Postgraduate Study on Community Archives and Museums – Can You Help?

Lorna Elms is very active in the field of community archives. Lorna works for the National Museum of Ireland as Development Officer for the Irish Community Archive Network and administers Our Irish Heritage, a peoples' archive for the island of Ireland. As well as organising the CAHG conference in 2021, Lorna is studying for a MA in Public History & Cultural Heritage in the Department of History, University of Limerick, Ireland. Her dissertation research project is entitled The twenty-first century museum, community archives and public history in the Republic of Ireland, and she is trying to identify any UK-based digital community archiving projects supported by a museum partnership or collaboration to inform the international context for the study.

More about the research project

The research will explore why museums engage with community archives, the services they provide, and the benefits, challenges and opportunities arising from partnerships with community groups that are collecting, preserving, and sharing their local history and heritage online. The aim of this research is to get an insight into the nature of the relationship between the museum and its communities, and how museums can best support community archiving activities.

How can you help?

You can help by getting in touch if you know of any digital community archiving project that is being supported by a museum (rather than an archive or library). The community archive can be already established online or working towards getting online. Email Lorna here.