On Monday 19 March our accreditation was officially recognised by the National Archives’ Director of Public Engagement Caroline Ottaway-Searle and Sector Development Manager Hannah Jones.

This accreditation, from the UK Archive Service Accreditation Partnership is the UK quality standard which recognises good performance in all areas of archive service delivery. The standard looks at an organisation’s ability to develop, care for, and provide access to its collections, bringing the total number archive services achieving this to 104 nationwide.

‘We are delighted to have received accredited status from The National Archives, this is a fantastic achievement and recognition nationally for our service and teams delivering it. Achieving accredited status demonstrates that the University of Kent’s Special Collections and Archives met clearly defined national standards relating to management and resourcing, in the care of our unique collections and what the service offers to our entire range of users.’ Karen Brayshaw, Special Collections and Archives Manager, University of Kent.

The University of Kent’s Special Collections & Archives manage the University of Kent’s unique and distinctive collections so that they are preserved and accessible for the benefit of teaching, scholarship and society. Located in the Templeman Library on the Canterbury campus they collect, curate, and manage material which supports the University’s research and teaching.

The collections, numbering over 150, are open to everyone, whether for personal interest or academic research including these specialisms:

• the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive and popular and comic performance from the Victorian era to the present, including pantomime, melodrama and variety works
• the British Cartoon Archive and other cartoon artwork and publications, particularly satirical works
• the history of the University of Kent and the local area
• photographs, scrapbooks, engineer records, and published books relating to wind and watermills
• collections of 20th century prose and poetry first editions.