Update from the Archivist
It has been an interesting few months in the archive and library at the Society. With the torrential rains in August, our office suffered leaks. Fortunately, this did not cause any damage to our equipment or collections, but it meant the office has been out of bounds for an extended period, with the knock-on effect of limiting our volunteer opportunities.
This means that progress on the cataloguing of our archive material has necessarily been placed on hold until we can secure the spaces and move back into the office. Whilst unfortunate, this has offered positive opportunities elsewhere, as plans to improve facilities in the Society library at Maidstone Museum have been accelerated, and we are not only currently working from this incredible space but are also close to opening the library as a working space for our members more frequently.
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[fg]jpg|The Kent Archaeological Society library and workspace|Image[/fg]
The library is situated in Maidstone Museum, an establishment we have been in partnership with since the birth of the Society and continue to work closely with to promote the fascinating history of our region.
Working in the historic library has been a delight, and it also places us in a great position to complete organisation of the library collection, making it more accessible and useful to our members. We aim to organise, maintain and catalogue the recent acquisitions and donations, alongside the extensive library collections of the Kent Archaeological Society, and to provide training whilst doing so. All the equipment for preserving, organising and cataloguing the collections is now in place and we can begin the process apace. I have had a great response from members interested in getting involved in this and will be contacting you very soon.
We are eagerly awaiting delivery of new archive boxes and will soon be able to rehouse many of the archive collections which are in unsuitable containers or are in boxes which are in poor condition. This will be instrumental in the preservation and care of our important collections and will also allow better access and safer storage.
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Elsewhere, we have been delighted by the incredible hard work and enthusiasm of the Maidstone Museum Cur8 Group. KAS have been training the group in a range of Heritage Studies this year. We recently explored themes of experimental archaeology, public outreach in museums, exhibition design, heritage tours and even the dangers of pseudo-archaeology.
As an additional session, we were able to engage in some fascinating archaeological practice. Thanks to the great team at Shorne Woods Archaeology Group for leading the session alongside Roz from the Museum and myself. The kids helped Archaeology in Kent investigate more of the clay-works railway and uncovered important evidence of the rail track locations and arrangement, along with some artefacts perhaps discarded by workers on the site.
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[fg]jpg|Cur8 at the Shorne Woods excavations|Image[/fg]
Our partnership with the Museum of London’s Coasts in Mind project continues to be a success, and we were able to provide access to photographic and postcard collections from our archive, which recorded stories of coastal hotels in the Whitstable and Tankerton area. These collections were utilised in workshops with the Kent Refugee Action Network, where locations were identified and digital records produced.
We continue to work closely with the Coasts in Mind team to engage with local communities who are exploring relationships with the landscapes they inhabit. The fruits of this partnership are already visible, empowering communities to record the impact of climate and coastal change in some of England’s most vulnerable coastal areas.
We have experienced great engagement from a range of communities in Kent, and you can see the results of this on the new Coasts in Mind Community Archive map:
https://cim.mola.org.uk/map
We continue discussions with partners to engage in a number of projects to catalogue our visual records and photography collections. This will involve cataloguing and rehousing the vast quantity of negatives, glass plate negatives and prints. We will involve various groups in these projects and hope to encourage health, well-being and social activity whilst educating and improving skills for a multitude of groups who would not otherwise have an opportunity to work with such collections.
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[fg]jpg|Coasts in Mind working with KAS collections.|Image[/fg]
Our Zoom lectures continue, and we are delighted to have speakers booked until at least March 2026. The response to our YouTube channel has been spectacular and numbers continue to rise, though there has been a slight drop in numbers attending the events live. It is unclear why this may be? Perhaps you can help shed light on this?
Attendance to such free events is variable of course, and it may be down to chance or circumstance, but perhaps we can do something to improve the series. Is it simply that certain topics are not of interest? Perhaps the timing is not useful? We tend to broadcast on a Thursday evening from 7pm, usually towards the end of the month. Would a different time or day suit our members better? Are there certain subjects that we should aim for?
We try to cover a broad range of Kent Heritage topics as our membership is varied, but perhaps there are some topics that all agree are the most alluring? Is there anything you would specifically like to see?
Perhaps you are just tired of seeing my face on your computer screens—which I can entirely understand—but if you have any advice or guidance on how we can improve our content and excite our membership, please do let me know. We are always keen to improve, and to offer the greatest membership benefits possible.
www.youtube.com/@kentarchaeologicalsociety8317/featured
Details of our archive and library collections can be found on the Kent Archaeological Society website:
www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/library
www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/archives
If you would like to be involved in the archive or library as a volunteer, or are interested in learning more about the collections, please do email me at:
craig.campbell@kentarchaeology.org.uk
[fg]jpg|Our YouTube Channel is full of exciting and informative content.|Image[/fg]
All photographs courtesy of the Kent Archaeological Society, 2025, except where noted.
