Big Ideas: The Great Archive Debate: a view from York

At the end of the last century the great heritage debate
transformed thinking about public engagement with the past in
historic sites and museums. Do new initiatives in archives
promise something similar in public engagement with history now,
and how might new digital initiatives help?


Sarah Rees Jones and Victoria Hoyle give an overview of some of
the current new developments in public use of archives that are
developing in York, from digital initiatives and new archival
search software using artificial intelligence to the development
of new public services. What is the value in cross-sector
collaboration between the arts and sciences and between
universities and archives in developing new archival practice?
Where do we go next?


Sarah Rees Jones is a medievalist and the Director of the
Institute for the Public (IPUP). Victoria Hoyle is a part-time
PhD student in the Department of History, University of York.