• I WAS heartened to read Cllr Jonathan Simpson’s commitment that the current frontline local studies and archives service staff roles will be retained, including the position of senior archivist, (Plans for Holborn Library are looking to the future, October 11).

He is absolutely right when he says that it is a specialised service needing appropriately trained staff with proper skills and experience. The collection is irreplaceable.

It is the borough’s memory store, full of documents which help us to understand what makes Camden what it is today. It is our borough’s box of treasures.

Though many residents may never visit it directly, the centre provides the raw material for countless articles and books we all end up reading, and for talks and walks on all sorts of things to do with life in Camden.

So we all benefit from it. I know first-hand how helpful and knowledgeable are the staff as I have just finished preparing an exhibition on the history of Highgate Cemetery which draws from its collections. And it’s amazing what they have.

“A great garden of death: Highgate Cemetery in archive images” is on at Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre until December 21.

IAN DUNGAVELL
Chief Executive
Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust