Modern Records Centre Team
Melissa Downing
Outreach and Widening Participation Officer
Elizabeth Wood
Assistant Archivist from the Modern Records Centre
Dr Kathryn Woods approached the Modern Records Centre at an early stage, and we were more than happy to offer our support to the project. Encouraging greater engagement with our collections is central to our role as an archive and we are always particularly keen to assist student-led research.
The Modern Records Centre, and archives in general, offer a unique space for students to learn.
Archival research removes the traditional hierarchy of the University and lets academics and students learn together.
Looking back at the history of the Arts Faculty itself further enhances this community of learning and creates a sense of belonging amongst the students, which it is hoped, will increase engagement and improve wellbeing.
Our role in the project has been to supply space for meetings and to assist the research team to locate relevant archival material. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the research team have had to rely more heavily on material we have digitised, such as The Boar student newspaper. It is fortunate that we have enough digitised material to allow the research to continue, and the students have adapted well to the situation.
The success of the Then and Now project, is a strong testament to its student-led methodology and we have been so impressed by the professionalism of the students involved.
