On Monday 9 May 2005, at 4.00pm, Sarah Tyacke, Chief Executive of The National Archives in London, will give a lecture, "Sir Methusaleh Jenkinson and after: making The National Archives in London". The talk will take place in the Hugh Fraser Seminar Room, Wolfson Medical Building, at the University of Glasgow.

The National Archives of England, Wales and the United Kingdom has one of the largest archival collections in the world, spanning 1000 years of British history from Domesday Book of 1086 to government papers recently released to the public. Sarah's lecture will explore the changes in society, technology and in archives and record keeping which have contributed to making the National Archives what it is today.

After the lecture, Sarah will present the FARMER prize ﾖ the Society of Archivists Student Research prize ﾖ to Susannah Waters, an Archivist with the University's Scottish Brewing Archives.

The object of this annual prize to recognize nationally the best postgraduate research, up to and including dissertations at Masters Level, in archives and records management. The prize supports a new entrant to the profession, enabling him/her to take time to prepare the research for publication.

'It is a great honour to have the 2004 Farmer dissertation winner working with us in Glasgow University', commented Lesley Richmond, Director of Archive Services. 'It is very important to us that the knowledge underpinning developments in archival research are incorporated into our working practices to improve the services we offer to users of archival resources. Susannah is already enhancing our customer services and those of the Scottish Brewing Archive.'

A Susannah commented: 'I am delighted that the FARMER panel have awarded me this year's prize. The prize will allow me to develop my research interests into user attitudes, which will support my work at Glasgow University Archive Services. '

The event will be followed by a reception in HATII, George Service House, 11 University Gardens, University of Glasgow, sponsored by the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII).

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

Sarah Tyacke CB, is the Chief Executive of the National Archives of England, Wales and the UK government. The National Archives, formed in 2003, merges the Public Record Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and the Chief Executive has the joint roles of Keeper of Public Records (since 1992) and Historical Manuscript Commissioner (since 2003).

Journalists are welcome to attend. For further details, please contact: Adele Redhead, Deputy Director, Information Management & Preservation Course, Humanities Advanced Technology & Information Institute, George Service House, 11 University Gardens, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
+44 (0) 141 330 4001

First published: 9 May 2005