Archival Matters

(Title changed in the suspicion that people misunderstand the use here of 'Archives')

Over thirty years an archivist, and still counting: the India Office Records, 1973-1979, and the Wellcome Library, to date. Plus extensive experience doing my own historical research in other archives.
The Wellcome Library Blog, on which I occasionally post on professional matters,

Gender and Archives
a rather longer version of my presentation at the Genders and Archives workshop at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 21 January 2005

Some favourite archives and resources

My own publications on archives
Descriptive and empirical, rather than theoretical...

Reviews

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Research tutorials on beginning archival research

Archival Research Skills and Techniques:
a very useful introductory site for those embarking on archival research

Archives Made Easy: an on-line guide to archives around the globe
An excellent idea: 'providing transparency of the costs and processes involved in an archive visit - the kind of information researchers need to know beforehand in order to avoid costly mistakes and delays'. However, coverage is still a bit thin and spotty, and tends to be geared very much towards politics, international relations, economics etc (since it's based at LSE).

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Archive Awareness

National Council on Archives

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)

Society of Archivists

H-Info: H-Net list for the history of libraries, archives, document-based cultural repositories, and other information institutions

ICARUS: International Centre for Archives and Records Management Research and User Studies

The Endangered Archives Programme:
'Unless action is taken now, much of mankind’s documentary heritage may vanish - discarded as no longer of relevance or left to deteriorate beyond recovery.'

Investigating the Archive
'This project is designed to examine the role and nature of archives and the debates surrounding their selection, application and interpretation. These debates emphasise the centrality of the archive to life and culture. The project provides space to reflect on archives by taking an interdisciplinary approach to their construction, mobilisation and deployment.'

International Council on Archives

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Exploring the Archive in the Digital Age
Department of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies, Anatomy Theatre and Museum, King’s College London 6 – 8 May 2010

I-CHORA 5: Fifth International Conference on the History of Records and Archives, London, 1-3 July 2010
Records, archives and technology: interdependence over time

Questions of trust? Archives, records and identities
Wolfson College, Oxford 5-6 July 2010

British Comparative Literature Association XII International Conference
Archive
5-8 July 2010, University of Kent

Machines of Memory. The Archival Technologies and the Genealogy of 'Datapower' (17th- 20th century) (pdf)
A Workshop at the Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, 15-16 October 2010

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Future of the Archive in the Digital Age

Dead Media Project:
a virtual archive/museum of obsolete methods of recording, storing and disseminating information, from chips on bone to superceded computer chips.

The Internet Archive
'a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.... free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public'

UK Web Archiving Consortium:
'a consortium of six leading UK institutions is working collaboratively on a project to develop a test-bed for selective archiving of UK websites.'

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The Fictional World of Archives, Art Galleries and Museums