DSA 2025 - Shirley Jones for Distinguished Service in Archive Conservation

This year the ARA Board were pleased to award the maximum of three Distinguished Service Awards.

These awards

The winners:

• Sam Bartle for Distinguished Service In Digital Archives

• Shirley Jones for Distinguished Service in Archive Conservation

• Linda Ramsay for Distinguished Service in Archive Conservation

Shirley Jones for Distinguished Service in Archive Conservation - Nomination:

Career Outline:

Shirley is Head of Conservation for the West Yorkshire Archive Service. Based in the conservation studio at the West Yorkshire History Centre in Wakefield, Shirley is responsible for the coordination of a team of 3 for the care of archive collections across the county of West Yorkshire.

Shirley qualified as a paper conservator at the University of Northumbria in 1996 and then with distinction as an archive conservator on the then, Society of Archivists Conservation Training Scheme in 2001. Shirley began working for West Yorkshire Archive Service in 1997 where she was employed as conservator.

Major Projects:

Throughout her career Shirley has been involved in numerous move projects for West Yorkshire Archive Service. Shirley helped write a successful HLF bid for a new archive building in Wakefield to house the county wide collections of West Yorkshire. Shirley also coordinated a large-scale survey and packaging project to prepare over 93,000 items to be moved into the new facility. This was achieved with the help of a team of volunteers and staff over 4 years. Shirley has also been involved in advising architects and construction companies on repository best practice for new buildings in Wakefield, Calderdale, Leeds, Bradford and Kirklees. She has led on the design of repository spaces across the county and has also offered her expertise in this area to other archival institutions in Yorkshire.

Shirley has been involved in the large scale moves of archive collections at Calderdale archives, Leeds archives and Wakefield archives to date. She is currently involved in two more major moves of collections at Kirklees archives and Bradford archives. She has also led in the design and establishment of an environmental monitoring programme for 8 sites across the county, all within vastly different buildings with varied building management regimes. This was a challenging feat, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, where access to sites was restricted. Shirley also implemented various monitoring protocols for the quarantining of archival items during Covid-19, ensuring the safety of both staff and collections within their care.

Shirley has also managed numerous large mould cleaning projects at a number of sites within the service and has been helping to develop sector wide guidance on mould issues, something that is affecting more and more institutions due to climate change. This sector wide guidance will create a positive impact on the management of archival storage environments during climate change and a push for sustainability across the sector.

Training and Mentoring:

Perhaps, one of her most important achievements, Shirley is a strong advocate for training within the heritage sector. She has been involved in the training of archive professionals across the sector on preservation, handling and disaster preparedness and has provided training to numerous groups including the community archives network group in West Yorkshire.

Shirley has been involved with the Archive and Records Association’s Archive Conservation Training Scheme for 21 years and sits as an instructor on both the introductory module as well as the paper conservation module. She has helped train 30 trainee archive conservators who have progressed into the archive conservation profession in archival institutions across the UK. Shirley has also provided placements for students and volunteers interested in getting into the conservation profession, providing support and mentorship for countless people. She has also provided guidance to several people who thought they wanted to become an archivist; that was until Shirley managed to impress them so much with her work, they decided to become conservators instead!

Not only does Shirley sit of the committee for the Archive Conservation Training Scheme, she is also Chair of the ARA’s Preservation and Conservation Group where she has helped develop the professional competencies for conservators as well as had a hand in organising training on various subjects, most recently the popular ‘Spores for thought’ training day at The National Archives. Shirley also sat on the board of the ARA in 2010.

Shirley also acts as mentor for conservators applying for professional accreditation through the Institute of Conservation (ICON) and has continued mentoring a number of archive professionals through their career. I count myself one of the lucky conservators who has benefited greatly from Shirley’s guidance throughout my career and is still benefitting from that guidance both personally and professionally. I think I can speak for all those who Shirley has guided, that she does so with warmth, patience and an abundance of knowledge.

Here are a few words of support from colleagues of Shirley’s:

“Not only is Shirley one of the best conservation practitioners around, she has also made an invaluable contribution to the greater good of the profession, particularly through her role as an instructor/mentor on the ARA Archive Conservation Training Scheme.

Over the years she has also served on the ARA board, as an advocate for conservators and the profession as a whole.

Shirley is a member of the ARA PCG and is the new Chair, where her extensive skills, knowledge and advocacy ensures the PCG will continue their work in supporting and promoting conservation to a wider audience.

Shirley is extremely approachable and gives her time generously to anyone who may need advice, help or support.” Antony Oliver, Conservator, Sheffield Archives.

“Shirley is one of the best, if not the best archive conservator in the UK. She is held in very high regard in the world of archive conservation. She is a great teacher and is the person that conservators of many years standing will go to for advice. What makes her so good, is that she helps one to think around conservation problems from all angles, examining every conceivable question to aid you in coming to a conclusion in which you are happy and confident. She does all this with humility and a wonderful sense of humour. Her interest in conservation is infectious and is transferred with ease to all her students. Such deep knowledge that Shirley possesses is rare and comes with many years of learning and an innate natural ability.

ARA and archive conservation have been extremely fortunate in having Shirley around to galvanise members into action as she is also a valued team player and has carried the torch for archive conservation forward in all her many ARA activities over many years.

It would be great to see Shirley’s work recognised and rewarded in this way by the ARA. Giving the award to Shirley would be very warmly welcomed by every conservator and most archivists who will nod and say, why hasn’t this been awarded earlier!” Mark Allen, Conservator, North East Wales Archive.

Nominated by: Katie Proctor