Current News
 Egypt Exploration Society: Digitise Old Glass Plate and Film Negatives.
The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) was founded in 1882, as the Egypt Exploration Fund in order to explore, survey, and excavate at ancient sites in Egypt and Sudan, and to publish the results of this work. Today it is one of the leading such archaeological organisations.
The EES approached TownsWeb Archiving Ltd with a view to digitising their library of negatives. The library provides a valuable historical insight into 125 years of archaelogical work in Egypt and the Sudan.
TownsWeb Archiving spent two weeks at the offices of the EES in central London digitising their on site collection. The company then collected a library of related negatives from Oxford University and Cambridge University and spent a further period of time digitising these at it's offices in Kettering.
The glass and film negatives varied greatly both in size and condition. All negatives, which were still in their original sleeves, were digitised, cropped, inverted and contrast enhanced in order to obtain the best possible image. Each image was individually named and delivered back to the EES on a number of external hard disk drives in both tiff and jpeg formats.
The EES hope to place some of this unique and educationally valuable collection online.
This project is featured in the lastest EES Magazine. View Story
North Lanarkshire Council: Digitisation of Cemetery Registers & Index Cards
 Based in the heart of Scotland, North Lanarkshire has a population of around 321,000 and covers one of the largest local council areas in the country.
Having successfully tendered for this project, TownsWeb Archiving Ltd supplied staff and equipment and spent approximately 2 weeks on site at the Councils offices digitising their Cemetery Registers and Card Indexes.
The registers and indexes dated back to the mid 1800's and were in various sizes and states of condition.
Each and every page within all the Cemetery Registers was individually digitised. This was done using specialist flat-bed equipment which meant that the spines of the books did not need to be removed.
There was approximately 140 books containing around 50,000 pages, additionally there was approximately 12,000 card indexes to be digitised.
Images are to be output to tiff and jpeg formats and supplied with Book Viewing Software. This will enable staff to lookup the informtion via the images without having to handle the original old, fragile and heavy books.
It will also allow the council to consider moving this large library of books to an external location in order to free up valuable office space.
 Renfrewshire Council: Digitise Cemetery Maps & Books and Transcribe Deceased Records
Earlier this year TownsWeb Archiving were invited to digitise the Cemetery Registers and Maps for Renfrewshire Council.
The council has over 110 registers and more than 100 maps covering their 8 cemeteries & crematoriums. The books and maps vary in size, shape and condition.
TownsWeb Archiving spent one week onsite at the Council HQ in Paisley digitising their books and maps. After processing the files and naming them in accordance with the Councils instructions, the final tiff and jpeg images were delivered back to the council within 3 weeks.
TownsWeb Archiving then spent 8 weeks transcribing more than 150,000 deceased records from the cemetery registers and linking the records to the scanned pages via our Book Viewing Software.
You can read the full Case Study by Clicking here.
DO YOU HAVE A SIMILAR REQUIREMENT?
Stanley Spencer Art Gallery: Digitisation of Manuscripts & Transcription
 The Spencer Gallery opened in 1962, is unique as the only gallery in Britain devoted exclusively to an artist in the village where he was born and spent most of his working life.
Stanley Spencer Art Gallery recently asked TownsWeb Archiving to complete the digitisation of their huge collection of manuscript material relating to Stanley Spencer.
Manuscripts included letters, sketches, photographs, newspaper cuttings, certificates, reports, books and pamphlets. Some transcription and indexing of this valuable material was also performed by TownsWeb.
Images were output to tiff, jpeg and pdf formats and supplied on external hard-drives.
TownsWeb Archiving were also asked to copy their VHS Video Recordings to Digitial DVD format.
Extract from Testimonial:
"We felt that TownsWeb Archiving Ltd were extremely good value for money. our budget is limited and we have to be very careful what we spend money on, but we can honestly say this was money well spent..."
Read full testimonial here
 TownsWeb Archiving Launch the Cemetery SmartStation
This advanced new touch-screen computer is ideal for public interaction with your database and scanned Cemetery and Crematorium Registers.
The SmartStation allows users to search the database across various fields and view the full records along with the registers images. The system can also be used to update the cemetery databases. Click here to read more.
Liverpool Council: Digitise Plot Maps & Receive Training
TownsWeb Archiving were recently chose by Liverpool City Council to digitise their cemetery maps.
The council has approximately 340 cemetery maps covering their 6 cemeteries & crematoriums. The maps vary in size, shape and condition and the maps are in constant use - being used by staff and members of the public to find plots.
Being in constant use meant that the council were reluctant to let the maps leave their offices. The council were also aware that some of the maps were 'out of date' and needed 'updating'.
TownsWeb Archiving spent 2 days onsite at their cemetery office in Allerton digitising their maps. After processing the files and naming them in accordance with the Councils instructions, the final tiff and jpeg images were delivered back to the council 1 week later.
TownsWeb Archiving also supplied a PC and Graphical Software to the council and provided staff with training to show them how to update their digital maps (add new plots, sections, pathways etc.) and how to create completely new cemetery maps.
DO YOU HAVE A SIMILAR REQUIREMENT?
Call us: 08707 558506 or complete our Quotation Form.
 Thomas Cook: Digitise Old Advertisement Posters
Thomas Cook Travel possesses a unique collection of archive material covering all aspects of the company's history from the founder's first excursion on 5 July 1841 to the present. This material functions as a corporate 'memory', offering an information service to Thomas Cook's various departments and to interested members of the public, as well as providing research facilities for academics, journalists and picture researchers from all over the world.
Thomas Cook chose TownsWeb Archiving to digitise their very old Advertisement Posters. These posters, thought to be the only ones in existance, show how some of the first 'package holidays' were marketed to the public.
124 posters, of various sizes, colours, materials and in good and bad condition were digitised at the TownsWeb Archiving's offices in Kettering, Northamptonshire.
Supplied back to the Thomas Cook Company Archivist, in tiff and jpeg formats he said that he was 'very happy with the results'.
Clackmannanshire Council: Data Entry to Capture Cemetery Records
 Clackmannanshire Council recently asked TownsWeb Archiving to complete the data entry of their cemetery records.
In order to meet budget demands, TownsWeb Archiving were asked to perform the data entry on a cemetery by cemetery basis and have been supplying data back to Clackmannanshire Council for the past 12 months.
The final set of delivered data will mean that all of Clackmannanshire's records for all 8 of their cemeteries will have been captured.
TownsWeb Archiving capture the data directly from previously scanned pages - which means that the registers don't need to leave the councils offices. Capturing from images means that the work can be completed quicker and with great accuracy (we guarantee at least 95% accuracy).
The data was supplied in Microsoft Excel format. The data was also integrated into Book Viewing Software - thus allowing the council to perform searches on records that are linked to the actual scanned images. The data has also been uploaded into TownsWeb Archiving's Chronicle System which allows the staff to access their records from any location that has an internet connection.
 Liverpool Football Club: Digitise Old Anfield Plans - BBC Report
TownsWeb Archiving were chosen by Liverpool Football Club to digitise some old original Anfield plans.
These valuable plans show the first ever drawings of the now famous Kop stand.
Much larger than A0, hand drawn and hand coloured on various materials including paper, board and linen - these plans were digitised using our large-format scanning equipment.
The images that TownsWeb Archiving produced have published in a new book about the sporting history of the area.
 Alford Council: Digitise Cemetery Registers & Maps
Alford Council had no backup of their cemetery records and so asked Townsweb Archiving to digitise them.
We visited Alford Council and personally collected their cemetery registers and maps.
We then spent a week digitising them during which time we were happy to look-up deceased and owner information.
The images were returned on DVD as full colour tiff and jpegs. We also supplied book viewing software which allows the pages to be viewed quickly - it also means that pages can be printed, emailed and faxed. Individual parts of the pages can also be 'cut' and 'pasted' into other applications such as Microsoft Word and Outlook - this is especially useful when supplying genealogy information.
 Falkirk Archives: Digitise Old Hippodrome Plans
Falkirk Archives recently asked TownsWeb Archiving to digitise their old Hippodrome plans.
The Hippodrome is an A-listed building designed by a local architect, Matthew Steele, and completed in 1911. It is a rare example of pre-art deco cinema architecture.
Using our large format flat-bed equipment we were able to digitise these old, creased and fragile plans to produce full colour, high resolution, full size, reproduction quality images.
Spennymoor Council: Digitise Records, Perform Data Entry & Use Cemeteries System
View Full Case Study Details
 Townsweb Archiving visited Spennymoor Council and spent a week onsite digitising their cemetery registers and maps.
We then spent a further 4 weeks capturing records into a database.
All of the images and records were supplied to the council on external hard-drives along with our book viewing software which allowed staff to search records quickly.
We then uploaded the images and records into our CHRONICLE SYSTEM. Spennymoor's staff are now able to view, edit and maintain their cemetery records electronically by using our online cemeteries system - CHRONICLE. CHRONICLE is quite unique as it can be securely accessed by staff at ANY location (home, cemetery grounds, council offices etc.) - all that is needed is an internet connection.
Finally - we created a Search Engine which was integrated into the Council's website and allows the public to perform their own searches for records.
 South Lanarkshire Council: Digitise Cemetery Registers
TownsWeb Archiving recently visited South Lanarkshire Council in order to digitise their cemetery registers.
Digitisation is performed without having to remove the binding of the books.
All of the page images were supplied back in tiff format on an external hard drive along with our Book Viewing Software.
 Clackmannanshire Council: Capture Records & Use Cemeteries System
We have been busy working with Allan Gall of Clackmannanshire Council to capture his cemetery records.
He and his staff are now able to view, edit and maintain Clackmannanshire's cemetery records electronically by using our online cemeteries system - "CHRONICLE".
CHRONICLE is quite unique as it can be securely accessed by staff at ANY location (home, cemetery grounds, council offices etc.) - all that is needed is an internet connection.
 Fishburn Council: Archive Cemetery Registers
Scottish Borders Council: Digitise over 100 School Log Books
Scottish Borders Heritage Hub contacted TownsWeb Archiving to ask if we could look to digitise their huge collection of school log books dating back to the early eighteenth century.
This unique collection had more than 112 books containing over 31,000 pages!
TownsWeb Archiving visited their offices in Hawick and digitised (in full colour) all of the books and supplied all of the images back in high quality tiff and web optimised jpeg formats. All of the files were supplied on an external hard drive.
View Full Case Study Details
High Tech Processing choose Underground Storage Facility for Archives
 This month we were approached by High Tech Processing in Rushden. Their archive was accessed very infrequently but due to legal obligations they needed to keep it for 5 years. They approached TownsWeb Archiving saying:
- Their archive was growing and was taking up valuable office space.
- Their archive was stored within normal office space - therefore the security risk was high.
Working with our storage partners, TownsWeb Archiving collected their boxes of documents and delivered them to the High Security Underground Storage Facility.
 Hexham Council - Digitise Cemetery Registers and Capture Records
Following concerns over Business Continuity should some form of disaster strike, TownsWeb Archiving recently visited Hexham Council and digitised all of their cemetery registers onsite at their offices.
Hexham Council receive a number of genealogy requests and therefore in order to speed-up the process of locating records within the books, TownsWeb Archiving captured ALL deceased records, linked the records to the digitised pages and supplied a fully searchable database on CD-Rom.
This same database can also be put online to allow the public to perform genealogy searches.
 Peyton Family History Archive
During the Summer we were contacted by Jean Peyton. She had 6 volumes of family history that a member of the family had been collecting over the past half century.
Dating back some 700 years - their family history charted some quite historic and memorable events and people relating to the PEYTON family.
Members of the family had:
- Held High Ranking positions serving under Admiral Nelson (letters from Nelson were included in the Archive)
- Held High Ranking positions in Central Government reporting to the Prime Minister
- Held High Ranking positions within their local township (Mayor etc.)
Using our flat bed equipment we were able to digitise this remarkle collection of letters, documents, photographs and medals!
All images were compiled into PDF format and OCR'd to enable 'fast searches' on the collection. Several sets of CD's were produced that were to be given out to family members and also were being shipped to archivist centres in the USA.
Leicestershire County Council - "Digitising The Regions Land..."
With over 2,000 maps to be digitised and cropped, Leicestershire County Council looked to suppliers to perform the task.
The task was complicated by the fact that some of the maps were on acetate paper and needed to be scanned to 400dpi. TownsWeb Archiving rose to the challenge and have been busy digitising the councils maps.
York University - "Old Probate Registers & Wills put Online..."
 When we first met the archivists at the Borthwick Institute for Archives at York University, we could not help but be impressed by the size of their archive.
The Borthwick Institute for Archives is one of the biggest archive respositories outside London. During their 50 year history they have collected archives from all around the world, from the 12th century to the present day. Every year they welcome thousands of visitors to use their archive materials.
TownsWeb Archiving's staff were asked to go on-site to their offices to scan some of their very old, fragile and valuable documents. After spending a week on- site doing this we were then asked to put some of these documents online and build a search mechanism that would allow their students and members of the public to search these documents.
We are extremely proud of our achievements so far and the 'pilot' website can be found by clicking here.
The long term view is that charging mechanisms might be implemented in order to make the site self- funding.
 Clackmannanshire Council - "A huge map - larger than A0 - can it be scanned?"
Craig Inglis from the Technical Services Department within Clackmannanshire Council had an interesting problem. He had a hand-drawn Cemetery plan that was quite old and fragile and measured a huge 1.32m x 1.25m. He needed to get the map scanned and then reduced in size to enable it to be preserved and also for it to be 'hung' on the wall at the offices.
Craig was finding it difficult to find any supplier who could scan such a large map when Allan Gall (Cemeteries Manager at Clackmannanshire Council) passed on the contact details for TownsWeb Archiving to see if we could help.
Having discussed Craig's requirements, TownsWeb Archiving were able to utilise our large format flat- bed scanners to digitise the map. Most scanners can only scan upto A0 in size, whereas our unique scanners are able to scan documents of 'any' size and any material.
We are also reprinting the map to A1 size to enable the council to hang the map in their offices.
Dalton Council - "Adding Online Marriage and Baptism Searches"
 St Michaels in Skelmersdale are quite unique in the fact that the public can use their website in order to locate deceased records within their grounds. Their site even shows headstone pictures and inscriptions.
TownsWeb Archiving were then asked to add even more substance to the site by allowing the public to search through their database of marriages and baptisms too.
After developing new search engine software the public can now perform searches for marriages and baptisms across names and dates. www.stmichaelsdalton.co.uk
 Kings Lynn - "Archive Cemetery Registers and Maps..."
Aware of our current '25% discount', Kings Lynn's Mintlyn Crematorium placed an order with Townsweb Archiving to scan not only their maps but their registers too.
By scanning both maps and registers, the council have not only saved more than 25% on our normal prices but have also benefited from lower collection and delivery costs too.
St. Neots Town Council
Margaret Sharpe and Lynn Hutchison of St. Neots Bereavement Services were concerned about the ramifications of their grave and burial registers being lost or stolen. Additionally they wished to address the issue of the increasing number of records searches that staff were being asked to perform.
TownsWeb Archiving digitised all of their books in two batches to minimise working day disruption. The job was completed within one week and St. Neots Town Council were supplied with CD’s containing the digitised images along with Book Viewing Software thereby securing their records from potential future loss and providing rapid search facilities.
Lynn Hutchison said “TownsWeb Archiving Ltd helped us achieve our goal of making our records safe and more accessible. The whole job of having our burial registers scanned was done in a professional and friendly manner, the turnaround times were second to none and the price was very reasonable. We will not hesitate to use TownsWeb Archiving again.”
Royal National Institute of the Blind - RNIB
The RNIB in Peterborough is the largest production centre of its kind in Europe producing braille books and magazines and audio cd’s for the blind.
The RNIB have unique custom built braille printing machines which are the fastest of their type in the world. Being custom built the engineering plans and operating instructions are also unique and would be irreplaceable should they be lost or stolen.
TownsWeb Archiving are preparing the documents, which include bound, paper clipped and stapled documents and are digitising them using flat-bed archiving equipment.
Manchester United Football Club
 The museum and archive centre at Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United Football Club, is visited by more than 200,000 people every year and has a large archive of club related memorabilia.
Gillian Moors, archivist at the museum, approached TownsWeb Archiving with a view to digitising some precious original newspapers relating to the Munich Air Disaster and club triumphs in domestic and European competitions.
Using TownsWeb Archiving’s specialist flat-bed scanning equipment, the newspapers were digitised and were then reprinted in full colour on acid free paper which has a life expectancy in excess of 200 years.
Gillian Moors said “I searched the internet for a company which had experience scanning archival documents and TownsWeb Archiving fitted the bill. After speaking with them I was confident that they would be able to produce the quality of work I required. The speed with which they completed the job was outstanding and for a very reasonable price. I am thrilled with the work TownsWeb Archiving have done for the Museum at Manchester United and would definitely use the company again.”
 Hexham Council - Digitise Cemetery Registers and Capture Records
Following concerns over Business Continuity should some form of disaster strike, TownsWeb Archiving recently visited Hexham Council and digitised all of their cemetery registers onsite at their offices.
Hexham Council receive a number of genealogy requests and therefore in order to speed-up the process of locating records within the books, TownsWeb Archiving captured ALL deceased records, linked the records to the digitised pages and supplied a fully searchable database on CD-Rom.
This same database can also be put online to allow the public to perform genealogy searches.
Corbridge Council - Scan their Cemetery Registers
Derick Tiffin of Corbridge Council knew that should the worst happen such as fire, flood or even burglary that his cemeteries registers (dating back to the 1800's) would be lost.
Having the registers scanned would provide the council with a backup should a disaster occur. Derick also liked the idea that by having each register scanned to a CD-Rom that this would also help the public search for genealogy information - and may even prove to be a new revenue stream for the council.
Derick did not want the valuable cemetery registers to leave his offices and so TownsWeb Archiving visited the council offices with equipment and staff and digitised ALL of the grave registers, purchase grave registers, burial registers and burial indexes.
TownsWeb Archiving then supplied all of the images back to Corbridge Council on CD-Rom.
 Cemetery Maps - Can you trust them?
Most cemeteries have hand-drawn maps that date back 50 or 100 years. They have been continually changed - by different registrars, grave diggers and administrative staff to differing levels of accuracy. Having maps that are not accurate can cause major headaches for those carrying out memorial headstone testing. Maps that are not accurate can also mean that valuable land is not shown that may be available for new burials.
Would You Like Your Maps Re-drawn?
If you feel uncertain as to the accuracy of your maps then we can help...
OPTION 1: We can survey your grounds and re-draw your maps to your specification (i.e. showing plot numbers, first interred etc.). We can then train your staff so that they can maintain the maps electronically.
OPTION 2: We can provide software and training to allow your staff to graphically draw and then maintain your cemetery maps.
 Bolton MBC - "Archive Their Cemetery Maps..."
John White and Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council realised that their cemetery plans were not in a good state and were getting worse each and every time somebody looked at them.
Realising the importance of these maps and knowing that absolutely nothing had been archived - a decision was taken to get the maps archived to a digital format.
TownsWeb Archiving Ltd worked with John to digitise his maps using our high-spec flat-bed equipment in Full Colour and to a high quality TIFF output.
Diss Town Council - "Archiving Very Old Books..."
The books at Diss Town Council contain hand-written records dating back over 100 years. With genealogy growing as a hobby in the UK - these books are being looked at more and more.
Amanda at Diss Town Council asked TownsWeb Archiving to take her books away to get them scanned and put onto CD-Rom.
Now that she has them on CD-Rom she can access and print any page from any of the books without the need to physically get them.
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