Historic information and images from Britain’s breweries and pub companies will be accessible online for the first time from today via The National Brewery Centre Archives.
The creation of the online National Brewery Centre Archives has been supported by the National Brewery Heritage Trust (NBHT), a charity run by volunteers. The archives give access to an ever-developing catalogue of a treasure trove of items covering 250 years of brewing in Britain.
Currently, just 5,000 of around half a million of these items are on public display at the National Brewery Centre in Burton-on-Trent. But from today, beer lovers and history enthusiasts can access many more via the online archive, which includes a substantial and growing number of digital images of adverts, pub and brewery photos, books and records.
The Archive
The archive tells the history of the UK brewing and pub industries and their impact on the UK’s economy and way of life. Archive users can explore collections covering all aspects of beer and pubs including advertising, farming, brewing in wartime, and transport as well as search for information about brewing industry personalities and famous British brewing and pub companies. Closer to home researchers can seek out historic photos of their own local pub or brewery, as well as social and family history.
Harry White, NBHT Chairman said: “Our aim is accessibility so we’re delighted that we’ve been able to start cataloguing our unique collection of brewing and pub heritage and opening on-line access for people to use for research, education and general interest. We’ve started by digitising many of the more popular items in the collection, such as photos of historic pubs, breweries, brewing equipment, packaging & advertising, but this is a work in progress and more records and images will be added to the catalogue day by day.”
The project has taken two years so far and will cost over £50,000. Generous grants were awarded by organisations including the Consolidated Charity of Burton on Trent, Staffordshire Community Foundation, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and the Brewers’ Research Education Fund. In addition, funds were raised from corporate and individual donors as well as via a crowdfunding campaign.
The online archive system was designed and built by Shrewsbury-based digital heritage consultants Orangeleaf Systems, whose other projects include The Parliamentary Archives and the Royal Mail Archives.
Click here to visit the archives
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