DSA 2026 - Catherine Kirby - Archives and Records Management
Distinguished Service in Archives and Records Management
Nomination information:
Catherine is an extremely experienced archivist and records management specialist of 32 years and in my view is a paradigmatic embodiment of all the characteristics and values meriting national recognition by your professional body.
Catherine has devoted her entire professional life to the promotion and advancement of archives and record management in the Island of Jersey, her home. The product and effect of that work for Islanders across many sectors of Island life is tangible and will be felt for years to come.
Catherine began her working life with Jersey Archive, ascending through the organisation at a critical time for records and archive management in Jersey. Working alongside the Head of Archives as a Senior Archivist, Catherine helped create and develop the thriving and award-winning institution that it has grown to be. During this period Jersey Archive moved from one room in Jersey Museum to a purpose-built large building, requiring work designing and establishing a fit for purpose publicly owned archive for the Island of Jersey.
Catherine was involved in recruiting, training and managing Archive Assistants to staff this new institution, many of whom have progressed in their careers and have themselves continued to contribute to the running of this important institution. After the establishment of the building, and cataloguing of several important new collections, Catherine worked to promote the work of Jersey Archive through public talks and local media, offering advice to organisations and individuals as well as day to day management of Jersey Archive.
In 2010 Catherine established a private business ‘Catherine The Archivist’ (www.catherinethearchivist.com) to provide a professional service to members of the public and commercial businesses to manage their personal and commercial archives – organising and cataloguing these records for long term preservation and access. As an established, well known and deeply respected member of the community, Catherine has been engaged to work with some of the most important private and public collections in Jersey, including:
Personal records of Gerald Durrell (
Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust Archive
Seymour Hotels of Jersey
Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive
National Trust for Jersey Archive
Liberation Brewery
Hettich Jewellers
Stereoscopic Photographic Collection RoMo Images
In later years, Catherine served as a volunteer member of the Records Advisory Panel - a statutory body under the Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002 which advises the Minister, Jersey Heritage, public institutions and the Archivist on matters relating to public records in Jersey – the only professional archivist ever to have done so.
In 2017 when I took up the post of Superintendent Registrar of Jersey, I inherited a 175-year archive of Jersey’s national civil registration records which had been stored in an unsuitable state and which had not been catalogued or ordered for decades. Without hesitation, I contacted Catherine as the only person suitable and qualified for the task of assisting me to care for the records and I employed her on a consultancy basis to help me put the nation’s records into order. It is impossible to set out the enormity of the task that Catherine took on, to ensure proper record keeping, records management and archive care. In 2023 in recognition of Catherine’s profound and important contribution, I appointed Catherine as Archivist to the Superintendent Registrar – the first time such a post has ever been in existence and a significant reflection of the priority given to the maintenance of our national records. In the same year, this national service moved to a new purpose built office and Catherine was integral to that move, using the opportunity to build the records management of this service from the ground up.
In that same year this national service moved to a new purpose built building and Catherine was central to designing the strongrooms, organising the relocation of the entire national civil register archive, creating condition reports for every individual register, designing the layout/placement of all the registers in the new strongrooms, training staff, creating new policies relating to record use, disaster planning and establishing environmental controls such as insect traps, temperature and humidity requirements within the strongrooms. Catherine was able to use this opportunity to build the records management of this national service from the ground up. The transformation of the state of the Island’s national records has been extraordinary! I have attached a document showing some photographs from 2017 and from 2026 to illustrate the progress that Catherine has made which I hope you find inciteful.
Not resting on her laurels, Catherine has since designed and rolled out a digitisation project to assist staff to locate individual records more easily, thus saving a considerable amount of wasted labour. Catherine never rests on her laurels and continues to innovate and improve the records management within this national service. She is an integral, thriving and much appreciated member of our team and all the staff at this service are thrilled to endorse this nomination.
Beyond Catherine’s impactful work within this national service and her own private business, Catherine raises the profile of record management in Jersey on a regular basis. Her infectious enthusiasm for all things archives leads to regular invitations to speak about her work and promote the importance of record management and archives in Jersey, including by organisations and at large forums such as the Jersey Festival of Words, U3A, the Soroptimists International Jersey and the Women’s Institute.
Catherine’s career spans the life span of mindful and professional archivism in Jersey and Catherine has been pivotal and central to this development. She is well known and deeply respected within Jersey for her quiet dedication and passion for advocating the importance of maintaining archives and good record management. Catherine is a self-effacing, generous and enthusiastic person who has doggedly and consistently dedicated herself to Jersey’s culture and history through its records, enthused and guided others in their careers in archivism and accessibly promoted record management to individuals and businesses. Whilst I am able to provide a plethora of evidence of the effects on Jersey life, culture and history that Catherine has had, it is without exaggeration to say that without her, the existence and state of important Island records would be significantly in doubt, as would awareness and promotion of effective records management. Notwithstanding the wider contribution to private, public and commercial archives and records in Jersey, Catherine’s work at the Office of the Superintendent Registrar has ensured that an entire nation’s personal records are protected for generations to come.