About the Project

Summary

West Sussex Past Gateway is a searchable web gateway for databases and information on the heritage of the County, which uses state-of-the-art DScovery software. Some 14 partner organisations now form the West Sussex Heritage Consortium which has ownership of the website through its Project Management Group. The website is hosted, maintained and project-managed by West Sussex County Council.

Consortium Members

• Amberley Working Museum
• Crawley Museum
• Fishbourne Roman Palace
• Horsham Museum
• Screen Archive South East
• Sussex Archaeological Society
• Sussex Record Society
• University College Chichester
• University of Sussex
• Weald and Downland Open Air Museum
• West Sussex County Council Library Service
• West Sussex Past Pictures Consortium
• West Sussex Record Office
• Worthing Museum and Art Gallery

Databases

Below is a summary of the databases - click on the institution name to find out more about the databases and for a link to their website.

Amberley Working Museum [ Contact: office@amberleymuseum.co.uk ]

• Library catalogue [Excel]
• List of objects [in stores] [Excel]
• Photograph catalogue [Excel]
• Working Tools [Excel]

Crawley Museum [Contact : curator@crawleymuseumcentre.fsnet.co.uk and office@crawleymuseumcentre.fsnet.co.uk ]

• Crawley Museum Photographs [Excel]

Fishbourne Roman Palace [Contact: adminfish@sussexpast.co.uk ]

• Roman Plants [MS-Access]

Horsham Museum's Web Site [Contact: museum@horsham.gov.uk ]

• Horsham Museum Archive, Book and Object Database [Adlib]

Screen Archive South East [Contact: screenarchive@brighton.ac.uk ]

• Selected Items from the Collection

Sussex Archaeological Society [Contact: ceo@sussexpast.co.uk ]

• Romans in Sussex
• Sussex Archaeological Collections Articles Index
• Sussex Archaeological Society Library Catalogue [Amlib]
•  

Sussex Record Society [Contact: John Farrant, farrant@universitas.co.uk ]

• Sussex Pictures (pre-c1850 Database) (MS-Access)

University College Chichester [ Contact: Scott Robertson, Librarian, s.robertson@ucc.ac.uk ]

• Library Catalogue

University of Sussex [ Contact: library@sussex.ac.uk]

• Library Catalogue

Weald and Downland Open Air Museum [Contact: curator@wealddown.co.uk ]

• Museum Library Catalogue [MS-Access]
• Museum Artefacts and Objects Catalogue [Calm]

West Sussex County Council Library Service [Contact: Martin Hayes martin.hayes@westsussex.gov.uk ]

• Family History Sources at Worthing Library [MS-Access]
• County Library Service Books and Other Media Catalogue [Galaxy]
• Local Studies Libraries Catalogue (Chichester, Crawley & Worthing) [Galaxy]
• Sussex Periodicals Index [MS-Access ]
• West Sussex Past Posters and Ephemera [Calm]
• West Sussex Newspaper Cuttings and Periodical Index [Calm]

West Sussex Past Pictures Consortium [Contact: Martin Hayes martin.hayes@westsussex.gov.uk ]

• West Sussex Past Pictures [Calm]

West Sussex Record Office [Contact: records.office@westsussex.gov.uk ]

• West Sussex Record Office Archive Catalogue [Calm]
• West Sussex Record Office Photograph Database [Calm]
• West Sussex Record Office Library Catalogue [Calm]

Worthing Museum and Art Gallery [Contact: museum@worthing.gov.uk ]

• Artcat : all items in art collection to 2003 [MS-Access]
• Photofile: local photographs and postcards to 2003 [MS-Access]
• Webcat: all items donated up to 1966 [Ms-Access]

TOTAL 29 databases

Project Personnel

A Project Management Group is in overall control of the West Sussex Past Gateway. West Sussex County Library Service is the lead organisation in the Consortium, organises the project day-by-day and provides the Project Manager and Project Office. West Sussex County Council's Information Communication Technology Services [ICTS] unit hosts and maintains the web server and the data on it.

Software

Ground-breaking, state-of-the-art software called DScovery has been employed to bring the databases together and enable simultaneous searching.

Heritage Lottery Fund

The Heritage Lottery Fund provided 90% of the funding for this project and the associated West Sussex Past Pictures project, that is nearly £90,000 out of £100,000. West Sussex County Library Service provided £5,000 and the museum sector, through staff and volunteers' time, supplied the remaining £5,000 cost.

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