My first time at the ARA conference thank to Ancestry’s Bursary

Alec Temple is Archives Officer at Bristol Archives and for our 2023 conference in Belfast he was fortunate to have one of the four bursaries sponsored by Ancestry UK, enabling him to attend for the first time. Here he writes about his experience.

I am fairly new to the world of archives, having started working for Bristol Archives last summer.  I wanted to come to the ARA conference to meet other people who work in the sector and learn about the variety of work that is possible in this field.  Thanks to a bursary from Ancestry, I was able to attend the 2023 ARA Conference held 30 August – 1 September in Belfast which I found to be an enriching and rewarding experience.

As a person of colour, it was noticeable that the makeup of the conference – like our profession as a whole – still does not reflect the diversity of our wider society but it was encouraging to see that the themes of equality, diversity and inclusion were core to the programme.  A prominent example of this was Thursday’s keynote session in which 5 archivists and conservators from London Metropolitan Archives presented on their work to incorporate EDI principles in all their activities from exhibition design to collections description and beyond.  I found it very powerful to see a group of young and minority archivists speaking to the conference’s biggest room confidently drawing on their backgrounds and experiences and hearing about the process of exhibiting an historic Qu’ran in a culturally sensitive way (as part of which we were treated to a beautiful recital) was a particular highlight.

Importantly, the conference’s focus on diversity and inclusion was intersectional and wide-reaching.  I found the ‘Is It Okay?’ panel on disability to be a thought-provoking and non-judgmental space in which to learn and reflect on how we can better serve our disabled colleagues and customers.  Niamh Ní Charra’s presentation on her work cataloguing the Conradh na Gaeilge archive at the University of Galway highlighted the challenges of ensuring minoritised language collections are open and accessible to speakers of those languages and her work to develop official Irish-language archival terminology is a practical yet exciting outcome.

Little glimpses of what the future of archiving might look like were on offer too.  Presentations on the role and contribution of community archives to the heritage ecosystem aligned well with the conference’s theme of ‘Communities’ and it was useful to hear the many thoughtful suggestions of how established repositories can aid community groups with their archive activities.  The ethical management of emotional and traumatic archives was another major topic at this year’s conference, especially regarding the records of care-leavers.  For those interested in the archival possibilities created by modern technology, two whole days’ worth of programming was available as part of the digital ‘track’.

The centenary year of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) made Belfast a fitting location for the conference and it was especially good to meet and hear from so many of our Irish colleagues.  Notably, Trinity College Dublin’s Dr Peter Crooks’ keynote presentation on the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland – the 2022 Ellis Prize-winning project that aims to digitally recreate the collection of the Public Record Office of Ireland destroyed during the Irish Civil War in 1922 – left a room full archivists in awed silence.  PRONI’s presence at the conference was greatly felt, providing many of the programme’s speakers and hosting Wednesday night’s curry reception in their bespoke modern buildings (indeed, many a delegate afterwards confessed to me their envy of PRONI’s facilities).  One of my favourite things about coming to Belfast has been learning about the breadth of PRONI’s important and exciting work, be it digitising UTV’s archival collection to help keep Northern Irish film accessible in Northern Ireland or opening historic government documents relating to the peace process to the public.  I can only say happy birthday, PRONI! – it is clear how valuable your work is to Northern Irish society, long may it continue.

Attending conference alone was at first a little intimidating but I found that having the courage to introduce myself to fellow delegates was well-rewarded.  My advice for any future attendees is to be brave and say hello to as many people as you can and you will find that conference soon becomes a sea of familiar faces to have lunch with (or, more importantly, to accompany you to the pub in the evenings).  By home time on Friday, I had a list of people to whom I was trying to make sure I said goodbye!

I would like to thank Ancestry without whose bursary my attendance at this year’s conference would not have been possible.  I would really encourage anyone who normally might not have the means to attend conference but is curious about going to see if they are eligible for one or more of the several bursaries available and just apply - the application is short and simple and you probably have a better chance of winning a bursary than you might expect.

I am starting my archives masters this September and I cannot think of a better precursor to my studies than attending the ARA conference.  I have come away from conference feeling inspired by the wide variety of work that is happening in the sector and have been challenged to think of ways in which I can offer my skills and contribute to the profession.  In fact, part of me already wonders whether in the future I too will be able to present a paper at conference!  Most importantly, I have found a friendly, dedicated and collegial archive community and I leave conference feeling confident that there is a place within that community for me.