Expert on migrated archives supports ‘shared heritage’ approach
A major new book, 'Displaced Archives', edited by James Lowry, was released earlier this month. This volume of collected essays explores situations where records have been removed from their country of creation, subsequent campaigns for their repatriation and other possible solutions.
One example, frequently in the news, is the ‘migrated archives’ formerly held by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at their records store, whose existence was only admitted in 2011 following a High Court demand for release of records.
This evidence was used by former Mau Mau detainees in their case against the FCO, which concluded in July 2013 with the promise of a pay-out of c£14 million to thousands of Kenyan survivors in what was the first ever compensation by modern-day Britain to victims of colonial crime .
Another contributor to the book is Dr Mandy Banton, a former Public Records Office specialist in Colonial Office records. Dr Banton said:
“Although the records disclosed in 2011 are now publicly available at The National Archives, their legal status as UK public records remains dubious and their accessibility to those in the former colonies whom they could be of most benefit remains limited. I support a ‘shared heritage’ approach, in which copies are made freely available to the countries from which archives were displaced.”
It is anticipated that James Lowry’s book will make an important contribution to addressing this and similar situations around the world.