Latest grants awarded

At their summer meeting, the Trustees awarded nine grants totalling £70,000.  Projects that were awarded grants included:

Doncaster Archives: conservation of the Consiborough Court Rolls
A grant of £10,000 will allow the conservation and digitisation of nine court rolls. This is not the largest or the most complete series of manor court rolls, but it is exceptionally good. An unusually high turnover in ownership of the manor cannot have been conducive to keeping the rolls in good condition - and this is without taking into account the usual perils of damp, theft, fire, vermin, and general wear and tear. There is nothing to compare with it in South Yorkshire and, Wakefield aside, no series in Yorkshire that can match it.

Barnsley Archive: the legacy of Dransfield – exploring an antiquarian treasure chest
John Ness Dransfield (1839-1930) was a Penistone solicitor and antiquarian, as well as the author of the History of the Parish of Penistone. During the course of his historical research and in his role as solicitor, he gathered a large collection of local papers. Much of the collection relates solely to Penistone, but it also has an international significance through a series of early letters. These relate to Hallam Football Club (founded 1860), for which Dransfield played, and their games against Sheffield Football Club (founded 1857). They are amongst the earliest surviving football-related letters in the world and give an overview of the early games between the two oldest association football clubs in the world. They are hugely important to the history and development of the game.  A grant of £5,000 was awarded.

University of Warwick (with University of Nottingham): Saving the archives of the National Union of Mineworkers for posterity
The NUM archive is of national significance and is unrivalled in its scope and depth.  It comprises approximately 833 linear metres of material and covers the politics of the NUM and the predecessor organisations at national, area and branch level, as well as aspects of coalfield culture, miners’ welfare and social history.   This phase of the project aims to rescue the collection and treat the mould and other infestations.   The University of Warwick and the University of Nottingham are working together on this project.   The NMCT grant of £15,000 is just a small proportion of the total needed to save this huge collection, so fundraising continunes.  If you would like to know more please contact us and we will give you more information.

Croxteth Hall: conservation of the Molyneux pedigree
Dating back to 1589 some 14 years after the Molyneux family arrived at Croxteth Estate, this family pedigree is on 12 pieces of vellum rolled and stored in its own custom made wooden box.  It is the original work of William Dethock [sic], Garter King of Arms in the reign of Elizabeth”, created in 1589, updated 1778 and 1903.Currently stored inappropriately this project is the catalyst to undertake the relocation of the piece to Liverpool Central Library.  In order for us to do this we need to restore the piece, digitise it which will allow more access  but will ensure the original piece is conserved and can be made accessible.

The Ruskin - Library Museum and Research Centre: conservation of John Ruskin's lecture diagrams
A grant of £16,800 was awarded to this project that will conserve ten of Ruskin’s manuscript lecture diagrams in the Whitehouse Ruskin Collection and make them accessible for the first time in many decades.

These diagrams were created by Ruskin and his associates (including Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais) during the mid to late 19^th-century, and they afford unparalleled insight into the intellectual culture of the Victorian era.  The diagrams offer a unique insight into the innovative, multi-media pedagogy Ruskin put into practice during his tenure as the first Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University.  More than any other source, they exemplify the theatrical techniques Ruskin used to capture the attention of his audiences and to engage his listeners in cultivating their powers of thought and perception.

University of Edinburgh: Celtic Connections: Conserving the Mackinnon Collection
Conservation of 35 boxes of the collection of Professor Donald Mackinnon (1839-1914), the University of Edinburgh’s first Professor of Celtic. It includes medieval Gaelic manuscripts, such as a 15th-century manuscript on medieval physiography and a 16th-century summary of the Treatise of Maighstir Ricairdi. Other items in the collection include manuscripts of 18th-century tales and verse, lecture notes on Gaelic literature and grammar, Gaelic versions of classical epics, Gaelic poetry and songs, and religious texts.