Further Info

Further Information on Project Themes

Listed below are websites which relate to the project in some way or other. We cover the following topics:

1. Public Archives with Royal Albert Hospital collections
2. Funding and Administration
3. Supporting Organisations
4. Other Historical Links
5. Other Useful Contacts
6. Bibliographies  (Please see Articles section of this website, which along with actual written pieces, has bibliographies relating to Oral History, the Royal Albert and the Social History of Learning Disability in general) 
   

Please contact us with any links or articles which you think may be of interest to ourselves or others.

1. Public Archives with Royal Albert Hospital Collections

The Lancashire Record Office in Preston holds a huge archive of Royal Albert records which are predominantly documentary and of an administrative or medical nature. They range from the hospital’s early days in the second half of the nineteenth century to the late twentieth century.

Lancashire County Council Museum Service is custodian to various items relating to the Royal Albert Hospital, in particular objects and photographs (many of which were originally in the institution’s own museum). Many images of the former and digital copies of the latter appear in the archive of Unlocking the Past. Most of the original items are kept at the Museum of Lancashire, the museum service headquarters in Preston.

In addition Lancaster City Museum has some miscellaneous copies of photographs housed at the Museum of Lancashire.

Lancaster Library has a small collection of Royal Albert material, including some extracts from the Lancashire Record Office archive compiled by Joe Alston for a book.

The North West Sound Archive in Clitheroe, which in time will be home to all the project recordings, does have a limited number of recordings which relate to the Royal Albert Hospital.

2. Funding and Administration

CSV (Community Service Volunteers) is the United Kingdom’s largest national volunteering charity and is responsible for administering Unlocking the Past.

The Heritage Lottery Fund provides the core funding for this project with a grant provided by its Your Heritage programme.

3. Supporting Organisations

The following organisations offer their practical and advisory support to CSV’s Unlocking the Past project:

        Archives, Libraries and Museums -

• Lancashire Record Office
• North West Sound Archive
• Museum of Lancashire
• Lancaster City Museum
• Lancaster City Library
• Lancaster University Library

        Education, Research and Training –

• Central High School, Lancaster
• The Adult College, Lancaster
• St. Martins College, Lancaster – The School of Nursing and Midwifery<!--[endif]-->
• Lancaster University - History Department
• Lancaster University - Institute for Health Research
• Lancaster University – Centre for North West Regional Studies
• Open University – Faculty of Health and Social Care

        Organisations involved with People with Learning Difficulties -

• Lancashire County Council Social Services Directorate
• Morecambe Bay NHS Primary Care Trust

        Current Owners of the Former Hospital Site

• Jamea Al Kauthar Islamic College

4. Other Historical Links

        Social History of Learning Disability

• Open University – Faculty of Health and Social Care

        Oral History

• Oral History Society
• British Library

        History of North West England

• Archives etc in the region

• Lancaster University – Centre for North West Regional Studies
  

 5. Other Useful Contacts

        Photography

• Mandy Cody who is a photographer volunteering her time to the project is happy to be contacted to discuss unpaid or paid photographic work.  She can be contacted by email: mandy003K@hotmail.com