In 2023, the Museum of the Order of St John was awarded a £35k Archives Revealed grant to catalogue the early paper-based records of St John Ambulance from c.1870 – 1939, with the project taking place from Summer 2023 – Autumn 2025. A catalogue of these records is now publicly available for the first time on Collections Online.
The funding has paid for a Project Cataloguer to sort, appraise, and catalogue the collection, and co-create the Archive’s cataloguing structure and cataloguing guidelines. The Museum also recruited two Project Volunteers to help interpret in-house terminology, make sense of the organisation’s roles, structures, and processes, and assist with inventory, cataloguing, and re-packaging the records.
The project has the support from a Project Steering Group created to help guide and oversee the project, comprised of members who represent equality, diversity & inclusion, the international St John community, St John’s youth members, St John’s national heritage, and the academic community.
Alongside the cataloguing project, the Museum has been running inclusive and accessible events to share new discoveries and invite new perspectives, including 10-minute talks and audio described talks in the Museum Galleries, evening talks, family activities, and object handling.
Archives Revealed is a funding partnership comprised of The National Archives, Pilgrim Trust, and The Wolfson Foundation which supports the cataloguing of significant collections representing the lives and perspectives of all people across the UK and making them publicly accessible for research and enjoyment.
Project updates
We regularly share updates on our project work on our blog. Below you can discover what we have been up to since the project began in Spring 2023.
Archives Revealed: project completion and the launch of the catalogue!
In the final blog post from the Archives Revealed team, hear from the team about their experiences of the project, and find out how to access the Archive catalogue!
Archives Revealed: What we’ve been up to in August 2025
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), Joyce and Pat (Project Volunteers) reflects on the team’s work in the month of August 2025, including Divisional records, and records for Gateshead.
Archives Revealed: What we’ve been up to in July 2025
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), Joyce and Pat (Project Volunteers) reflects on the team’s work in the month of July 2025, including the launch of Collections Online.
Archives Revealed: What we’ve been up to in June 2025
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), Joyce and Pat (Project Volunteers) reflects on the team’s work in the month of June 2025, including Divisional records for London and Kent, international first aid manuals, and first aid for mines.
Archives Revealed: What we’ve been up to in May 2025
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), and Joyce (Project Volunteer) reflects on the team’s work in the month of May 2025, including Divisional records for Kent, a scrapbook created by a nurse, and a meeting held in1878 to promote the St John Ambulance Association.
Archives Revealed: What we’ve been up to in April 2025
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), Joyce and Pat (Project Volunteers) reflects on the team’s work in the month of April 2025, including Divisional records for London, Cadet records, sheet music, and an engagement event for St John’s youth members.
Archives Revealed: What we’ve been up to in March 2025
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), Joyce and Pat (Project Volunteers) reflects on the team’s work in the month of March 2025, including Divisional annual returns, Indian ambulance designs, and records of the Herne Bay Nursing Division.
Archives Revealed: What we’ve been up to in February 2025
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), Joyce and Pat (Project Volunteers) reflects on the team’s work in the month of February 2025, including Divisional records for London, early ambulance litter designs, and an engagement event at the Royal College of Physicians.
Archives Revealed: What we’ve been up to in January 2025
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), Joyce and Pat (Project Volunteers) reflects on the team’s work in the month of January 2025, including Divisional records for London, Australian records, and prioritising the cataloguing work.
Update December 2024: A wrap-up of the project work in 2024
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist), Josie (Project Cataloguer), Joyce and Pat (Project Volunteers) reflects on the team’s work over the past year, including personnel and cataloguing updates.
Update August 2024: Exploring St John Ambulance Competitions – Historical and Personal Reflections
This blog post by Pat (Project Volunteer) looks at first aid competitions, how they were utilised by St John, and includes some of Pat’s own reflections from participating in competitions.
Update July 2024: Exploring St John People – The Inspiring Work of Humanitarian Sir Vincent Kennett Barrington
This blog post by Joyce (Project Volunteer) looks at one of the important figures in the early years of St John Ambulance: Sir Vincent Kennett Barrington.
Update July 2024: The Halfway Point
This blog post by Annie (Project Cataloguer) takes stock of the project process and cataloguing at its halfway point with some personal reflections.
Update May 2024: Exploring St John Ambulance Overseas
This blog post by Annie (Project Cataloguer) and Todd Skilton (Order Librarian) looks at the archival holdings relating to St John Ambulance Overseas and its research potential.
Update April 2024: The Creation of the St John Ambulance Association
This blog post by Sophie (Archivist) provides a brief history of the St John Ambulance Association’s creation.
Update March 2024: Exploring Early St John Ambulance Equipment
This blog post by Annie (Project Cataloguer) looks at early first aid equipment used by the St John Ambulance Association and St John Ambulance Brigade.
Update January 2024: Archives Revealed Cataloguing Project – The Progress so Far
This blog post, by Annie (Project Cataloguer) introduces the project’s achievements to date and some of the team’s favourite finds so far.
Update December 2023: Meet the Project Delivery Team
This blog post introduces the Archives Revealed Project Delivery Team.
Update October 2023: An Update on the Museum’s Archives Revealed Cataloguing Project
This blog post provides some information on the proposed work of the Project Cataloguer, Project Volunteers, Project Steering Group, and engagement activities.
