The Parliamentary Archives collections constitutes 13km of physical records dating back to 1497, it is a shared service of both Houses of Parliament, based in the House of Lords but jointly funded by the House of Lords and House of Commons. It provides innovative and expert information management, preservation, access and outreach services enabling anyone in the world to use Parliament’s records, both now and in the future.
Since 2014, Parliament has been considering options to improve the Archives’ accommodation, to support both Houses’ public engagement and heritage objectives, and to ensure the continued safety of the collections. The key objectives of the Archives Relocation Programme (ARP) are to remove the Parliamentary Archives’ collections in an orderly fashion from the Victoria Tower: (i) to reduce the risks to the collection; (ii) to enable Restoration & Renewal (R&R) works to begin; and (iii) to continue to be able to deliver Archives’ services.
The ARP Full Business Case has proposed that the House of Lords and the House of Commons will enter into an agreement with a partner organisation about the transfer of the Parliamentary records and the future provision of the Parliamentary Archive services. There is no agreed date yet for the transfer, but this role will play a key role in delivering the work required to prepare and move the collections.
The Prepare and Move (PAM) team sits under the umbrella of the ARP and has been tasked with preparing the Parliamentary Archive’s collections for the move. The key objectives of the Prepare and Move Project include, but are not limited to, ensuring that the Archive’s collections are packed, barcoded, the catalogue is updated correctly and that the collection of deposited Map and Plans are audited, condition checked, packed and correctly catalogued.
The PAM Project consists of a team of 13 that includes a Project Manager, Conservators, Collection Care Assistants, Project Archivist Lead, Assistant Archivists and Cataloguers.