Overview
Paper remembers what stone forgets.
Parish registers, love letters, hand-drawn maps, glass negatives, shop ledgers — the paper memory of three centuries was fading in damp vestries and attic boxes. Living Archives brings professional conservators and trained volunteers together to save it.
Each collection is cleaned and repaired, catalogued to archival standards, digitised at preservation quality, and published in our free online reading room. Originals return to climate-controlled community stores; copies travel the world.
01
Conserve
Surface cleaning, tear repair with Japanese tissue, flattening, and rehousing in acid-free folders and boxes.
02
Catalogue
Every item described, dated, and indexed by our archivists with help from local history groups.
03
Share
High-resolution scans published free online, with exhibitions and school packs for each collection.
Their digitised archives put 40,000 fragile documents one click away. Researchers across three continents use them daily.
— Prof. Amara Haddad , University Archivist