Visit to the National Pipe Archive
13th November 2024Liverpool University
After a long time trying to get a visit to the National Pipe Archive (NPA) arranged, in my capacity as a Trustee of the organisation, I finally managed to get to Liverpool University and meet up with David Higgins and Harold Mytum, two of the other Trustees, together with Dr Susie White, Curator of the NPA.
The NPA collections are held in the Archaeological Department of the University, which provides space for the NPA's work and some resources in the form of students to help with Curatorial work.
Besides looking after a vast range of pipes and related material, the NPA provides a valuable resource for Archaeologists around the world, helping them to identify pipes found in locations in many different countries. The NPA receives around 250 enquiries a week, which is a most impressive total, but it takes a lot of work by David and Susie to handle this number of enquiries!
We had a useful meeting discussing ideas to help the NPA in the future - more finance, personnel, space. All the usual things that small charities need to sort out to get themselves on a sound footing!
We also talked about how to use modern technology to help keep the craft of clay pipe making alive - using 3D scanning technologies to make 3D representations of pipes and 3D printing to create new moulds!
Lots of work to do in the future!