I’m a huge fan of archives and physically visiting them,
where you come face to face with documents and to be honest, feel like a proper
historian. And yes I probably fall into that category of people who gets lost
in awe of original documents, at least at first. Because they are a direct
record of the past. They are real pieces of history and I get just as excited
as if I were to pull a piece of bone out of a trench. Maybe that opens me up to
ridicule but to me visiting archives is something that distinguishes us as
historians, or more broadly, as researchers.
Nothing beats finding something really special - like the
stationary heading for Anton Jamrach’s exotic animal business that I found in
the NHM archives for example. I couldn’t believe the elaborate detail and depictions
of all sorts of creatures, including elephants, rhinos and a monkey that strongly
resembles a man. I couldn’t have imagined that something like that would have
survived and yet there it was and it was pretty cool seeing it in the flesh rather
than on a computer screen. Unfortunately I can’t upload a picture due to the
copyright restrictions imposed on it, which actually brings me to what sort of inspired me to write
this blog; the changing attitude of archives thanks to digitalisation.
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| Wellcome Library, London Zoological Society of London: a variety of animals, including a lion, a goat and a tiger. Wood engraving. Collection: Iconographic Collections Library reference no.: ICV No 23587 |
Through visits to Wellcome and the LMA I was surprised to
learn how much more open they have become, especially with regard to access of
their images collections. I suppose I’ve been used to hearing “no” and “you
have to oblige to copyright rules”, which I fully respect, but find it
refreshing to hear that the tide is changing and open access seems to be more
embraced. The Wellcome collection’s digitising policy applies right across their
collections including their special collections, manuscripts and images. In
fact they are so keen to promote use of their collections that Wellcome Images
was re-launched and all fees were wavered. People from around the world now
have complete access to the images Wellcome has digitised. I mean how fantastic
is that? It’s an opportunity to get images
out there, to get people talking about them and stimulate discussion not just about
the images themselves, but also about the collections they have come from. As
evidence it was explained to us that Wellcome Images formerly had 10,000
visitors/users a year, but when it was re-launched that figure rose to 10,000
in just 4 days. With the rise of social media there are ample ways for images
to gain high publicity in very short spaces of time and that can be a great
tool for promotion.
The LMA shares a similar policy, believing that digitalisation
provides ample benefits, including the provision of global access and ensuring the
archive has a wider reputation. It also introduces the collections to new
audiences, is cost effective and creates preservation surrogates of the
originals. I’d also underestimated the commercial benefits that many of the
agreements around digitising provide. In some cases they can be a life line and
vital source of funding in a very vulnerable sector.
I’m not unfamiliar with archive websites or those that
provide access to archive material like Ancestry, I was just surprised to learn
how much emphasis is being place on this area of development and just how much
like businesses archives have to run. Archives can be intimidating places to
visit but the process of digitalisation demystifies them, especially, larger
and better established institutions that have a highly respected reputation. Promoting
access through various mediums and harnessing the potential of digital media has
more benefits than I had ever considered, both for the archives and for the
growing number of researchers out there.
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