Dinah Eastop

Design Online: extending access to the BT Design Register

What is the BT Design Register? 6 series, 1839-1991 11,122 volumes or boxes

Why was the BT Design Register established? To confer copyright protection to designs registered by proprietorsRegisters (small volumes) with the text record of registration:name and address of proprietor; date of registration; design numberRepresentations (pasted in large volumes or loose in boxes) with representations of the registered designs

Where? Worldwide: proprietors and markets

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How are designs represented? Representations of the designs take many forms photographs, drawings, paintings, samples and artefacts

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Collection management for preservation and access

• 11,122 orderable units (volumes or boxes) • some volumes weigh more than 25kg • nearly 3 million designs in wide range of materials & forms

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Access * Find* Retrieve* Present

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Focus: BT43/BT44Design Register series for 1842-1884 BT44 = registers x 38 - name-richBT43 = 432 large volumes filled with representations of the designs

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BT43/BT44 = access challenge: designs registered and arranged according to 14 classes of materials and products:metal, wood, glass, earthenware, paper hangings [wallpaper], carpets and 8 textile classes: printed shawls, other shawls, yarn, printed fabrics, furnitures [printed fabrics with larger pattern), other fabrics, damasks, and lace

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Wide range of materials, inc. embossed leather, soap, mirror glass

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BT43/416 ‘Lace’ 1842-1843

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Consultation with users and potential users essential to link registration information with representation via the design number

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Find: improve online resources transcription & cataloguing of BT44 registers

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BT44 registers transcribed, catalogued & online 2012 = record year for release of online resources

The biggest contribution = BT43/BT44 Design Register releases: 335,311 items in BT 44

406,411 items in BT 43

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Find: improve online resources transcribe text on/alongside representations User Participation Project – 10% of BT 43

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Example of additional text ‘The Flying Steam Company to China in Twenty-Four Hours Certain.’ Design registered 15 May 1843

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Next steps? Further transcription

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Conservation of volumes and representations (designs)

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Present designs on-line. How?

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300 mid-Victorian ceramic designs and other curiositieshttp://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/designregisters/

Explore: RTI – polynomial texture mapping PTM an image capture and processing technique

virtual re-lighting & zoom in

Explore: RTI – polynomial texture mapping PTM lighting from above x raking light & zoom

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Explore online: RTI/PTMhttp://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/author/deastop/

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Explore online: RTI/PTMhttp://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/texture-mapping-part-three/#more-8644

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Explore online: RTI/PTMhttp://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/capturing-and-exploring-texture/#more-8178 - publications

Online delivery – image capture - challenges

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Online delivery of nearly 3 million imagesOption - intuitive image-browsing ?

150+ images per screen view; can be sorted

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Conclusion: Integrated approach to access, preservation and development

Development of resources & services

Access Preservation

AcknowledgementsThe Clothworkers’ FoundationThe Arts and Humanities Research Council

The archivists, artists, conservators, designers and historians who contributed to the consultation events

Volunteers and colleagues at The National Archives

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