BT Digital Archives Coventry University BT plc and

BT Digital Archives Coventry University, BT plc and The National Archives

Digitisation and Archives JISC: championing innovation in, & use of, digital technologies on behalf of UK education & research Project funding: e-Content Capital Programme Coventry University: research & exploitation - in digital humanities/archiving, digital technology for learning & developing skills BT: TNA: ‘world-class’ archive – chronological span, subject scope, national/international heritage leading expertise in curation/preservation & digitisation

The world’s oldest communications company A story that stretches from the birth of the electric telegraph in the 1830 s to the explosion of the internet and the rise of competition Our unique and nationally significant collection charts the development of communications services in the UK Our collection illustrates the leading role the UK, BT and its predecessors played in the progress of communications technology and its influence on society

BT Archives • Private telegraph and telephone companies • Post Office telecommunications • BT plc • Historical phone books • Photographic - c 500, 000 images • Film - over 2000 titles • Advertising - 30, 000 separate pieces • Reference library • Artefacts

What to digitise? • Breadth and depth (and pretty stuff) • HE focus (and ‘general public’) photographs research reports Category A: 93, 020 scans Category B: 182, 757 scans subject/ registry files Category C: 232, 378 scans

Selection criteria • technology milestones • national events • international reach • Government policy • industrial relations • diversity • iconic products & services

Scans breakdown by category Category A Original Publicity series Engineering series (end of 1969) Lecture series Training School Research Indexes Actual 8, 200 76, 390 1440 650 8859 0 95, 539 8, 495 37, 122 0 0 0 6, 632 52, 249 43, 290 less than estimate Category B Original Actual Research reports 72, 242 124, 176 Radio research reports 21, 788 94, 030 58, 581 182, 757 Category C files Finding nos. @ 500 pages each Actual Original 261, 740 232, 378 523 484 561 Total Category A+B+C 451, 309 467, 384

Category A : Photographic images Original Final Engineering photographs, c 1909 -1991 TCB 417 76, 390 negs 38, 956 negs Publicity photographs, 1934 -1975 TCB 473 8, 200 negs 8, 488 negs Training School photographs, 1930 s-1950 s TCB 546 650 negs Lecture series photographs, 1934 -1955 TCB 475 1, 440 negs Research photographs, 1950 s-1989 TCB 638 8, 859 negs 0 negs 0 nrgs 6632 Indexes Total 95, 359 neg 54, 076 negs Category B : Research reports PO Engineering Dept research reports, memoranda and papers, 1878 -1969 TCB 74, 242 pages 124, 176 pages PO Telecommunications research reports, memoranda and papers, 1969 -1981 TCC 21, 788 pages 65, 945 pages Total 96, 030 pages 190, 121 pages

Category C : Registered minuted policy & correspondence files, 1867 – 1982 Original Actual Telecommunications Development Directorate (TDD), 1947 - 1979 190 files 47 files Network Planning Directorate (NPD), 1966 -1979 209 files 49 files Managing Director, Telecommunications (TH/DM series), 1162 files 39 files Minuted files (England & Wales), 1867 – 1961 (Post 30) 1000 files 133 files 35 files 138 files 1000 files 81 files Minuted and decentralised registry files, 1876 – 1981 (Post 121) 174 files 41 files Minuted and decentralised registry files, 1882 – 1969 (Post 122) 227 files 59 files Minuted files, telecommunications, 1895 – 1978 (TCB 2) 498 files 96 files Marconi / GPO correspondence, 1896 - 1909 (TCB 273) 0 2 files BT Central Registry files, 1980 -1984 0 1 file 4633 files 561 files Minuted files (Ireland), 1870 – 1961 (Post 31) Minuted files (Scotland), 1869 – 1951 (Post 32) Minuted files (UK), 1890 – 1968 (Post 33) Total

Learning points • Language file? archive? digital archive? • Sampling conservation number of pages • Counting • • finding number? box? scans? timesheets Timescales Uncatalogued material Expect the unexpected Appetite for archives

www. bt. com/btdigitalarchives