Cardiff here I come!

Back in March we were discussing the topic of ‘Accountability, Culture and Ethics’ within the Together Trust archive, the main theme surrounding this year’s Archives and Record’s Association (ARA) conference in Cardiff. The conference begins next week with a wide variety of speakers, discussing various subjects within the archive and records management context. As a lucky receiver of a bursary from the ARA this year I get to travel across to Cardiff to hear speakers from all around the world. 

There is one talk in particular that I am looking forward to hearing which is relevant to the work of the Together Trust. It is entitled ‘Identity records and archival evidence: exploring the needs of Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants’. The talk is by Michael Jones, Research Archivist and National Programme Manager of the Find & Connect Web Resource and will be exploring how archives can help people understand their identity.

Some children were emigrated to Australia as part of child emigration programmes up until the late 1960s. For these individuals the importance of their own records is immeasurable. Although the Together Trust stopped emigrating children to Canada by the First World War, its own records are also hugely important to their ancestors. To understand one’s heritage and the context of why people in their own family were shipped across to a new country is vital for people to understand their own identity. The importance of our archives in helping this understanding cannot be underestimated.   

Canadian Boy with cow

It will be interesting to hear what Mr. Jones has to say!