Archival Materialities in a Digital Age

Materiality looms large in the world of archives, whether in storage, conservation, shape or materials of the records. Increasingly records are created digitally on a hitherto unimagined scale. How do born-digital records transform our understanding of the materiality of the archive? How do digital techniques provide new insights into the materiality of older archives? Archival Materialities in a Digital Age contains a series of authoritative studies by archivists and researchers who are grappling with these issues on a daily basis. The research presented in Archival Materialities in a Digital Age shows how these challenges are causing a reconsideration of archival theories and precepts while at the same time offering a huge range of opportunities to investigate archives in new and innovative ways.

Andrew Prescott, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Glasgow,Eirini Goudarouli, Head of Research, University of Glasgow

Andrew Prescott is Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Critical Studies, University of Glasgow. From 1979-2000, he was Curator in the Department of Manuscripts, British Library. He has also worked in digital humanities units and libraries at the University of Sheffield, University of Wales Lampeter and King's College London. From 2012-2019, he was Theme Lead Fellow for the AHRC strategic theme Digital Transformations. He was recently a co-investigator on the People of 1381 project. Recent publications include Communities, Archives and New Collaborative Projects (2020, with Simon Popple and Daniel Mutibwa) and Archives: Power, Truth and Fiction (2023, with Alison Wiggins).


Eirini Goudarouli is Head of Research at The National Archives, UK, where she leads an interdisciplinary team of experts. She has extensive experience in leading research and engagement programmes and in building impactful research collaborations and networks. Her passion is to drive innovation that enables new ideas for broadening our current understanding of collections and their discoverability through ground-breaking research, safe and responsible use of emerging technologies, interdisciplinary collaborations and knowledge-exchange initiatives. Eirini has published extensively, especially within the space of Digital Cultural Heritage. Recent publications include the contribution 'Digital Innovation and Archival Thinking', in Archives: Power, Truth, and Fiction (2023, eds Andrew Prescott and Alison. Wiggins).

Introduction, Eirini Goudarouli and Andrew PrescottConceptualising Digital Materiality in the Archive1. Exploring the Digital Analogue Archive, Valerie Johnson2. Digital Materiality and Early Modern Archives, Alison Wiggins3. Losing Touch? Changing Experiences of Archival Materiality, Katy Mair4. Intangible Materiality, Alex Green and Tom Storrar5. Digital History and Born-Digital Archives: Digital Forensic Dimensions, Thorsten Ries6. Patch and Repair: Evolving Understandings of Material in the Conservation Studio, Lora Angelova7. 7. Electric Ink and Arduinos: The Internet of Things and the Archive, Andrew PrescottDigital Explorations of Archival Materiality8. Making an Impression: Digital Investigation of Palm Prints on Medieval Wax Seals, Philippa Hoskin and Elizabeth New9. The Ward 16 Manuscripts: Towards Digitisation without Disruption, Lotte Fikkers and David Mills10. Robert Burns: Archival Aspects of the Printed and Manuscript Record in the Digital Age, Karl Burgess, Gerard Carruthers, Craig Lamont, James Newton, George Smith, and Ronnie Young11. Surfacing the Page: Experimental Visualisation and the Writing Process, Maryanne Dever, Jacqueline Lorber Kasunic, and Kate Sweetapple12. Co-creation and the Digital Archive: Unlocking Historic Archives and Records through New Approaches to Mass Digitisation, Lorna Hughes13. New Materiality and the Digital Artefact, Juan Carlos Covelli ReyesAfterword, Jon Rogers