We're the famous Together Trust, and we went to Wembley

The Archives and Records Association (ARA) Conference is over for another year but as always it created plenty of opportunity for debate and learning. For a charity archivist it was a bit like being the proverbial ‘small fish in a big pond’ as professionals gathered from all sectors, ready to convey new techniques, technologies and ideas to the world of archives. For this small fish it meant an opportunity to discover and rethink methods of how to preserve, make access to and promote our own small collection. 

Wembley Stadium

The looming arch of Wembley Stadium was in our sights for most of the conference. Its presence, next to the Hilton where we were based, was an interesting reflection on our theme of ‘Global Futures, with itself being a global meeting place for football fans across the world. In a much smaller sector however, our thoughts turned to digitisation, access and conservation, rather than the Jules Rimet.

A whole strand of the conference was dedicated to digital preservation this year. Its importance is reflected in the records we create today. A scary notion is the fact that more data has been created in the past two years than in the entire previous history of the human race! That’s a mind blowing thought. We are in a generation of information overload. Billions of photographs for example, are taken ever year globally. Every event, social interaction, individual has images. It’s a wonderful thing to be shared across friends, cities, countries. How many of these images will still be preserved to view in the future, however?

In Strangeways yard, 1873

Above is the Together Trust’s first known photograph, taken in 1873. It may only be one item, but it has been preserved down the years, ready to tell a story to future generations. At this time photographs were not numerous, they were costly and time and care was taken to show exactly what was wanted. Many were used for marketing purposes and you could say it reflects only a history that the charity wanted to reflect. In today’s overload of images every angle is captured but again many are deleted if they do not reflect the view wanting to be portrayed. Today, photographs for many are a reflection of a moment. How many of us print off and keep the images we take? How many of us have had that heart dropping moment when a computer has broken and those pictures stored on its hard drive can never be accessed again?

Our changing IT world throws up new innovations and easier ways of working but unless we keep up with it, how much of this overload of data will still be accessible in 25, 100, 2000 year’s time? Will we find that there will be a black hole in the history of this world at this period of time? It’s a worrying thought.

That’s why Archivists have to think now about how this information can be accessible in years to come. The digital preservation stream was integral to explain what little things could be done in all organisations to start the ball rolling in this area. Our charity has a rich archive to help us understand and reflect on the amazing work that has been completed over the years. Today’s work is just as important. We need to make sure it too, is accessible in the years to come.