This two-phase project aims to firstly, digitise the entire Oral History archive of approximately 300 recordings onto CD-ROM, to ensure its long term preservation. The information is currently stored on cassette tape, many of which are twenty years old. Digitisation will secure the archive for future generations and increase the ease of public access, through the Internet and other digital media.
The group aim to link the written transcripts to the sound archive to enhance it's educational potential and to increase public enjoyment. Recent concerns over the life span of cassette tape resulted in the group seeking advice from the National Sound Archive, where it became clear that to ensure survival, the archive should be transferred to CD format.
The second phase of the project is to promote awareness of the archive in the local community through a special exhibition to be held in Ambleside Museum in the autumn of 2004, which will aim to raise the profile of this unique historical resource and enable it to be more widely used by the community. The exhibition will coincide with the installation of a new Oral History computer terminal at the Armitt Museum, to compliment the database at the public library and greatly increase access to the archive and it's availability.
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