2025 - November and December - page 25
Image details
| Issue number | 404 |
|---|---|
| ISSN | 2632-7171 |
| Publication date | 1st November 2025 |
| Transcription |
Feature magazine Meeting of Abolitionists In 2021, “London’s Records of Slavery” was formed, a network bringing together librarians, curators and researchers from 24 financial and educational institutions: museums, libraries, and non-profits that have completed or are currently undertaking research into their historical involvement in transatlantic slavery. Generously funded by King’s College London and a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders’ Fellowship, the network allows members to meet frequently, with the aim of building conversation, creating capacity and sharing experiences arising in the course of research. archived within the institution, in other cases, archivists themselves are undertaking this work. This isn’t easy. There are many practical constraints. As I learned, archivists in institutions deal with the extensive, day-to-day needs of records management. Some of them also oversee reading rooms and have to deal with researchers. Some also care for objects, pictures and even museums. Few archivists have time or capacity to add substantial research to this job. Institutional projects and their findings have the potential to shape historical understanding of the remit and nature of slavery within Britain. They also have major implications for the institutions which undertake them. Many of the archivists I contacted felt underprepared for historical research. Members of our network who have shared their experiences with me often differentiated their skills from historians in this regard. As one member put it: “Archivists find documents and share documents... but it’s a researcher who puts them into context”. Our own research has shown that since 2020, at least 156 institutions across the UK have carried out, or are currently carrying out, research on their historical involvement in the trade in enslaved people. Almost all of these projects involve archivists. Sometimes this is because they rely on sources and documentation Corporate stakeholders don’t always understand how their own archives work, what records can tell us, or what they conceal. When it comes to answers about transatlantic slavery, they often want much more ‘clear- cut’ answers than any process of historical research can produce. A CFO once cut short my own, admittedly 25 |