Diana Giese discovers the ways in which some recipients of Community Heritage Grants have used their funds to preserve our history and heritage Community Heritage Grants help community organisations to preserve material that illuminates life in Australia in all its quirky diversity. Eligible groups include local museums, galleries, libraries and archives, historical societies, land councils, churches, ethnic organisations, professional associations and genealogical and conservation societies. The National Library administers the annual grants in partnership with the Commonwealth Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, and the National Archives of Australia. Funding is for the preservation of documentary collections in community care. Volunteers countrywide are passionate about their collections, eager to make them accessible now and to learn how to keep them safe for future generations. Since its inception in 1994, the program has been a huge success, with many more groups applying each year than there are funds to share. Past recipients have included the Community Radio Federation, Uniting Church Records and Historical Society, Melbourne Women’s Liberation Archives and the Maningrida Arts and Culture Collection in Arnhem Land. Some have applied several times for staged work. The limit is three grants. Often, the first step involves a professional Preservation Survey to identify needs, followed up by implementation of major recommendations. The Mackay City Library in Queensland used its 1999 grant for a survey of its South Sea Islander historical records collection about the Kanaka indentured labourers who worked in the cane fields in the late 1880s. Its 2000 grant was for conservation of identified material and a third grant meant that it could digitise the records.
The experience of three very different collections shows how flexible funding can be. In 1996, the Estonian Archives in Sydney applied for a Preservation Survey grant. As a result, they took steps to improve storage, buying a dehumidifier to keep the archives room at a steady 47 degrees, and proofing against vermin. A follow-up grant in 2001 focused on specific areas of the collection. ‘Estonia is a small country that everyone fought over,’ says archivist Maie Barrow. But whether ruled by the Russian Tsar or the Communist Party, by Swedes or Germans, the Estonian people have proudly spoken their own language and preserved their cultural traditions. Estonians first settled in Australia in the second half of the nineteenth century, but came in larger numbers after World War II ended, when the Commonwealth Government accepted displaced people from camps in Germany. By 1952, there were 6550 Estonians in Australia, the biggest communities being in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. For 50 years, the Estonian Archives have been collecting family, business and organisational records, newspapers, magazines and photographs. The 60 000 records now include everything from a minute book of the chicken farmers co-op in Thirlmere (which became a million-dollar business), to beautifully presented concert programs from the German camps where people strove to recreate Estonian culture. In 1994, Maie Barrow took over the archives from Dr Hugo Salasoo, who had cared for them in his triple garage in Lidcombe for 40 years. They were moved to their own room in the community centre, the spacious Estonian House in Darlinghurst. The 2001 grant focused on two areas. First, the many photographs of the Estonian Festival, held regularly since 1954 were considered. People gather at the festivals for concerts, theatre, folk dancing, gymnastics, arts and crafts exhibitions, sporting competitions, seminars, reunions and church services. ‘We’re working with the material that is most precious, unique and fragile,’ says Maie Barrow. With eight dedicated volunteers, she is removing pictures from old and deteriorating albums and putting them instead in labelled sleeves in photo frame albums kept in polypropylene boxes.
The second focus was on special collections, including those of the Einsaar family, and adventurer and entrepreneur Jakob Lukarts. Gustav Einsaar, a ship’s captain, founded the first Estonian Society in Australia in 1912. Both his daughters went to university and his youngest son rowed for Australia at the Berlin Olympic Games. This material is being sorted, arranged, catalogued and recorded in a database. It is packaged in specially purchased tissue paper and acid-free document files and wallets. The Estonian Archives will probably apply for a third grant to extend the work to other key areas of the collection. In 1997, Waverley Council Library in Sydney moved to a new, purpose-built home, at which time Local Studies staff realised they had no comprehensive plan to deal with accidents and disasters. All archives material is at risk: from tearing and spillage, dust and mould, or simply from use. Then there are true disasters, like fires or cyclones. If damage occurs, quick recovery is essential to preserve irreplaceable items. A Disaster Management and Recovery Plan, clearly set out and using pre-prepared tools and strategies, is invaluable. In 2001, Waverley Council Library gained a Community Heritage Grant to prepare such a plan for its Local Studies Collection. The collection includes, for example, the first volume of Council’s minute books, and state records which, under the New South Wales Records Act, must be cared for and preserved in a responsible manner by government agencies such as the library. Its project partner was the State Library of New South Wales’ Conservation Access, which ran two workshops for library staff. Afterwards, the Local Studies librarians drafted plans for prevention and recovery. Then all those who had attended the workshops went to a Recovery Workshop at the State Library of New South Wales. ‘This was very hands on,’ says Local Studies librarian Elida Meadows. Participants assessed actual water damage to library material such as books, film, photographs and photographic plates, and floppy disks. They dealt with actual salvage tools: absorbent paper towels to interleave with the pages of wet books and clothes lines and wind tunnels for drying. Disaster recovery kits containing such items as a wet–dry vacuum cleaner, waterproof pens, labels, brushes and plastic sheeting were planned and ordered. Access and security were identified as key risks to the collection. Previously, the Local Studies Collection had been kept in a room open to all staff. It was recommended that fragile material such as maps and photographs be viewed only by appointment, and that photocopying and other handling be avoided, through a program of microfilming rate books, digitising photographs and making negatives of the oldest images. Further recommendations included staff training, a Local Studies Manual, a Code of Conduct, and rationalising material held in the temperature-controlled archives storage area. Checklists and contacts are given in the section of the plan dealing with emergencies. Instructions are terse, precise and practical; for instance, if there is flood or water damage, ‘turn off the heat, open windows, ventilate the building. If needed (and safe), turn on the air-conditioning. Remove and/or vacuum wet carpets to reduce humidity.’ Coordinators, Evaluation and Salvage teams are listed by name and duties. In the recovery section, there are guidelines for the treatment of wet and mildewed material, resources that have been burnt or smoke-damaged and material affected by insect infestation. Members of the Disaster Evaluation Recovery Team (DERT) will record damage to individual items and sort them into appropriate categories, for air drying, freezing, replacement or (at worst) disposal. Again, instructions for salvage are easy to follow and remember.
After the accident or disaster has been dealt with, the plan recommends follow-up evaluation of what worked and what did not. This would, of course, provide excellent advice for any archive unlucky enough to have a similar experience. Balmain Hospital, established in 1885 to deal with local accidents and to provide care for those with serious illnesses, preserves archives of a completely different kind. Its service area has, over the years, extended to surrounding suburbs and it has acquired property in this expansion. Today the hospital offers general, medical, geriatric and rehabilitation services to the thousands of people who live in Sydney’s Inner West. Hospital archives contain material ranging from a complete set of annual reports, patient registers and rules and regulations, to land title deeds, letters, lecture notes and photographs. The hospital is particularly proud of its mortgage and property contract manuscripts, which are invaluable for those who wish to research the history of the land and property exchanges between individuals in the Balmain community and Balmain Hospital. The collection as a whole charts the networks developed between a central service institution and its community. In 1999, with Leichhardt Library, the collection’s condition was assessed. It was then uncatalogued, housed on badly lit compactus shelving, and open to dust and insects. Balmain Hospital received Community Heritage Grants in 2000 and 2001.Under the first grant, Conservation Access made specific recommendations for better storage and accessibility. Material was moved to a clean, windowless, locked room where a hygrothermometer was installed. This area was also included in the hospital’s pest management program. Photographs of the hospital’s opening and a carnival day, previously hung in an overlit corridor, were properly stored. The second grant, supplemented with $1000 from the hospital, supplied storage containers. Leichhardt Library made an inventory of the collection and undertook to catalogue it. An exhibition was held to coincide with ‘Back to Balmain’ week, encouraging the community to feel a sense of ownership for the collection, and to make further donations. According to Maie Barrow, the Community Heritage Grants given to the Estonian Archives have conferred the status of government recognition. ‘This reinforces the idea that our history is part of Australian history.’ Encouragement, support and advice from library and archive professionals along the way have been an important bonus, leading to a network of contacts. In the future she would like to see community databases linked with those of the National Library and National Archives to make them more accessible to everyone. DIANA GIESE has coordinated a number of projects documenting and preserving community heritage. Contact the Estonian Archives at: archives@eesti.org.au Contact Waverley Council Library at: xanthip@waverley.nsw.gov Contact Balmain Hospital at: susanb@email.cs.nsw.gov.au |
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