Cleaning Cardinal Hinsley

One of the tasks involved in preserving our archive collections is ensuring that they are kept as clean as possible. We do this by regular cleaning of our storeroom and shelves and protecting material from the external environment as far as possible by boxing, wrapping in acid free tissue or using melinex sleeves. When necessary, we also clean individual items -a task which is often done by our volunteers.

They don't always get something as exciting as Cardinal Hinsley's death mask but dusting with a soft brush has significantly improved his appearance. We also discovered that the process of creating this must have removed large amounts of the late Cardinal's hair. Our mask has eyelashes, eyebrows and a tiny beard!

Revised Opening Hours: September 2011

From 5th September 2011, opening hours at Westminster Diocesan Archives will change. The archive will now open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will be closed to the public on Mondays.

There will be two research sessions per day, from 10am until 12:30pm and from 2pm until 5pm. Between 12:30 and 2, the archive will be closed for lunch and all researchers will need to leave the premises.

Booking in advance will still be necessary but there will now be a choice of morning, afternoon, or both sessions. We hope that this will increase the availability of appointments in busy periods and the number of hours per week that we are open to the public, as well as ensuring that the archive remains fully staffed during opening hours.

Summer Closure 2011

Westminster Diocesan Archives will be closed to researchers during August. The last slot available for booking will be the afternoon of Wednesday 27 July and we will reopen on Monday 5th September.

The archivists don't get to spend a month at the beach as we will still be working on tasks which are difficult to do when people are here such as cleaning, preservation work, maintenance and stocktaking. Our enquiry service will still be operating but replies may take a little longer than usual.