A Leather UK archive containing more than a century of records from the British leather industry is being catalogued for the first time, thanks to the Leathersellers’ Company.
Rebecca Darnill (left) with Dr Ian Stone
The collection, known as the Leather UK archive, was uncovered by historian Dr Ian Stone during research for a book covering the history of the British leather industry from 1800 to 2000.
Previously held by the Museum of Leathercraft (now the Leathercraft Trust) in Northampton, the archive was relocated to Leathersellers’ Hall in the City of London. Cataloguing work is now underway ahead of the collection’s planned transfer to the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick later this year.
Project Cataloguer Rebecca Darnill has been appointed to lead the work, under the guidance of Leathersellers’ Archivist Kate Higgins and in collaboration with a senior archivist from the Modern Records Centre. The aim is to make the archive publicly accessible and ensure its preservation and long-term availability to researchers.
According to Higgins, the archive documents the activities of Leather UK and its predecessor organisations over more than a hundred years and is one of few known surviving records of the British leather industry.
The cataloguing project is jointly funded by the Leathersellers’ Company and the British Leather Industry Development Trust.
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