The Charlton Athletic Museum is one of just four organisations to win an Archives Revealed scoping grant awarding by the National Archive with support from funders the Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation.
The other successful bidders were Hastings Museum, the Centre for Human Ecology in Glasgow and Walsall Council. These grants will fund expert advice on the condition, significance, potential use and development of these organisations' collections.
Museum trustee Clive Harris said: “We aim to use this scoping grant to tell our story to the widest possible audience both within the fanbase, the local community and the wider football and social history world.
"Having a fully-functioning archive will make accessing our entire collection possible for everyone. It will mean that we can complement our physical museum with a virtual museum while protecting the fragile objects we and others own.
"We hope the scoping grant will give us more knowledge and a clear road map as to how we should archive and catalogue our collection to bring it to a wider audience.
"We are at a stage now that the museum is established, new ownership of both women's and men's teams means that more and more archive material is likely to be passed on to us so now is the time to put solid processes and policies in place.”
Museum founder and trustee Mick Everett added: “We’re delighted to have won this grant which will give us practical advice and guidance on archiving but it also means the museum is now recognised by The National Archive as a valid and worthwhile collection. That is a big validation for all the trustees, volunteers and donors who have helped us get this far. The grant will, we hope, allow us to grow and win further grants.”
The Charlton Athletic Museum is a volunteer-run, independent registered charity housed at The Valley at the top of the Covered End.
Anyone interested in finding our supporting their work or find out more can email them on cafchistorian@gmail.com or follow them on twitter @chathmuseum.
From July 6th they will be open every Friday from 11am to 2pm and from 11am to 1pm on home matchday Saturdays.