2024 conference report

Wednesday 10th July saw the 2024 annual Community Archives and Heritage Group (CAHG) Conference hosted by the University College London. The day began with a short welcome and introduction by Dr Andrew Flinn, Chair of CAHG and Associate Professor for the UCL Department of Information Studies. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Community Archives, keeping community at the heart of archives and heritage’, with each speaker reflecting on and celebrating the essential role of the community at the very core of local and national heritage.

Best practice is a lie

The keynote was delivered by Karyn Williamson from the Digital Preservation Coalition, whose discussion of the current and historical change in the sector and the fragility of digital records drew an emotional response from the audience. Her inspiring talk ended with a call to action for current and future generations of archivists to cast aside the idea of ‘best practice’ and take up a more thoughtful approach to facilitating community archives and building preservation for the future into all heritage projects. The theme of placing the community at the centre of heritage continued throughout with sessions introducing the wealth of experience and support that can be provided by Local Authority Archives. Julie Melrose, Archivist at Haringey Archive and Museum Service echoed Karyn in stressing the importance of collaboration, with institutional archives taking on the role of facilitator rather than teacher. Communities are uniquely placed to tell their own histories and stories and should be supported and empowered in this. Crucially, the level to which collaboration is productive will differ with each individual project.

Initiatives, not projects

Digital Archives were well represented by Stevan Lockhart, whose presentation on the Assynt Community Digital Archive stressed the importance of early planning and implementation for digital preservation, impressing upon us that while the practice may differ, the validity and impact does not. Stevan discussed the importance of connecting the community to the archive through events and encouraged us to view the process of archiving as an initiative not a project, stressing the importance of practical applications and forward thinking in preserving heritage for the communities of the future. Also representing Scottish Archives was Sean Rippington from St Andrews, who focused on practical steps and individual approaches when supporting community archives and heritage groups from an institutional, university archive perspective.

Embrace the cèilidh

Catherine MacPhee from the Skye and Lochlash Archive Centre, encouraged us all to embrace the ceilidh, turning to the archive as a gathering space focused on listening and engaging with each other, nurturing the community and bringing people together to share stories and heritage through unconventional means to preserve complex and potentially distressing history.

We don’t do drive by archives

Marcus Belben and Manon Evans from Friction Arts and the People’s Heritage Co-operative in Birmingham focused on the importance of sustaining relationships and long-term engagement with the community with their statement “we don’t do drive by archives”. This encapsulated the driving force of this conference, the need to bring the archive back to the people we represent, engaging them in a long term and thoughtful way, ensuring the bonds between the community and their records is strengthened and remembered even through tough times. The importance of remembrance was continued by Clare Wichbold’s presentation exploring Rotherwas Together, a project which stands at the intersection of feminist and military history, commemorating those who worked and died through World War I and II at the military Royal Ordinance Factory Rotherwas . This especially includes the ‘canary girls’ whose contribution to the war effort has often gone uncelebrated. The conference ended with a presentation by members of the CAHG Resource Working Group to promote the website and directory, encouraging all to use the resources and experience available through the group. The conference closed with some thoughts on collaboration and the relationship between community and institutional archives, impressing how much we have to gain from collaboration and the pooling of knowledge and experience, supported by mutual respect and boundaries, allowing us to nurture one another and grow as a sector.

Awards

The day also included the introduction of the CAHG Community Archive of the Month awards, with the first of these being awarded to the Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust. Congratulations! Trustee Professor Judith Hawley from the Trust then delivered an excellent talk on the innovative access and outreach programme raising the profile of this Grade II listed Architectural gem. Congratulations to Pope’s Grotto! The midday poster competition drew stiff competition, with the winning posters going to Glasgow Zine Library, Transport for All and the Liverpool Black History Research Group. Congratulations!