2023 - November and December - page 34
Image details
| Issue number | 395 |
|---|---|
| ISSN | 2632-7171 |
| Publication date | 1st November 2023 |
| Transcription |
Ally McConnell talks to Helena Clarkson, former project archivist for the MAPP project, who discusses the project winning an “Openness in Research” award. . Helena, congratulations to your team on winning the “Openness in Research” award for the MAPP project at the University of Reading. Can you start by telling us a bit about the project? The Modernist Archives Publishing Project (MAPP) is an academic resource and a critical digital archive. Critical because the archival material has been selected in line with research aims. Founded in 2013 by a team of academics based in the UK, Canada, and America, and supported by archive and library teams at various institutions, it begins with a digitised sample of business records created by The Hogarth Press, an independent publishing house created by Virginia and Leonard Woolf in 1917. The business records of The Hogarth Press have become dispersed over time. Some of their archival records are deposited with The University of Reading (UoR), held by its special collections team who look after the archives of British Publishing and Printing. MAPP is a transatlantic, cross-disciplinary team and a great example of a participatory archive: uniting with students, research assistants and volunteers. Academic and archive teams work to ensure that the efforts of those often working outside of the public view are credited. Crediting hidden work is one of MAPP's major research goals, and works to realise the hidden labour of women working at The Hogarth Press. One reason the Openness in Research award was important is because it demonstrates that MAPP continues to champion those who work behind the scenes. You have been involved in the project as the project archivist since last year. What work have you done with the MAPP volunteers in this time? To continue with MAPP's collaborative work, a transcription project was planned with volunteers based at the UoR: volunteers transcribed a selection 34 of folders linked to various research interests including the writing of LGBTQ authors, authors of colour, anti-colonial authors and those lesser known. I have been very fortunate that I was part of both the UoR Special Collections team and the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL). The MERL have a dedicated volunteer coordinator and there is a strong ethos that including volunteers is achieved at all stages of a project. Volunteers gave feedback in the pilot stages and aided in refining and building documentation. This improved instructions and further developed project resources like the transcription manual. They have since donated over 600 hours and transcribed over 1,000 items. These will be searchable across the MAPP website and improve keyword searching. A chance to look at physical material with an in-person show & tell © University of Reading, MERL and Special Collections 2022 |