Mining the seams: Opening Derbyshire's and Warwickshire's coal collections (360G-Wellcome-215411_Z_19_Z)

Derbyshire and Warwickshire Record Offices will work together to catalogue National Coal Board, Midland Colliery Owners Mutual Indemnity Company and Warwickshire Miners Association collections making them accessible to reasearchers for the first time. ‘Mining the Seams’ expands on Derbyshire's previous National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) project to open up the complete coal archives for two Midlands counties. This project will share new cataloguing approaches and work with the academic community to expand awareness of the impact of industrial accidents on safety legislation, specialisms within the NHS, local communities and on Britain's industrial history. Working collaboratively with an academic advisory panel, students and local volunteers, we will create resources to stimulate new research into the coal industry and: Jointly catalogue, repackage, problem solve and improve access to 257 metres of coal-mining collections; Develop better ways of working with universities and other research organisations Conserve more than 1000 items, including photographs, plans, and volumes; Create an anonymised dataset of Workmen's Compensation data from Warwickshire and Derbyshire to complementing Derbyshire's NUM dataset, enabling online statistical and comparative analysis across the two counties; Digitise 5000 pages, trialling jpeg2000 to provide new access points; Develop two study days at the Universities of Warwick and Derby.