National Jazz Archive Goes Digital

National Jazz Archive

Archives are hip! Far from being dreary, dusty places, they now have digital content as well as valuable old archival resources.

Especially the National Jazz Archive! We've just heard about about the completion of a big project to digitize numerous journals, photos, posters and programmes for direct access via the redesigned website, which includes a timeline of British jazz, over 360 interviews, and cross-curricular learning resources.

Sounds perfect for our jazz students, doesn't it? 

Visit the National Jazz Archive Website:- http://www.nationaljazzarchive.co.uk/

Here's the full story:-

Success for National Jazz Archive ‘Story of British Jazz’ project The extensive resources of the National Jazz Archive have been opened up by a project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The successful three-year project ‘The Story of British Jazz’ has significantly improved public access to the National Jazz Archive’s rich and diverse holdings and reinforced its position as the principal national resource for jazz heritage in the UK.

Key achievements:-

• storing and conserving more than 40,000 archive items (journals, photos, posters and programmes;
• cataloguing more than 4300 books;
•  cataloguing more than 600 journals along with 36 personal and seven photo collections;
• scanning and digitising numerous journals, photos, posters and programmes for direct access via the redesigned website, which includes a timeline of British jazz, over 360 interviews, and cross-curricular learning resources;
• organising more than 30 talks, open days, exhibitions, concerts, community events and family activities; training volunteers in storage, preservation and cataloguing skills.

 Lesley Walker, Project Monitor for the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “Over the past three years I have watched the National Jazz Archive develop into an active and lively organisation with properly catalogued and managed collections, reaching out to a much wider audience including their local communities. There is now a greater awareness within and beyond the jazz community of the Archive and its activities and ‘The Story of British Jazz’ makes the collection accessible to people everywhere.”

The National Jazz Archive is a registered charity based in Loughton Library in Essex. It holds the UK’s finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music, from the 1919 to the present day. The Archive holds more than 4000 reference books, specialist periodicals and bulletins spanning over 600 titles, archival material, artwork, ephemera and photographs.

It is open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 1pm.

The Archive’s vision is to ensure that significant jazz material is safeguarded for future generations of enthusiasts, professionals and researchers.