What is the Jersey Archive and what can I find there?

Archives are the records which organisations and individuals have produced in the course of business and their daily lives. They are, in essence, the Island's written memory, a unique and irreplaceable source of information about the past extending over many centuries.

The Jersey Archive was established in 1993 to collect and preserve the records, no matter what their physical form, of the

States of Jersey
States Committees and Departments
The Royal Court
H.E.Lieutenant-Governor
Parishes
Churches
Businesses
Societies
Individuals relating to the Island.

As well as collecting records the Jersey Archive is committed to making them and information about them as widely available to the public as possible.

The Jersey Archive's Open Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) enables you to identify records that you wish to see. The OPAC allows you to search for any names, places or subjects you are interested in with a detailed search option also available. The OPAC can be used at the Jersey Archive and also over the Internet.

The format of records that we have at the Archive are extremely varied:

Volumes
Paper
Parchment
Photographs
Film
Cassettes

What's in it for you as a teacher?

You can find a wide range of source material that you can use within a particular curriculum or syllabus, especially for History. The sources are specifically relevant to Jersey and can be used to motivate pupils more easily than textbooks and to breathe life into historical facts and figures. They can also show how national events affected Jersey, specifically the two World Wars. Many of these sources are relevant not just to History but to other areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics, English, French and Geography.

Such sources often enable pupils to undertake research projects that may confirm or lead them to question what they have read in textbooks. Much can be gained from viewing original documents, or facsimiles, which would have been missed if the contents were just read from the printed page of a book.

How do I make the first approach to the Jersey Archive?

Jersey Archive welcomes approaches from teachers. It is essential that you get in contact with Helen Otterwell at the Jersey Archive on 833334 well in advance of any planned visit or project in order that we can tailor our response for your particular needs and requests.

What facilities and services does the Archive offer?

Computer catalogue available on the Internet
Photocopying of documentsH for use in schools
Advice on particular sources for your topic
A general talk and introduction to the Jersey Archive for small groups of teachers or pupils can often be arranged
Use of an education room for group visits where pupils will be able to work with original sources
Services of an archivist with a particular responsibility for education
Visits to school with displays of archival material, with an accompanying talk
Suggestions for presenting copies of original sources to pupils in classrooms

How can I get the most from the Jersey Archive?
Jersey Archive welcomes approaches from teachers. It is essential that you get in contact with the Jersey Archive well in advance of any planned visit or project conducted by you or your pupils so that we can tailor our response for your particular needs and requests and advise you on the scope and content of the records available to study and the feasibility of the topic. By making it clear which topics you and your children wish to study, the Archive staff have time to prepare for your visit and think about your needs.