About Me

My name is Clare Sexton. I am a professionally qualified archivist and archive consultant with experience working across local authority archives, museums, universities and national cultural institutions. My career has included senior and specialist roles at Tate Galleries, Barking and Dagenham Archives and Local Studies Centre, the University of Sheffield, Lambeth Palace Library, the Imperial War Museum and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

I provide consultancy and project support for:

  • Archive services

  • Museums and galleries

  • Local authorities

  • Universities and colleges

  • Charities and heritage organisations

  • Businesses with archive collections

  • Artists, makers and creatives

  • Community and local history groups

  • Families and individuals

I specialise in collections management, archive accreditation, collections surveys, cataloguing strategy, project development, funding applications and audience engagement. My approach combines strategic thinking, professional expertise and a genuine passion for making archives accessible in innovative and creative ways. Working collaboratively with clients, I create solutions that are practical, proportionate and sustainable, and deliver change that truly makes a difference, within budget and to deadline!

Contact me

Previous Experience

Over the past twenty years, I have focused on helping organisations improve collections management and care, increase access to physical and digital collections, deliver successful heritage projects and achieve Archive Service Accreditation.

Archive Accreditation

I have led accreditation work for archive services including Barking and Dagenham Archives and Local Studies Centre, which became one of the first local authority archive services in London to achieve accredited status and was recognised as an "exemplar service" in the Accreditation Assessor’s Report. I later contributed to accreditation work at Tate Library and Archive, completed the review-stage submission for Rotherham Archives, and have served as an Accreditation Peer Reviewer.

Collection Care

As Archive Curator at Tate Library and Archive, I lead on managing the archive stores, providing specialist advice on preservation techniques and issues, and sourcing preservation equipment and bespoke rehousing solutions, as well as establishing conservation priorities and then commissioning external conservators in liaison with the Conservation Department.

Cataloguing

Throughout my career as an archivist, I have successfully appraised and catalogued large and complex collections using collection management systems, Adlib, Calm and ArchivesSpace, in accordance with in-house, national and international cataloguing standards, such as ISAD(G).

Here are some examples of my cataloguing work:

I also have extensive experience of surveying collections, identifying cataloguing priorities and creating cataloguing strategies. At Barking and Dagenham Archives, I developed a three-year cataloguing strategy that contributed to over 20,000 records across more than 400 collections being catalogued, improving access to collections and significantly reducing the cataloguing backlog, using the Less Process, More Product Theory.

Digital Preservation and Access

At Tate Library and Archive, I contributed to the Archive & Access Project, which digitised and made available online more than 52,000 collection items. More recently, I was responsible for developing a digitisation workflow, metadata creation and related procedures, as well as working with the Digital Preservation Manager on the implementation of Preservica at the University of Sheffield Archive and Special Collections.

Heritage Projects and Funding

I have successfully secured, planned and managed externally funded heritage projects, including the National Lottery Heritage Fund supported Fifty Years a Borough Project. This involved managing an £80,000 budget, overseeing cataloguing and digitisation work, commissioning a bespoke website, curating exhibitions and delivering community engagement activities at Valence House Museum in Dagenham.

Engagement and Partnerships

I have developed exhibitions, talks, workshops and community projects that connect people with archives. At Tate Library and Archive, I developed a series of engagement activities linked to the Queer British Art exhibition, including a collage workshop attended by more than 300 participants that was later presented nationally as an example of good practice at the LGBTQ Archives and History Conference at the London Metropolitan Archives.

Key Achievements

  • Undertook an uncatalogued collection survey, and reviewed collection information processes and documentation at Nottinghamshire Archives.

  • Created metadata standards and a Digitisation Workflow, and was involved in the implementation of Preservica whilst working at the University of Sheffield Special Collections and Archives.

  • Appraised and catalogued over four hundred boxes of archive material in a year and a half, significantly reducing the cataloguing backlog at Sheffield City Archives.

  • Gathered evidence and statistics, and then wrote an options appraisal report on improving digital and physical access to the collections held by Rotherham Archives.

  • Facilitated a series of learning and engagement events connected to the Queer British Art exhibition and the Queer and Now Festival at Tate Britain.

  • Assisted curators selecting material from the archive and library for inclusion in the Red Star Over Russia Exhibition at Tate Modern.

  • Catalogued large and complex collections in my role at Archive Curator at Tate Galleries, including the papers, drawings, photographs and objects of Surrealist artist, Eileen Agar.

  • Barking and Dagenham Archives and Local Studies Centre was described as an ‘exemplar’ archive service in the Assessors Report on being awarded Archive Service Accreditation.

  • Managed a project to make the archive and the library catalogues available online working in collaboration with the web development company, Surface Impressions.

  • Delivered the Fifty Years a Borough Project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

  • Commissioned artist, Chad McCail, who used the archive as inspiration to create a mural at the Visitor’s Centre at Valence House Museum as part of a project with the Barbican.

  • Presented a paper on cataloguing the records of the Royal College of Midwives at a symposium organised by the History of Midwifery and Childbirth Research Group.

  • Awarded a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to undertake an MA in Archives and Records Management.

  • First class BA(Hons) degree in History from the University of Kent.

Let's Discuss Your Project!

Whether you need support with archive accreditation, cataloguing, collections management, digital preservation, project development or community engagement, I would be delighted to discuss how I can help.

Email: clare_sexton@yahoo.co.uk
Telephone: 07508 384158

Clare Sexton Archive Consultancy

Helping organisations preserve collections, improve access and unlock the full potential of their archives.