miracle: Materials for Alternative Histories. This aimed to analyse the renaissance of the visual arts in Glasgow from the 1970s to the present day. In order to achieve our aims, the project team worked with a number of previously inaccessible archive collections, undertaking cataloguing and repackaging work, with a view to opening up this material for further research. The approach to this work and the decisions relating to its long-term management were informed by the material's relevance to, and potential use by, curators, artists and historians, and by discussions with several other arts organizations who were working to organize and more fully utilize their records. This article describes the project's archive-related activities, which aimed to combine the needs of the arts organization with the archival and conservation requirements necessary for accessible catalogue records and long-term preservation. Areas covered include the motivations behind undertaking cataloguing and preservation work, the approaches used to manage these collections and the current use of this material.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank all of the organizations who spoke to her about their work for their time and enthusiasm, namely, The Glasgow Print Studio; IKON Gallery, Birmingham; The Modern Institute, Glasgow; Street Level Photoworks Glasgow; Transmission Gallery, Glasgow; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Woodend Barn, Banchory. Speaking to these organizations highlighted the growing interest in art-related archives across the UK (all of these organizations had only started their work in the last 10–15 years). The author would also like to thank all of the volunteers who worked on the project and who played a key role in helping to disseminate information about its activities via the project blog and via word of mouth.
Notes
1.http://glasgowmiracle.blogspot.co.uk/p/about-project.html, accessed 4 August 2014.
2. The project team has continued to work closely with Glasgow City Archives to ensure the ongoing security, preservation and access of these records.
3.https://www.ica-atom.org and http://www.archon.org.
4.http://www.ukad.org/UKAD-Indexing-Tutorial/index.html.
5.http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabularies/aat/.
6.http://www.communityarchives.org.uk/content/resource/cataloguing_guidelines.
7.http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/archiving-the-arts.htm.
8. Examples of working with artists and designers to exhibit archive materials can be found in the following article: Magee and Waters, ‘Archives, Artists and Designers’.
9. The availability of funding and a renewed interest in the history of an organization (often linked to a landmark anniversary) were common factors across a number of the other arts organizations the author has spoken to.
10. Work was produced for the exhibition in a variety of formats including print, video and audio. Some artists commented on the concept of the archive in general, others focused on specific events from the history of The Third Eye and CCA, and some took items from the archive and repurposed them to become part of a new work.
11.http://cca-glasgow.com/programme/529e05aba4e1b4f325000313.
12.http://www.gsaarchives.net/2013/06/final-programme-for-giving-up-the-archive-study-day-announced/.
13.http://www.scottishrecordsassociation.org/index.php/news-archive/11-news-events/archive/80-et-in-archiva-ego-artists-in-the-archives-and-thirty-sixth-annual-general-meeting-of-the-sra.
14.http://www.gsa.ac.uk/visit-gsa/city-walking-tours/explore-the-glasgow-miracle/.
15.http://cca-glasgow.com/archive.
16.http://www.glasgowmiraclearchives.org.