Services : Archives, Curatorial and Design

I help families, artists, academics, and small organisations organise, preserve and make the most of their collections and archives.

With over 20 years’ experience working in museums, heritage organisations, galleries, and private projects, I can appraise, catalogue, digitise and preserve your materials to conservation standards. For families, this includes memory-gathering sessions and oral history recording – working directly with you or a relative to capture stories alongside the archive itself.

I also help artists turn a body of work into a finished publication – artist monographs, exhibition catalogues, catalogues raisonnés and book covers – and offer wider curatorial support, from exhibition planning and proposals to licensing agreements and legacy planning for larger collections.

For artists and creatives, I provide support to turn your work into products or digital assets, set up online shops, and create passive income streams – helping you make the most of your existing creative archive.

Using my design and production skills, I can create digital portfolios, photo books or even print elements of your collection onto high-quality products, bringing your archive or artwork to life.

As a member of a-n: Artists Now, I hold comprehensive Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance, and a current DBS check

Jump to: Family & Personal Archives · Family History & Social History Research · Organisational & Community Archives · Collections & Curatorial Consultancy · Art Books & Publishing · Artist & Creative Archives  · Income Generation & Digital Support

Enquire About Your Archive or Project
A screenshot of the George Macdonald Family Notebook on OneDrive showing the structure of the online notebook and a photograph of George Macdonald pricking the finger of a young girl in Egypt.

Family & Personal Archives

For families, descendants and private individuals:

  • Memory gathering sessions and oral history recording
  • Digitisation of letters, documents and photographs
  • Cataloguing, numbering and contextual notes
  • Photo/memory book layout
  • Structured digital archives (OneDrive / Google Drive)
  • Conservation-standard rehousing and storage advice
  • Training to maintain your archive

Estate and Legacy Services:

  • Preparing clear inventories of collections and valuable objects
  • Documentation to support estate planning and executors
  • Guidance on long-term care, storage and conservation
  • Organising digital and physical records for future access
  • Creating handover documents for families or executors
 

This service focuses on documentation and organisation of collections and archives and does not include legal or financial advice.

A sepia photograph of the scientist, George Macdonald with collage of telegrams he sent during WW2.
Reproduced with the kind permission of Jane Robson

Case Study: The George Macdonald Archive

I worked on the private family archive of George Macdonald (1903–1967), a pioneering malariologist and Professor of Tropical Hygiene at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. During WWII, George served as a senior consultant malariologist with the Royal Army Medical Corps, overseeing malaria control in the Middle East and Mediterranean campaigns. The archive comprises over 300 letters, telegrams, and airgraphs sent to his wife Mary during this period. I catalogued, numbered, digitised and organised the documents, photographs and family research into a structured online notebook, ensuring the archive is accessible for research and  the wider family. The physical items were rehoused in conservation-standard files and sleeves. I provided training so the archive can be maintained and added to for future generations. This project preserved a significant historical collection, making the personal correspondence of a leading scientific figure accessible and secure.

“Like many elderly people I had amassed boxes of family papers photos and letters etc that were totally disorganised that I had always meant to put in order one day but didn’t quite know how and kept putting off… Charlotte was wonderful. She assessed the situation, made suggestions and then guided me through the process of sorting, arranging and presenting the results in an attractive format. I enjoyed the whole process, it was fun, and I am so relieved to know that the archive is all in good order and available for the family to access as they wish. The whole thing was a pleasure instead of a worry. Thank you, Charlotte” – Jane Robson 

A colourised photo of two Edwardian delivery boys in a passage way of a house with an ornate gate and church in the background. The boy in front carries a milk churn. The boy behind him stands with his hands on his hips and a cheeky smile.

Family History & social History Research

For families, writers and heritage projects:

  • Family tree research and ancestry building
  • Archival and historical research
  • Social history context and interpretation
  • Object and artwork research
  • Research for publications, exhibitions or private records
  • Photographic restoration, retouching, and optional colourisation of historic images
Pile of Ilford Glass Negative Boxes

Organisational & Community Archives

For small organisations, theatres, societies and community groups:

  • Appraisal and cataloguing of institutional archives, including objects and ephemera
  • Digitisation of records, correspondence and photographs
  • Structured digital archives and documentation systems
  • Guidance on long-term storage and access
  • Exhibition and display material drawn from your archive and collection, for festivals, open days or public events
  • For larger or exhibition-led projects, this often works alongside Collections & Curatorial Consultancy

Photo and artwork © Estate of Ulla Frisch.
Reproduced with kind permission of Monica Frisch

Red lino cut called 'Three Children' by Ulla Frisch
Three Children - Linocut by Ulla Frisch
Black and white photo of Ulla Frisch working on a linocut
Ulla Frisch working on a linocut

Collections & Curatorial Consultancy

For artists, creatives, families and small organisations

  • Exhibition planning and proposals
  • Exhibition Interpretation
  • Licensing agreements
  • Cataloguing systems for larger collections
  • Legacy and estate planning 

 

Case Study: the Ulla Frisch Archive

I’m currently working with Monica Frisch, daughter of Cambridge artist Ulla Frisch, to help research, catalogue, promote, and sell a lifetime collection of prints, drawings, collages, and ceramics. Ulla wanted her work to hang on people’s walls and be enjoyed. The aim of this project is not only to fulfil that wish, but to raise public recognition of her work and exceptional talent as an artist, graphic designer, and illustrator, and her work in the creative and educational fields.

A multi-stranded project: we started with a roadmap, tentatively mapping out the whole journey from foundations through to legacy. From there, a robust cataloguing structure and physical marking system for several hundred works, alongside a plan for archival-standard storage, so the collection itself is properly preserved and recorded.

Alongside developing the catalogue structure I’ve drafted licensing documentation for reproducing Ulla’s work. Working closely with Monica, I put together a full exhibition proposal, concept, public programme, and practical planning for a retrospective at a Cambridge gallery. We’re also exploring what a full catalogue raisonné could look like further down the line, a bigger undertaking, and one we’re thinking through together.

Underpinning this is the fascinating story of a woman who spent a lifetime exploring different practices and mediums and working in art education. Involved in the war-time development of nursery education, she then worked as a freelance artist illustrating articles for Child Education, annuals and books. Ulla wrote and published her own three craft books for children and contributed to Tony Hart’s Vision On. This project is not just about recording Ulla’s collection; it is about ensuring that her story is told and her legacy is passed on. And along the way I have fallen in love with Ulla’s work.

Front cover of an art book, A Thread runs through it, by Clarissa Cochran

Art Books & Publishing

For artists, illustrators, photographers, makers and their families:

  • Artist monographs and artbooks
  • Exhibition catalogues and catalogues raisonnés
  • Cover design and illustration
  • InDesign layout and print coordination

Case Study: A Thread Runs through it

This art book celebrated the work of Clarissa Cochran, and was produced to celebrate her 80th birthday. It was carefully designed to showcase her remarkable artwork across many mediums. I created a colour palette and selected a hierarchy of fonts in response to her work. These colours were used to separate the mediums and used for quotation pages which were interspersed throughout the book. I curated a thoughtful journey to take the reader through Clarissa’s beautiful work. I designed and laid out the book in InDesign and created the front and back covers. I managed the project and worked carefully and sympathetically with the family to produce this 21cm x 21cm hardback book.

“I’ve been blown away by the book you have designed of my work, ‘A thread through it’. Quite amazing. Thank you so much – hard to express how much this means to me” – Clarissa Cochran

I’ve been blown away by the book you have designed of my work, ‘A thread through it’. Quite amazing. Thank you so much – hard to express how much this means to me. (Clarissa Cochran
Vessel Family © Gail de Cordova

Artist and Creative Archives

For artists, illustrators, photographers, makers and their families:

  • Digitising artwork and studio documentation
  • Organising image libraries and digital files
  • File naming, metadata and archive systems
  • Creating artwork databases 
  • Preparing work for reproduction
  • Archive structure for long-term access
  • High-quality image preparation, retouching and restoration for print and digital use

“Charlotte has been a pleasure to work with, casting her expert eye over my paintings and understanding just what I needed in the way of designing invitations and postcards for an exhibition. She sorted everything very quickly and smoothly and even sorted which printers to use. I couldn’t recommend her more highly and will be using her expert guidance and design work again in the not too distant future”. – Gail de Cordova

Click on the picture to visit Gail de Cordova’s website and see more of her work.

Three Tree Greetings Cards from Annie Brown's product lines
Three Tree Greetings Cards from Annie Brown's product lines

Income Generation and Digital Support for Artists

This service focuses on making practical sustainable use of work that artists already have – without the pressure to create new material:

  • Product design ideas and reaserch
  • Help turning existing artwork into products (prints, patterns, homewares)
  • Preparing images for print-on-demand and online sales
  • Online shop setup and optimisation (SEO, listings, structure)
  • Digital asset organisation for reuse and licensing
  • Website content organisation for artists
  • Passive income planning 
  • Creative course development

 

“Charlotte took on things that I had been putting off for years. It was a relief to have my website back under my control, instead of making excuses for it not being up to date. I needed someone with the right experience to put my website on the right track. The business side of things can be so overwhelming and time consuming for artists but Charlotte has helped explain and make these things so much easier for me”. – Annie Brown

Click on the picture to visit Annie Brown’s website and see more of her work.

Enquire About Your Archive or Project