The KAS Library and its website: www.kentarchaeology.ac
In 2003, the KAS Library Committee decided to set up a website, www.kentarchaeology.ac, which, despite various crises along the way, has gone from strength to strength. The site has two main objectives; first, to setup and carry searchable databases of the Society’s collections of books, finds, and other material accumulated during the 150 years of the Society’s existence, so that not only members but also the general public could become aware of, and gain access to, the wealth of knowledge the Society possesses on the history and archaeology of Kent. The second objective is to represent the Society as an internet publisher of peer-reviewed works under the auspices of the Hon Editor and his Editorial Board. The overall intention was to create a site which would gain recognition as a source of reliable material.
Regarding the first objective, the KAS Library bookstock Index (constantly being enlarged), a Visual Records Catalogue (over 20,000 items registered, with a large collection of postcards still being added to), a Gordon Ward Archive (a collection of historical ephemera relating to Kentish Places), an Artefacts Catalogue of finds acquired by the Society, a section referring to the Society’s collection of papers, wills, maps and other documents on permanent loan to Kent County Archives, and a brass rubbing Catalogue; are all posted and maintained on the site. Additionally, one of our members, Mike Cozens, has compiled a directory of East Kent Wills which is on a sub-site authored by him.
Regarding the second main objective, the site currently publishes articles under the head of Articles and books under the head of eBooks. Recently, the site has started to post archaeological reports in a new ‘e’ section, under the supervision of Maureen Bennell, a respected field archaeologist. There is good support for this not only from groups within Kent, but also from out-of-county contractors. The reports are prepared in standard form, with an abstract appearing in Archaeologia Cantiana. We are keen to assist amateur groups to prepare their work for inclusion.
The publication of transcribed (and translated) source material now features as another of the interests of the site. So far the Kent Hundred Rolls and the Kilwardby Survey have been put on the site, and a particular project centres on the Wilton Survey c1560, giving details of the family’s holding of Lands throughout Kent. A digital copy of this Survey has been obtained from the British Library, and a team of volunteers signed up for a workshop managed by Judy Buckley, under the supervision of Dr. Jacqueline Bower. Around half the pages have already been transcribed and should appear on the website in 2010 on completion of the project.
Support by the website team to the most successful ‘Leisure Learning’ courses on History and Geoarchaeology in the Library, open to the general public and organised by Joy Sage, must be mentioned.
The Web team uses programmes from the Open Source community, and in return they provide educational material on our site free of charge for personal use, to a steady stream of visitors.
All this work of creating and running a website of which the Society can be very proud, has been achieved by volunteers. A great debt of gratitude is owed to Dennis Anstey, who as Website Manager masterminded the whole enterprise, and to his Website team, particularly Maureen Bennell and Joy Sage. The Web team is based in the Library, and may be emailed at kentarchaeology@btconnect.com. If you would like to consider volunteering to join the team, we would be glad to hear from you.
RIGHT: Plan, including large main Building 1.