The Archival Multiverse

Since the 1980s, a traditional monolithic view of the nature of archives and record-keeping, largely derived from European and American bureaucratic traditions, has given way to a more fluid and pluralistic conception of archives that better reflects the diversity of the societies that create them. The rise of this archival multiverse has transformed the way in which collective memories are curated, recapturing forgotten and suppressed voices, reshaping our view of what archives are and how they function, and challenging old assumptions about the role of professionals in mediating and sharing common heritages (Gilliland, 2017).

The growth of the archival multiverse reflects many intellectual, cultural, technological, social and political currents. This book focuses on one of the most important of these developments, the growth of community archives and the active participation of ordinary citizens in their formation. The boom in community archives over the past 30 years has been important in allowing people to take control of their own histories and share their experiences, knowledge and expertise.

As community archives have become more widespread and influential, the professional archive community has started to radically rethink many of its own assumptions about how archives are created, preserved and made available. The roles of archivists, academic researchers and citizens have begun to coalesce and overlap, and the boundaries between these spaces have become more porous. Projects run by communities, archives and museums in partnership seek to break down the barriers between citizens and archival collections, adding previously excluded voices and memories and developing shared interpretations and understanding.