We are delighted that the Black Cultural Archives in London have invited the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Foundation to collaborate with them on shared information and the BCA archiving materials concerning Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.  This is exactly the sort of joint working which SCTF seeks in order to take forward our objective of ‘bringing people together through music’.

Victoria Lane writes: Black Cultural Archives (BCA) is currently preparing to open the doors to the UK’s first national Black heritage centre, in spring 2013, on Brixton’s Windrush Square, London. This will realise our Founder’s vision and will be a landmark moment in British history, marking BCA out as a premier Black heritage organisation in the UK.

Black Cultural Archives is a registered charity, founded as a community group in 1981 to collect, preserve and celebrate the contributions made by Black people to the culture, society and heritage of the UK. An archive and a Black heritage centre both offer crucial insight into multicultural Britain and inspire future generations.

During its 30 year history, BCA has amassed an extensive collection of ephemera, documents and photographs, together with interactive and ‘living history’ elements, such as oral and video testimony. The archive is brought to life by the collections and learning teams, who deliver workshops and learning sessions to provide context and deeper understanding of the Black experience in Britain.

The importance of preserving these collections and adding to them for future generations is at the heart of BCA’s mission. We already give access to the public and have catalogued and preserved material to professional archival standards but the new heritage centre will give us the proper environmental storage conditions to ensure the long-term preservation of our collections.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor forms an important part of BCA’s collections and has been part of BCA’s programmes in the past, especially with a concert organised on the South Bank in 1985. We have an extensive collection of sheet music and programmes. Follow this link to BCA’s Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Collection which has been amassed over the years.

We are always looking to develop this collection so if you have any archival material relating to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor including letters, photographs or other papers that you would like to preserve and share for future generations, BCA would be happy to discuss how you might loan or gift these items for when we move to our new premises.

Please feel free to contact Victoria Lane, Collections Manager, if you would like to contribute. You can send Victoria an email, or call her on +44 (0) 20 7582 8516. The BCA website is: www.bcaheritage.org.uk