Skomer Island Archive
Archiving Skomer Island
Skomer Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, West Wales. It is a national nature reserve managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales that also has a rich social history.
In 2022–23, the Friends of Skokholm and Skomer, supported by Pembrokeshire Archives, have worked with People’s Collection Wales (PCW) Field Officer (and long-standing Skomer volunteer) Gruffydd E. Jones to bring together an archival collection on this beautiful island. The Skomer Island Archive celebrates the relationship of people with the island for over a century, from the Victorian farming families to the staff and volunteers who continue to care for and protect the island today.
Hughie GainPort shearing a sheep while a boy visitor (Pau) turns a handle to power the sheep shears, 1948.
Volunteer Jane Hodges with Manx Shearwater, September 1990
Promoting preservation
At the beginning of 2022, the island’s archive was unsuitably stored in plastic containers within the Library without any organisation or cataloguing having been considered, rendering the material unusable by staff and the public alike. Concerns were also raised for the archive’s safety, especially following tragic losses to island collections due to a fire on Fair Isle, Shetland
Harnessing the power of volunteers
PCW supported volunteers to create an inventory of the collection, developing rich, descriptive metadata for each item before digitising to an archival standard.
Advising on archival storage
PCW were also able to support the island by advising on suitable storage considerations, ultimately providing tailored acid free, fire-proof and damp-proof archival boxes by the National Library of Wales conservation team.
The combined elements of this project enabled Skomer Island to approach Pembrokeshire Archives with a comprehensive, fully catalogued, digitised and ‘shelf-ready’ archive for permanent housing.
In the words of Claire Orr, Archives Manager at Pembrokeshire Archives:
Working with PCW has allowed the preservation of a valuable archive collection combined with allowing access to said collection by researchers.
Discovering Pembrokeshire Archives
Pembrokeshire Archives have been involved with PCW since its very inception, taking part in the Gathering the Jewels project in 2009. An active participant since 2022, they have created almost 50 collections online and are keen to contribute further. As a local authority archive service, their items range from photos, leaflets, postcards, recipes and drawings, on topics such as local landscapes, buildings, people and events.
Supporting local authority archive services
Since being involved with the Skomer Island project, Claire says, she appreciates more the work being done by PCW. The project has also increased her awareness of the willingness to assist with and/or support work that Pembrokeshire Archives might wish to do in the future. She describes her experience of working with PCW as:
Interesting, beneficial, informative, professional, enjoyable.
Future collaboration: Archiving Skokholm Island
Following the success of this project and the fruitful relationship with Pembrokeshire Archives, PCW looks forward to supporting Skomer’s sister island, Skokholm, in achieving these same objectives in the coming years.