FoSSA fundraising

Current initiatives

FoSSA has supported the Archive Service through fundraising since 2003.

For four years from 2015 we raised money from our own members, from local societies, parish councils, women's institutes and businesses for the Tithe Map Digitisation Project. We are grateful for every contribution - great or small.

A contractor, Icam Archive Systems Ltd., was appointed to carry out the work, and the first stage involved photographing the 276 Staffordshire tithe maps at Staffordshire Record Office, using a high-spec camera. The largest map had to be photographed in 12 A0-size sections. The second stage was to "stitch" the images making up a map together into one seamless image. The project is now complete, all the maps have been digitised and can be viewed free of charge on the Staffordshire Past Track website.  Alternatively, digital copies of the maps can be purchased from the Staffordshire Record Office.

In the last two years we have purchased several small items at auction for both the Staffordshire Record Office and for Stoke on Trent Archives. These are items that are notified to the Archive Service by the National Archives and usually the notice given is short; FoSSA is in the position of being able to respond rapidly and make funds available for these purchases at short notice, otherwise the items would be sold into private hands and public access would be lost. In April 2020 we purchased three diaries of Charles Bill of Farley for the Staffordshire Record Office and in the summer we purchased a Meir School log book 1928-48 for Stoke on Trent Archives.

We played a major role in saving the Sutherland Collection, which the Archive Service secured with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2006. We raised £92,000 in matched funding through donations from charitable trusts, companies, local societies and private individuals.

We thank our members and all of the other organisations that have supported our fundraising initiatives in the past, and look forward to working with you to protect and promote the archival heritage of our County and City in the future.

Our support for the Archive Service over the years

Each year FoSSA makes a donation to an archive service project or purchase.

2015-2018: Our Tithe Map Digitisation Project. The FoSSA Committee thanks everyone who has contributed to our fundraising effort, which has enabled this project to go ahead. We will keep you updated on the progress of this project over the next few months on this page.

2013: FoSSA provided financial support for the purchase of the commonplace book of John Newton Lane of King's Bromley, saving the volume for local historians, otherwise a sale to an overseas buyer was likely. Lane made entries in the book from the age of 17 to near the end of his life and there is much of interest in it. The volume is in excellent condition and is now available at the Staffordshire Record Office in Stafford.

2012: We provided support for the purchase of 18 boxes of material from the archives of the firm of Challinor and Shaw, the Leek solicitors. This has been carefully assessed by Archive Service staff and considered well worthy of preservation. These items will augment the existing material from this firm already held by the Service.

2007-2011: We have provided Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service with funding for the microfilming of heavily used documents to ensure that they are preserved and made available through the service's reading rooms, as the Service no longer has a budget to do this. These documents have included both parish registers and electoral registers.

We also purchased camera stands to assist researchers in photographing documents in the reading rooms; funded printing of a leaflet to promote volunteering within the service; purchased document cushions to help ensure the safe use of archives in the reading rooms.

2003-2006: We played a major role in the fundraising effort to save the Sutherland Collection, which the Archive Service secured with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2006. We raised £92,000 through a wide range of activities, and from a wide range of partners.