Latest News – August 2017
While the archive material was being sorted, categorised and then catalogued, Gary Collins the archivist contracted to lead the team doing this work, also started to publish a blog.
This blog is published in the County Record Office section of the Warwickshire Heritage and Culture website. Initially, the purpose of the blog was to keep those interested in the Healey Archive project updated on progress being made towards the cataloguing objective.
Note – The archive is now referred to as the Warwick Healey Motor Company Archive in order to differentiate it from other Healey (cars) archives that exist around the world.
Now that objective has been largely achieved (it is an ongoing process because donations of new material are being made all the time) Gary has been asking readers for their help in identifying various photos taken from the archive.
A particular example was this c1955 Ferrari 625 F1 that appeared in the July blog. the car wasn’t identified, I did that for myself after trial and error with the aid of Google research. The questions Gary posed were – what is this car and why was it in a Healey workshop?
As I have said, I was able to, eventually, identify the car but not its connection with Healey. Fortunately somebody else was and Gary added that information to the Catalogue files as well as giving some detail in the August edition of the blog.
Additional Healey memorabilia being auctioned by Bonhams at the Goodwood Revival Meeting on 9th September 2017
People who have been close the Warwick Healey archive project were a little surprised to learn that additional material, some of it very similar in type to the Archive sold by members of the Healey family to the Warwickshire County Record Office, was being auctioned at the forthcoming Goodwood Revival meeting. Apparently the management team at the WCRO must also be a little surprised also because they were led to issue this statement –
Warwickshire County Record Office has been alerted to the sale of further Healey Motor Company material by users and the family. Unfortunately, the office is unable to raise any further funds to purchase these additional pieces, many of which are of great historical interest. As Warwickshire County Record Office recently purchased the collection it is disappointing that more material has now come to light that could have been saved for public use. Hopefully, those purchasing the documents now may consider donating them to help grow Warwickshire’s significant research collection in the future. In the meantime the office is talking to the family to investigate whether it may be possible to have copies made of the most pertinent information. The most important thing for members of the public is that the Warwick Healey Motor Company Archive has been fully catalogued thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and to generous public donations and is now available to use at Warwickshire County Record Office. Please see our website http://heritage.
The Warwick Healey Motor Company Archive blog can be accessed here –
For a report on the Catalogue launch day go to page two by clicking ‘Page 2’ below.
