Winner of 2020 BAC cataloguing grant announced

West Sussex Record Office have been awarded the 2020 BAC Cataloguing Grant for Business Archives for the Sir Freddie Laker Archive. The Archive documents the rise and fall of Laker Airways and Skytrain and provides an important insight into 20th century aviation. The records are also a significant resource for social history, recording a revolution in air travel and tourism, the impact of which is still being felt today.

The grant will enable WSRO to fully catalogue the archive with the completed catalogue being made available on WSRO’s online catalogue, Search Online, and it will mean that this fascinating archive will be available to researchers for the first time.

The panel were impressed by West Sussex Record Office’s well thought through application for a collection that contains information of local, national and international interest. Plans for the cataloguing of this archive to lead to other future projects, including more detailed descriptions of parts of the collection by volunteers and a potential oral history project involving former Laker Airways staff and customers also impressed the panel, who felt it an appropriate time to open up access to collection.

Full details on the award can be found here.