The NAS hosts Society of Archivists specialist group AGM

On Thursday 24 August, the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) had the pleasure of hosting the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Society of Archivists' Film, Sound and Photography Group. Over fifty delegates, from across the United Kingdom, heard a variety of speakers representing the many interests of the group. The day began with a talk from Gillian Mapstone of the NAS, about the development of the NAS's online image library, which will launch in 2007. The talk included a selection of images likely to be included in the image library such as the photograph opposite of Alexander Cameron a seaman on the 'Glen Mary' in 1940, which was taken as part of the registration of British seamen.

The second talk of the day was an informative look at the compilation of The Directory of Photographic Materials in the UK by Bob Pullen from the Photography and Archive Centre of the University of the Arts, London. This is intended to be an online resource for researchers and it is hoped that it will be available within the next year.

Before lunch, Jan Faull of the British Film Institute gave a very interesting presentation on the restoration work done with early film by Claude Fries-Greene, which was the subject of a recent BBC series. Attendees were treated to some excerpts of the film, demonstrating how it looked before and after restoration. In the afternoon, following the AGM, the group also received a presentation from Dr Murray Watson of Dundee University advising on and encouraging the production and collection of oral history archives. The presentation stimulated some interesting discussion on best practice for this field of work.

If you would like more information on the NAS Image Library, please get in touch .