Kew: The recruitment process for the next Chief Executive

Kew news item from 10th October:


The National Archives Chief Executive and Keeper to conclude term of office - The National Archives


"The National Archives Chief Executive and Keeper to conclude term of office

Tuesday 10 October 2023
The Chief Executive of The National Archives, Jeff James, will leave his post in summer 2024 when his current term ends.

Jeff James said: ‘By summer 2024 I will have led this wonderful organisation for ten years and am now approaching the end of my term in post.

‘It has been a huge honour to lead The National Archives and I want to pay tribute to the exceptional dedication and expertise of colleagues who preserve and promote this world class collection that spans 1,000 years of history, from the Domesday Book to tweets from Downing Street.

‘I would like to thank everyone at The National Archives, the wider archive sector and international archiving community and our colleagues in DCMS for their championing of documentary heritage and for all the support they have shown me personally.

‘There is still a huge amount of work to do over the coming months and my focus will be on delivering the organisation’s objectives and enabling a smooth transition.’

Professor Andrew Wathey, Chair of The National Archives Board said: ‘I am extremely grateful to Jeff for the service he has provided as Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives over the last decade. In 2014 he set out a vision to “change the way people think about archives” through a bold programme of digital transformation, sector engagement and inclusive public programming, and this he has truly delivered upon.

‘He has overseen a successful period in the life of a great national institution with a long history and we now look forward with confidence to a new exciting chapter, made possible by the foundations he has put in place.’

Polly Payne, Director General at The National Archives’ parent department the Department for Culture Media and Sport said: ‘The Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives is a role which straddles various sectors and is the guardian of our national memory.

‘Jeff has taken The National Archives and the wider archive sector forward with energy and confidence as an active and engaged member of the DCMS family. He has ensured trust in our official record system and widened appreciation for this important national resource.’

The recruitment process for the next Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives is underway."

 

"Did what should have been done already and was an excellent player of buzzword-bingo."

 

I worked with Jeff for a while actually so couldn't possibly comment. Ex-submariner and drove a Triumph TR so can't be all bad.....

 

Profiles of archivists. I met F.G. Emmison at the old Essex record office: brilliant man, very industrious.

F. G. Emmison - Wikipedia

Profiles of the current keeper at Kew ( who I have not met ):

Jeff James - The National Archives

Jeff James (public servant) - Wikipedia

This archivist, Dr. Greg Bradsher, has retired from NARA, but was enormously helpful to me:

Greg Bradsher – The Text Message

I think the job of Keeper is a rotten job.

 

Saul Nassé appointed as new Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives - The National Archives

 

I am not sure what this new appointee's brief will be but it may involve cutting back expenditure of public money and, may involve the copying and destruction of original documents, which are costly to restore, preserve and store.

Having been briefly employed as a researcher at the National Archives many years ago, I can remember the problems that non printed archives presented as technology moved very quickly and various formats became defunct. Digitalising documents may be useful in this day and age but using it as a way of preserving archives and therefore cutting down on the need to store original documents would be a costly and damaging mistake.

Unless of course there is a political agenda. Just remember the well known phrase, he who controls the past controls the future.

 

I haven't read all this but it says at paragraph 2:

"ensuring that The National Archives also supports the strategic aims and objectives of DCMS and wider Government as a whole."

See full document here:

Framework document for The National Archives - The National Archives

It would be a popular move to open the archives at Kew for longer each week day { Tuesday to Friday } - Monday can stay closed - and on Saturday and why not Sunday? Sunday might be the most popular day.

 

Starting to open at the pre-Covid time of 9am would be a start.