Update: Cudham, Bromley Kent 18th and 19th Century Documents - further 7 documents obtained

Update - Cudham, Bromley Kent 18th and 19th Century Documents a further 7 have been obtained by NWKFHS.

Deeds relating to properties in Cudham, Kent came up for sale during 2014 and concerned that they would be sold and dispersed, an  appeal was launched to raise funds enable the Society to to purchase them. Since then a further 7 documents have been obtained

The appeal was successful and sufficient funds were raised to be able to purchase some 30 Deeds/Indentures ranging in date from the 1720's to the 1850's. 

The Society regards them as an important part of the history of the area, they name individuals and families and the ownership of some of the land from the early 1700's. 

In August 2014 we held an 'Open Day' at the Library where Society members and others had an opportunity to view 23 of the documents.

There is an indexing project being carried out and copies of the Deeds/Indentures are available at the Library for any one to see/use in their research. The originals can be viewed by arrangement with the Society Librarian. The 7 new documents are in the process of being copied.

Further details of the documents including the principle names of individuals can be found at NWKFHS Cudham Documents

Archives, Libraries and Museums are revolting… and asking for support

Archives, Libraries and Museums are revolting… and asking for support 

The Imperial War Museum is displaying empty cases to protest against the Government’s decision to make orphaned works (documents, letters etc) covered by copyright until 2039 as part of the "Free Our History Campaign".

Under the act so called orphan works (where the author has died and no surviving family can be found) are now deemed to be covered by copyright until 2039 even if they are hundreds of years old. The UK is the only EU country to enact this.

To make matters worse the Government is putting into place a Licensing scheme where institutions that wish to display or use such material (including many WWI documents) have to prove in detail they have done everything possible to find the owner of the copyright and to pay a licensing fee as well.

The Government admits that were a newly discovered and unpublished work by Shakespeare found it would not be out of copyright until 2039. Unpublished letters from WWI where the writer had died and no family is known also fall under this act.

CLIP (Charted Institute of Library and Information Professionals) and Libraries and Archives are petitioning to have the copyright to be changed back to the author’s lifetime plus 70 years.

If you support this campaign against this unreasonable decision by the governmenr further details and the on-line petition can be found at Free Our History