Royal Artillery Museum Help?

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone on these forums had any experience with the Royal Artillery Museum for accessing or retrieving archived items? There are a couple of items I want to access regarding the 54th Heavy Regiment but the museums prices for scanning and sending copies are (to me anyway) very high. For example, a 58pp manuscript of a certain soldiers experience within the 54th Heavy and Super Heavy will be about £70 to scan and send to me (£10 for first page and then £1 for every page after, plus some other fees). They also charge £15 for a single image to be scanned which seems high to me.
Does anyone here offer a similar service to those who assist with TNA; for instance going to the museum and scanning in person for a significantly reduced cost? The musueum is also near Salibsury so would be a near 300+ mile trip if I was to attempt it.
I don't want to sound like I am coming across as bitter or cheap as I understand that the museum has to make money.
Thanks for any help.

 

Tom,

The RA Museum has - currently - no home and probably few, if any staff. There is a thread about the demise and disappearance of the RA Museum: http://ww2talk.com/index.php?thread...eum-update-mid-march-2017.69296/#post-1064622

I have not heard anyone post on their activities; that doesn't mean it has not happened.

 

The Royal Artillery Museum has a small temporary home in former aircraft hangars in Wood Road, Larkhill.

Europe’s oldest surviving aircraft hangars open to public

Royal Artillery Museum Stores at Wood Road Hangars

Army Commits to New Museum

 

For my sins, I am back on Facebook, and came across a posting from the museum very recently. Maybe this doesn't affect in-person visits, if they are allowing them anyway. I've added some bold for the key takeaways.

We are sorry that the Royal Artillery Museum archive is currently unable to accept enquiries.
This year the Archivist and volunteers have had to carry out a large amount of work in merging parts of the former Badley Library (at the Royal School of Artillery) into the Royal Artillery Archive. The move and the preservation of important books and documents has had to take priority over other work. Our enquiry service has always been very popular, and we have built up a large backlog of enquiries that we need to answer before we can re-open the service.
We hope to be able to accept enquiries again in 2025.
If you are emailing with a donation offer, please re-send your email to donations@royalartillerymuseum.com.
The archive remains open to researchers visiting in person. If you wish to book a visit please call us on 01980 634208 and leave a message, including possible visit dates.
If you are carrying out family history research, the advice listed below may be useful. (List of sites snipped)
​

So, I really hope someone can help out Tom by visiting the museum.

Fundamentally, I think the archive is critically underfunded. Of course there is no proper museum at the moment, but the backlog of inquiries shows that they have been unable to keep up with the requests for information.

 

I had good dealings with a volunteer there who helped me locate several items within their archives; personal and regimental typescripts as examples but I actually received an email yesterday saying that:
"We are sorry that the Royal Artillery Museum archive is currently unable to accept enquiries. This year the Archivist and volunteers have had to carry out a large amount of work in merging parts of the former Badley Library (at the Royal School of Artillery) into the Royal Artillery Archive. The move and the preservation of important books and documents has had to take priority over other work. Our enquiry service has always been very popular, and we have built up a large backlog of enquiries that we need to answer before we can re-open the service. We hope to be able to accept enquiries again in 2025."

This is a real shame as some of their items sound really interesting and would be of great use to me.

 

I had good dealings with a volunteer there who helped me locate several items within their archives; personal and regimental typescripts as examples but I actually received an email yesterday saying that:
"We are sorry that the Royal Artillery Museum archive is currently unable to accept enquiries. This year the Archivist and volunteers have had to carry out a large amount of work in merging parts of the former Badley Library (at the Royal School of Artillery) into the Royal Artillery Archive. The move and the preservation of important books and documents has had to take priority over other work. Our enquiry service has always been very popular, and we have built up a large backlog of enquiries that we need to answer before we can re-open the service. We hope to be able to accept enquiries again in 2025."

This is a real shame as some of their items sound really interesting and would be of great use to me.

 

My internet glitched out but you can see in my two previous replies (should only have been one!) that I got this email last night when I contacted the archivist I was dealing with.
For me, it will be a 300mile trip (so nearly a tank of fuel and a day of my time) plus the fees for the entrance to the archives. It isn't the end of the world but would be grateful if someone did a similar service to those members who go to TNA for members on here.

 

HivTom

So is the RA Archive actually open for visitors, even if they don't provide a research service?

On the challenges of a trip to Larkhill, I think you will find that many visitors to Kew etc face a similar challenge....I certainly do. Even though I live in Oxfordshire it is a 140 mile round trip which takes five hours of driving, a full day etc.

 

Yes that didn't make much sense to me either. They are able (in theory according to their email) to support me visiting in person and letting me look through the items but can't copy/scan them?
I just wanted to avoid a long trip but maybe I can make a day of it every now and again.

 

As a follow up, I will be visiting the RAM Archives in November and will post my day on here when I return.

 

I have no idea whether they're available online, but during one very fruitful interaction with the Royal Artillery I received .pdf files of their (complete?) catalogue.

I haven't looked at them for some time, but if they might be of help to someone here, they should feel free to message me an email address.

There are five long lists with references and descriptions of widely varying levels of detail—too large to post here.

• AL Class List [Photographic Albums] (266pp)
• MD Class List [Documents of/from specfic individuals] (710pp)
• MR Class List [Military Records] (26pp)
• RA List [Regimental Associates] (128pp)
• UR List [Unit Records] (80pp)

 

Yes I received the same. Very useful when using CTRL+F to fine tune what you are after. I also have copies of these if anyone needs.

Tom.

 

This just turned up on Facebook.

 

Now that would be a part time job I would be interested in!

 

It might be woth noting that I got the same auto-response shortly after you got yours. I assumed that my enquiry had not been read and planned to re-send it in the New Year, but I then received a reply to it on Dec 22nd with an apology that they are working through a substantial backlog.

I have to say, I think they do an excellent job and are not nearly as mercenary as other institutions, despite an obvious lack of funding and staff.

The thread that runs through my multiple interactions with, I think, three members of staff is that you feel you are talking to a human who has read your message properly and writes personally, not under an institutional masthead—enjoy this kind of thing in the few corners where it still survives!

 

I completely agree with you Charley.

I've just noticed that my dealings with them was 5 years ago ...gosh!

But whoever I was dealing with at the time, took the trouble to check the D.R.A.M.A. report for the 59th HAA to advise whether there was enough detail to justify its purchase. At £25 I thought it was a bargain!

No idea what they charge today, but I always recommend RA researchers use the DRAMA as a starting point.

More detail: Sergeant ACK-ACK: Royal Artillery Museum: DRAMA Reports

 

I was quoted 10 for the first image and a pound per page for each subsequent.

That said, they sent me some pictures of single-sheet letters last year and didn't trouble to charge anything at all.

 

Three years ago for me - in 2021 I requested the DRAMA after having made initial enquiries in 2019. Like you, they checked first to see whether it was worth my buying it and told me it was 11 pages and very detailed. They only charged me £15 in 2021 funnily enough, although I’d been quoted £25 in 2019.

The service was superb, especially that they take the trouble to check whether it’s actually worth you paying for the DRAMA, they don’t just want to flog it to you regardless.

 

New auto-response message to email says:

We are sorry that the Royal Artillery Museum archive is currently unable to accept enquiries.

This year the Archivist and volunteers have had to carry out a large amount of work in merging parts of the former Badley Library (at the Royal School of Artillery) into the Royal Artillery Archive. The move and the preservation of important books and documents has had to take priority over other work. Our enquiry service has always been very popular, and we have built up a large backlog of enquiries that we need to answer before we can re-open the service.

We hope to be able to accept enquiries again at the start of March 2025.

If you are emailing with a donation offer, please re-send your email to donations@royalartillerymuseum.com.
The archive remains open to researchers visiting in person. If you wish to book a visit please call us on 01980 634208 and leave a message, including possible visit dates.

If you are carrying out family history research, the advice listed below may be useful.

Yours sincerely
Sian Mogridge
Archivist
Royal Artillery Museum​

 

I am in near constant contact with Sian, she is really helpful once you get past the automatic email! It may help that I’ve actually visited the archives and have met her in person.