Reflections on Two Decades of the Endangered Archives Programme

Abstract

The Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) enables the digitisation of archives around the world that are in danger of loss or deterioration. Established at the British Library in 2004, the Programme celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2024. In this paper we look back on two decades of EAP starting with the initial agreement with the charitable foundation Arcadia, which funds EAP’s work. The first part of the paper revisits several other key aspects of the early phase of EAP including the initial choice of microfilm for archive preservation which was soon replaced with the digital imaging practice that is still in place. Other early sources touched on here are the observations of the EAP Advisory Panel on the kinds of application EAP received and where they were from. The important role played by the British Library is discussed in terms of expertise provided in curation, conservation and digital preservation. The second part of the paper looks at EAP since 2018 when funding was renewed by Arcadia and a new agreement with the British Library was drawn up. This included new kinds of grants: the larger Area grants and the Rapid Response grant. This new era also saw the emergence of the Modern Endangered Archives Program funded by Arcadia and run from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which now works closely alongside EAP. Taking us to the present day, the paper turns to the sudden emergence of Covid-19 and how EAP responded to this emergency that affected projects and applicants across the world. Finally, we look to the future and how the breadth and depth of the digital archive produced by EAP projects has opened up new avenues for research.

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