A group of us from Grangetown recently went to the Glamorgan Archives for a tour and to see the work that they do.
For many of us, it’s the first time we have been inside the building or ever even heard of Glamorgan Archives, so we were very excited when we got there to explore and learn about the different things that they do.
Initially when we got there we were told to leave our bags and pens outside by the reception area, as it could potentially damage the archive documents. Lots of us were then curious to see the type of documents they had stored and how they kept them safe.
PENTAX Image – Glamorgan Archives is situated just outside Cardiff City Football Club’s grounds at Ninian Park.
First we went to see one of the incredible and absolutely huge storage rooms where they keep the documents. It was very interesting to learn that the room is always kept at the same low temperature, so the documents don’t get damaged and are preserved longer. There were loads of boxes with documents in them which I didn’t expect to see as it was a shock to see how big the room was. Lots of us asked questions on, for example, do they have documents of families and court trials?
It was fascinating to see they had all sorts of documents from the Glamorgan area from speeches to family history. A question was asked about secretive documents but I am not allowed to disclose that information!(😊)
The best part of the tour was the conservation room where we learned how the archivists conserve and protect the documents from damage. It was great to see the tools they used and see them in action putting together a map of Barry island. It was a very intricate process and the amount of time spent trying to find the right piece like a jigsaw was engrossing.
The last part of the trip involved looking at some archives of Grangetown in the past. It was strange to see how Grangetown looked back in the day and how much it has changed. It was really interesting to see portraits of some people that used to live in Grangetown and how diverse it’s become.
The whole tour was just great and fascinating to learn about the archives, because for many of us it was our first ever experience- but it definitely won’t be the last.
