Archives project wins grant boost

The £107,500 Heritage Lottery Fund grant will be spent exploring the feasibility of the Gateway to History project to revamp the first floor of York Explore Library Learning Centre into a purpose-designed home for the city’s archives and local history collection – with an entire new floor also built on the east wing to house the archives themselves.

The planning work will also include a series of workshops for York residents to give their views on the design of the new archive.

A final decision whether to donate the full amount needed will be made by the Heritage Lottery Fund in March 2012.

Council chiefs have welcomed today’s announcement, but admitted the ambitious scheme still has a long way to go before becoming a reality

The chief executive of York Council, Kersten England, said: “The Lottery fund support is a big step towards realising our vision that the archives should be accessible to everyone, and it’s a vote of confidence in our ability to deliver this project.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, but this is a really good start.”

York Council’s archives manager Richard Taylor said: “You can’t underestimate the historical importance of York’s city archive.

“It belongs to all York’s citizens, but relatively few people know it exists or how to use it to answer their questions.

“It’s a national treasure that we should be showing off to all our visitors.”

The transformation of the archives is part of plans to mark York’s 800th anniversary as a self-governing city in 2012.

The head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for Yorkshire and the Humber, Fiona Spiers, said: “We are pleased to give this project initial support.”