Medieval Deeds Project

Searching the word ‘deed’ on our online catalogue brings up over 1500 results. Each of these results could relate to a single item or to an entire collection of numerous boxes.

Due to the vast amount of deeds we have, we decided to make them more readily accessible to researchers. The plan was to digitise the deeds and improve the description of them, with the resulting output then added to our catalogue. Catalogue searches would be more effective and show up more detailed results. The catalogue could direct users to exactly the right deed and also provide a digital image of it- perfect for people who can’t make it into the search room. Having the deeds digitised also reduces the need to produce the original, and reduces the handling of these items when in a number of cases a digital surrogate is enough.

The plan was to digitise the deeds and improve the description of them.

The decision was taken to start the process with our Medieval Deeds. These are mostly written in Latin, so extracting key pieces of information from them would be of most benefit to the average user with little to no knowledge of the language. 

DCH_J75_2 one of our first completed deeds.

Due to the specialist knowledge needed to read and understand Latin and the writing style (palaeography) we decided to seek out people with this skill. To enable as broad an array of people as possible to help us with this, we decided to use a digital platform, from which we created a digital collaboration project. A fully digital project allows people to volunteer from their own home and in their own time.

After some research, we chose Trello to build our project on. Trello is a free online tool designed to assist collaborative working; assigning members of the team different tasks which can be seen by all. It allows multiple people to log in simultaneously from wherever they are. The layout is similar to a Kanban board, where you move items to the right as they progress through the workflow (far left is items pending, far right is items completed). This fit in well with our plan for the project.

Current screenshot from the project.

If you want to see this platform in action please watch our YouTube video. We are still relatively early on in this process and looking for more volunteers to help to push it forward.

The particular deeds in this project are characterised by the fact that they are made of parchment (stretched and scraped animal skins) and display a variety of seals and seal attaching techniques. They are primarily written in iron gall ink. The longevity of parchment documents means that they survive today in remarkable condition however extra care needs to be taken with the sometimes brittle and fragmented wax seals.

Close-up of one of the seals from the DCH Collection.

The Medieval Deeds digitised for this project are taken from our DCH collection, “Title deeds and leases, Cheshire and elsewhere, 12th century - c1900”, specifically DCH/J- Deeds relating to various Townships. 

Before digitising, any folded deeds were flattened and restored where necessary by our in-house conservation department. We have now digitised around 500 of the Medieval Deeds in our collection.

Currently, all these deed images are uploaded to Trello and our volunteers can choose from them and allocate one to themselves. The volunteer then translates the key sections of the deed and moves it onto the next stage. We don’t ask for a full transcription- just for essential information to be extracted and translated into English. This mainly consists of names, dates and locations but also costs involved and relationships between named people.

At this point, a different volunteer takes over and quality checks the description and adds their comments if required. The information is then checked a further time before being passed over to our in-house Latin specialist for final verification. When a batch of deeds has been completed, we will upload the images and results of the project onto our catalogue. This will be done intermittently until all deeds are finalised.

If you have a thorough understanding of Latin and feel that you could help us, please get in touch for more information at recordoffice@cheshiresharedservices.gov.uk

All you require is an email address; computer and internet access to get started. Some of our volunteers even visit their local library to get internet access and assist us! All work is undertaken at a time and place convenient to you. There is no minimum number of hours required to help out.

In time, this will make the whole of DCH/J easier to search and increase the value and knowledge which can be gained from these manuscripts.

Want to know more about this project? See more:

On YouTube:
Discovering Deeds Playlist 

On our blog:
Deeds Indeed

Deeds Indeed

Miranda Lennon is working on a one year traineeship as part of The National Archives Transforming Archives scheme. In this blog she gives an update of her experience so far.

As my third week draws to a close I can reflect that the past five days have been very productive indeed.

I have adopted the role of ‘deeds detective’ by beginning work on my first project, to explore and digitise medieval deeds, including helping to trace a number of deeds back to their original locations. I have been discovering and learning more information about the deeds collection, focusing specifically on a number of deeds concerning the village of Bunbury, Cheshire. I find I am enticed by the mystery and antiquity of the documents and it fascinates me to consider the journey that they have endured over eight centuries, prior to being deposited at Cheshire Archives and Local studies. 

The deeds are indeed things of great beauty. They are inscribed with intricate Latin and French calligraphy on delicate parchment, and often have attached a splendid wax seal with a unique imprint. A number of deeds have a wavy or zag-zag indenture edge, which adds to the aesthetic appeal of these historic artifacts. 

Example of a medieval deed from the collection 

Example of one of the larger wax seals from the collection 

A lot of my week was spent familiarising myself with the reprographics equipment by photographing, editing and uploading the first selection of deeds. This has helped me to understand some of the practical and technical methods for digitising archival material, as well as giving me more of an insight into the project specifics.  I feel my previous IT and photography skills in Fashion Communication have come in handy during this first digitisation task, and I have so far enjoyed utilizing these skills within a new context. 

Another of my tasks was to link the medieval deeds project to ‘Explore Your Archive’, an annual campaign to promote archives across the UK. I have been wracking my brains to come up with an innovative and creative idea to promote the project to a wider audience, and ways in which I can use my creative background in design and fashion to contribute something fresh and different. I had a few inspirational eureka moments and all shall be revealed for the Explore Your Archives campaign launch in late November (I fear I have given myself a lot work to do!), but for the moment it is a secret I intend to keep! 

Please follow the links below to enjoy browsing Explore Your Archives and Cheshire Archives and Local Study’s Twitter and website to find out more and to keep updated about the launch week!

@explorearchives 

http://www.exploreyourarchive.org/ 

@CheshireRO 

http://archives.cheshire.gov.uk/home.aspx

A Warm Welcome

Miranda Lennon is working on a one year traineeship as part of The National Archives Transforming Archives scheme. In this blog she gives an update of her experience so far.

I will begin firstly by introducing myself! My name is Miranda Lennon and I am the new Transforming Archives Trainee at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies. I will be taking over from Jessica Minshull’s great work, and I will also be working on some brand new projects during my year’s traineeship. I will be posting regular blog accounts of my exciting experiences and learning throughout the year, which I will upload here on the Cheshire Archives and Local Studies Blog. 

I have now completed the first week in my new role, and I have enjoyed my time gaining an overview of the services and meeting the team.  I received a warm welcome from my first project mentor, Archivist Adam Shaw, and at the monthly meeting on Monday morning, where I was introduced to staff working in different roles within Archives and Local Studies. 

During the week I was given an overview of the different departments within the building. I met with Local Studies Advisor Linda Clarke, who provided me with a wonderful insight into the service, and showed me some of the fascinating material held within the building, ranging from rare books and pamphlets, to lithograph prints and photographs. She kindly showed me a selection of original early 19th century sketches of people, which I found to be very inspiring! The sketches were beautifully preserved, the colours remained eye-catching, and the line work showed intricacy and technique. I was particularly in awe of the attention to detail showing the figure’s clothing, mannerisms and physiognomy; to me they resembled Dicken’s characters, full of character and idiosyncrasy!

Portrait from Local Studies Burt Portraits collection 

I received handling training from conservator Angela Suegreen, which I found fascinating and enjoyable. She gave a brief overview about the differences between paper and parchment, and about inks. We covered the handling techniques used for different materials including parchment documents, photographs, books and maps. I partook in a couple of handling exercises including manual techniques to retrieve a book from the shelf in order to minimise damage, and  setting up a parchment document using the appropriate weights and rests. 

I received Reprographics training from Archive Assistant Joy Laverty, who showed me the equipment and procedures. I had an introduction to photographing, scanning and editing material. I am very much looking forward to learning more about the equipment and about digitisation techniques, as I feel this is incredibly important when considering the future of the archive and heritage sector. 

I had an introduction to family history from Research Consultant Brett Langston, who showed me techniques for tracing ancestry using online resources. I had the pleasure of observing Brett research my own family history, which uncovered a few previously unknown details including an elopement at Gretna Green! 

I have greatly enjoyed my first week here and I am looking forward to starting work on the first major project involving digitising Medieval deeds, coinciding with the ‘Explore Your Archives’ campaign, which I am due to begin working on during my second week.