WISE Archive

Case-study showing the impact of community archives

Fakenham Mill

Photo: Steve Hall/www.fakenhamweb.co.uk

Griffin Works

WISE Archive

Below you can download a detailed case-study of this community archive. The case-study describes the origins, activities and achievements of the archive, and assesses its impact on the local community.

The first two sections of the case-study are reproduced below.

Project summary

WISEArchive is a wide ranging and open archive which encourages online contributions from people aged over 50. Its aims are to save information about peoples working lives before it disappears, validate older people's experiences and use records it gathers for educational purposes. Its subject matter is the working lives of older people from anywhere in the country. It was set up at the beginning of 2005 and has only recently got some funding from the HLF. Work up till now has been progressing reasonably slowly. The material is nearly all on line although there are some physical papers which have been collected along the way (if these increase, the need for proper care is acknowledged). Although the main administration is carried out from Scotland and some from Norfolk, it is nationwide and looking to expand into other European countries

For further background, download the case-study or see the directory entry for WISEArchive.

What does this project exemplify?

• Intergenerational working (not yet come to fruition but planned)
• Integrating social aims and heritage aims (helping older peopleand preserving historical records)
• Nationwide working through the internet
• Working in an extensive and strategic way with partners

Download the full case study