Community Archives Wales (CAW) is a website of digital content created and maintained by a number of community heritage groups from across Wales. The initiative for the project came from a partnership between lead partner Culturenet Cymru

Culturenet Cymru Ltd.

Culturenet Cymru Ltd. is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and is based at The National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. Its brief is to work in conjunction with both its members and community groups to develop a range of exciting and innovative projects...

, a not-for-profit enterprise arm of the National Library of Wales

National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales , Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales; one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies.Welsh is its main medium of communication...

 and Glamorgan Record Office, Swansea University Archives, South Wales Miners' Library and West Glamorgan Archive Service. The original project ran from 2007-2008 with funding from Communities@One, an initiative of the Communities First programme in Wales.

Purpose

Digital community archives are collections of material in private hands that have been digitised and interpreted by community groups, enabling the communities to present their own history in their own words.

Community Archives Wales was a 2 year pilot project to enable eleven groups within Communities First

Communities First

Communities First is a programme designed to increase participation and develop the capacity of Welsh communities to make decisions and run projects. The programme was established by the Welsh Government’s Department for Social Justice and Regeneration in 2002...

 areas throughout Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 to create their own digital archives and share them on the CAW website. Funded by Communities First

Communities First

Communities First is a programme designed to increase participation and develop the capacity of Welsh communities to make decisions and run projects. The programme was established by the Welsh Government’s Department for Social Justice and Regeneration in 2002...

 - the Welsh Assembly Government

Welsh Assembly Government

The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. It is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales, the legislature which represents the interests of the people of Wales and makes laws for Wales...

's flagship programme to improve the living conditions and prospects for people in the most disadvantaged communities in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, the project employed 4 members of staff. It started in January 2007 and the first phase ended in December 2008. The website was launched at the National Assembly for Wales

National Assembly for Wales

The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...

 in June 2008. The project was overseen by a board of peers including County Archivists and archive professionals from different regions of Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. Since the end of this phase of the project, the community archive groups have continued to web mount images themselves onto the site, the sustainability of which was always one of the project goals. Other groups from within Wales have also provided images for the site since the beginning of 2009.

Digital Archive Groups

Community Archives Wales is working with 11 different communities throughout Wales. They are;

Treftadaeth Brynaman Heritage

Bonymaen Communities First Group

Bon-y-maen

Bon-y-maen, sometimes spelt Bonymaen, is a community in Swansea, Wales located about north east of Swansea city centre. It falls within the Bonymaen ward. Immediately above Bon-y-maen on the top of Kilvey Hill is the main TV transmitter for Swansea. The local rugby team is Bonymaen RFC....

Port Talbot History Society

Port Talbot

Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...

Cwmaman - St Joseph's Heritage Group

Cwmaman

Cwmaman is a former coal mining pit village near Aberdare, South Wales. The name Cwmaman is Welsh language for "Aman Valley" . For postal purposes, it comes under Aberdare....

Troedyrhiw Environment Forum

Ystalyfera Heritage

Ystalyfera

Ystalyfera is a former industrial village in the upper Swansea Valley, on the River Tawe, about north-east of Swansea. It is an electoral ward and a community in the unitary authority of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, comprising a resident population of just over 3,000 people, approximately 60% of whom...

Machen Remembered

Machen

Machen is a large village 3 miles east of Caerphilly, south Wales, situated in the Caerphilly borough within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. It neighbours Bedwas and Trethomas, and forms a council ward in conjunction with those communities. It lies on the Rhymney River.-Mynydd...

Maerdy Archive Group

Maerdy

Maerdy is a village and community in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, and within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan, Wales, lying at the head of the Rhondda Fach Valley.- History :...

Cymdeithas Hanes Tregaron

Tregaron

Tregaron is a market town in the county of Ceredigion, Wales, lying on the River Brenig , a tributary of the River Teifi. The town is twinned with Plouvien, in Finistere, France. According to the 2001 Census, Tregaron's population was 1,183, of whom 68.8% spoke Welsh fluently.-History:Tregaron...

Nantlle and Drws y Coed History Society

Nantlle

Nantlle is a small village in the slate quarrying Nantlle Valley in Gwynedd, Wales. It lies on the north shore of Llyn Nantlle Uchaf....

Cofnodion Cwmystwyth

Cwmystwyth

Cwmystwyth is a village located in Ceredigion, Wales near Devil's Bridge, and Pont-rhyd-y-groes.The Ordnance Survey calculates Cwmystwyth to be the Centre point of Wales, - History :See Cwmystwyth Mines...