The Hospice of St Francis visit
In January the BFI National Archive hosted a group of the hard working volunteers from The Hospice of St Francis and gave them a tour of the BFI Conservation Centre*. The tour involved meeting colleagues from our video, television and film conservation teams plus film scanning, Special Collections and Digital Operations.
The tour also involved a stop in our video formats vault – the perfect place for a team photo.
The Hospice of St Francis are an essential local charity who have been supporting the BFI National Archive Open Day since 2019 by providing a pop-up café for our visitors. The team’s enthusiasm and dedication make them a much valued part of the event and they have raised just under £4,000 in total – that’s how great their cake is!
There are over 1,300 volunteers who support the Hospice through fundraising, patient care, family support and events. To find out more and see current opportunities, see the Volunteer pages on their website.
*We are sadly unable to offer private tours of the Conservation Centre as a rule. If you are interested in visiting us, please look out for updates on the BFI’s social media channels or visit the Heritage Open Days website for updates on our Open Day, due September 2025 (date tbc).
– Jo Molyneux, Archive Access Researcher
The Graveyard Shift
Last week, I attended my first event as Outreach and Engagement Coordinator with the BFI National Archive.
The Graveyard Shift at the BFI Reuben Library was a public research event focused on uncovering the death dates of key figures from film history (specifically those in key roles for copyright: directors, writers and composers) and helping to update the BFI’s existing records.
Following an open call, a small but mighty group of film enthusiasts and researchers came together to find this missing information using the wealth of resources available in the Reuben Library. After splitting into teams, we worked against the clock (and each other!) to see who could track down the most confirmed death dates. BFI staff were also on hand to give guidance, making sure we had access to the right tools and research methods.
There was a healthy air of competition in the room, and we made a steady flow of discoveries throughout the afternoon. Congratulations again to the winning team, who uncovered a brilliant 58 dates between them. Our collective total currently stands at 182 ‘people records’ updated so far, with more expected to follow.
The session was a lovely example of how thoughtful and collaborative public engagement can really benefit our work, and a reminder of just how much effort it takes to maintain and preserve archive records. Who knew death dates could be this much fun? Bring on the next graveyard shift!
– Molly Petter, Outreach and Engagement Coordinator
Developing traineeships at the BFI Conservation Centre
The BFI National Archive is a veritable Aladdin’s cave of treasures, holding one of the world’s oldest, largest and most significant collections of film, television and moving image heritage. Caring for the collections is a never-ending process and requires a team of experienced and knowledgeable staff.
The BFI’s teams hold a range of expertise relating to the preservation and handling of film, video, digital and paper materials, spanning conservation practices, digital techniques, engineering, knowledge of legacy moving image equipment (and techniques) and much more, each vital in the long-term care of the national collection.
But the BFI (and other screen archives) face a challenge. Many of the formats and machinery central to the archive are now obsolete outside of a few niche sectors. Skills vital to the conservation and preservation of moving image are no longer being developed at the same scale in the commercial world and are not taught by any existing training providers in the UK.
Meanwhile, many members of the current workforce are beginning to consider a well-earned retirement (or are already enjoying one!). As a result, these skills are at risk of being lost by the BFI and the wider screen heritage sector. We need to act now to ensure the specialist knowledge of the BFI National Archive’s teams, and our sector peers, are passed onto the next generation of conservators, technicians and engineers.
In 2022, the BFI National Archive applied to the Heritage Innovation Fund (organised by the National Lottery Heritage Fund) for funding to explore new ways to tackle these critical workforce challenges. We were successful in the ‘Explore’ and ‘Test’ phases, and used the funding provided to explore a model of traineeships for Film Conservation.
Our two trainee Film Conservators spent 6 months learning the ropes at the BFI Archive’s Conservation Centre in Berkhamsted and have remained employed at the archive to continue their learning and training across other areas of film preservation, including film processing.
In October 2024, we were successful in our application to the last phase of the Heritage Innovation Fund – Grow. In the Grow phase we will expand our traineeships to 18-month entry level positions in Film Conservation and explore additional training pathways for our Archive Technology department. Archive Technology cares for the specialist (and occasionally unique!) equipment at the archive that is vital to conserving, preserving, restoring and digitising our vast collections.
Last week teams got together at the Conservation Centre to begin work on developing the training plans, identifying partners and organising recruitment.
We hope to put out the first of the roles for applications in the Spring – so watch this space!
– Ella Ferguson, Heritage Programmes Coordinator
The Inside the Archive blog is supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
