National Recording Project

I have recently been employed by the University of Brighton as a Research Assistant for the Heritage Lottery funded Public Monuments and Sculpture Association’s National Recording Project (Sussex). The University has been selected to house the PMSA Regional Archive. The project will undertake to conduct a survey of the diverse range of public monuments and sculpture in the cities, towns and villages of Sussex and to edit the accompanying volume in the Public Sculpture of Britain series published by Liverpool University Press.

The survey will include, from all periods, conventional statues, monumental works, selected war memorials, architectural sculpture, art sculpture, memorial clocks, towers and fountains. These will include those works that have ‘disappeared’. Detailed descriptive data will be recorded as well as the objects’ general history, including that of inauguration events / unveiling ceremonies etc. The ‘disappeared or neglected’ objects are a particularly interesting aspect of the project and it provides an opportunity for these to be researched, recorded and that data be eventually easily accessible by the public on the online database. The current national database can be viewed at: www.pmsa.org.uk. This is an exciting project and one that is also of great importance to the history of Brighton and the region.

The University is committed to both academic research and community involvement. Part of my role therefore as a Research Assistant is to organise and deliver educational events to local groups on the artistic significance of such objects. We are running a symposium at the University on Saturday 24 November 2007 with a range of speakers. It is a free, all day event and lunch will be provided in the newly opened restaurant on the Grand Parade site. If anyone is interested in attending, please contact me. As the project is a pan-Sussex initiative, there is an immense amount of information to capture and very often we are reliant on volunteers to help with the survey or on the general public who often can provide fascinating details and personal anecdote about some of the major and other more ‘hidden’ pieces.

If anyone has any information that you feel might be relevant to the project, please could you let me know. Anthony McIntosh, University of Brighton, School of Historical and Critical Studies, 10-11 Pavilion Parade, Brighton, BN2 1RA. Telephone 01273 643088. E-mail A.McIntosh@brighton.ac.uk

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