Archiving Richard III

In November 2023 I began a two-year project to bring together the digital records generated by the University relating to the discovery and identification of King Richard III, 2012-2015.  The project aims to collect these records from across the institution and ensure their long-term preservation as part of the University Archive. The project was funded by a generous legacy gift from Janet Neaverson.  

The project aims to:​  

• Identify and transfer relevant digital records to the University Archives.​  

• Appraise and catalogue the material, making catalogue records available through our online catalogue.  

• Ingest material into digital preservation software, Arkivum.​  

• Develop a sensitivity review process and give access to sensitivity checked / rights cleared records.​  

• Outreach work using the archives.​  

• Staff training in digital archiving and preservation.  

  

So far, we have received 15 different accessions into the Archives, including two accessions of physical records and around 4.5 TB of digital content. The collections transferred include:  

• Project files from members of the Greyfriars Team  

• Emails from key stakeholder​s  

• Outreach materials​  

• Video and photographs​  

• External news coverage​  

• Marketing material​  

• Legal documents​  

• Podcasts​  

• Webpages  

We have published one collection so far on our online catalogue, but are currently cataloguing two more of the collections which should be available in the next few months. 

A small selection of items can be viewed online as part of our online exhibition on Digital Preservation at the University.  This exhibition also talks in more detail about processes involved including the appraisal of, cataloguing and giving access to the material.  We hope to give access to more records before the project ends in November 2025 via Special Collections Online.