Library Volunteer Group

The UK has rainfall records dating back 200 years or so, but the vast majority of these are in handwritten form and can't easily be used to analyse past periods of flooding and drought. The Rainfall Rescue Project is seeking volunteers to transfer all the data into online spreadsheets. You're not required to rummage through old bound volumes as the Met Office has already scanned the necessary documents - all 65,000 sheets.

A selection of news from the Medway Archives.

A time to celebrate Medway's rich heritage

Three new items have made their way into the collection:

Some of the KAS image collection can be found on the Watercolour World database - https://www.watercolourworld.org/collection/kent-archaeological-society .

New titles that have arrived include:

• Tithe Schedules in DVD format
• "The excavation of a medieval rural settlement at the Pepper Hill Lane electricity substation, Northfleet, Kent" by Alan Hardy
• "Structure and agency in small-scale production: an historical archaeology of the clay tobacco pipemakers of Kent" by Brian Boyden
• "Making the invisible visible: new survey and investigations of the 1A hillforts of Bigbury and Oldbury in Kent" by Andrew Bates

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/intellectual-property-and-the-transition-period?utm_source=835fddd9-4d92-4990-af80-db20ad19bf63&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=daily

1. Medieval adaption, settlement and economy of a coastal wetland: the evidence from around Lydd, Romney Marsh, Kent. 2008. Luke Barber and Greg Priestley-Bell. 

2. TRAC 2002: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference: Canterbury 2002. 2003. Gillian Carr (ed.)

The Government has recently published advice on how copyright laws will change in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Click here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-copyright-law-in-the-event-of-no-deal/changes-to-copyright-law-in-the-event-of-no-deal

Two new titles have come into the library:

• "Culture and society at Lullingstone Roman villa" by Caroline K. Mackenzie and
• "William Lambarde's reading, revision and reception: the life cycles of the Perambulation of Kent" by Frederic Clark et. al. 

These will out on display for a few weeks, for easy access, before being shelved.

British History Online provides access to the 12 volumes in the series titled ‘The history and topographical survey of the County of Kent‘. The volumes, originally published by W. Bristow in 1797, are by Edward Hasted and include a general account of the history, topography and natural history of Kent.

Reports on the Greater Thames Estuary can be accessed online for free. 

The Greater Thames Estuary Historic Environment Research Framework

Authors: Essex County Council, Historic Environment Branch

Surveys covering South East England can be accessed online for free. 

South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey Phase 1: Desk Based Assessment

Authors: Thorogood, S., Hamel, A., Lambert, V. and Bicket, A.

Reports covering farmsteads of South East England can be accessed online for free. See below for details:

South East Farmsteads Character Statement

Author: Lake, J.

We've just had news from the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. Their journal 'Archaeologia Aeliana' is now available online for free.

Please go to the Archaepology Data Service website - https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/series.xhtml?recordId=1001112 - to access.

The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. On January 6, 2016, The New York Public Library enhanced access to all public domain items in Digital Collections so that everyone has the freedom to enjoy and reuse these materials in almost limitless ways.

This thesis was submitted to the University of Liverpool in 2015 by Brian William John Boyden.

You can find in online here - https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/2040919/1/BoydenBri_June2015_2040919.pdf

"The National Roman Fabric Reference Collection: a handbook" is now live on the Study Group for Roman Pottery website.

Click here to view - http://romanpotterystudy.org/nrfrc/base/index.php

The introduction from the website:

The KM Group digital archive is available online. It has been expanded to include the newspapers from both the First and Second World Wars.

The archive provides a fascinating insight into Kent’s leading role in the Great War, World War II (especially the Battle of Britain) and will prove an invaluable tool for anyone interested in the period.

One of the latest acquisitions for the library includes "Workhouses of London and the South East" by Peter Higginbotham.