To celebrate World Digital Preservation Day 2025, we are posting about the recent project to identify, take in and preserve material relating to the discovery and identification of Richard III. This work was completed by Assistant Digital Archivist Ruth Maguire.
In August 2012, University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), in collaboration with the Richard III Society and Leicester City Council, began an excavation to uncover the remains of King Richard III and the church of the Grey Friars. Within the first few hours of the dig, human remains were uncovered which would go on to be identified as those of King Richard III. Full details on the discovery can be found on our webpages.
The University’s pivotal role in this historic event meant it was important for the University Archives to preserve records detailing this. In November 2023, a two-year project began to collect this material and preserve it indefinitely for future research and study. Funded by a generous legacy gift of £70,000 from Catherine Janet Neaverson, the Richard III Digital Preservation Project aimed to identify, capture and preserve the born-digital records generated by the University relating to the discovery and identification of King Richard III, 2012-2015.
Over the two-year project, the Archives transferred, accessioned, appraised and catalogued these records, before preserving them in specialist digital preservation storage.
Catalogued collections
So far, the Richard III collections which are available on our catalogue are:
ULA/D66 Lin Foxhall digital files, 2012-2015
Lin Foxhall was Head of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester during the time of Richard III’s discovery. Her files relate to the Grey Friars Project and the work of the department during this time, including the work behind the book, The Bones of a King (2015).
Although the University Archives hold press material fright back to the University’s beginning in the 1920s, the material we have related to Richard III includes external press cuttings, emails from the press team, media strategy and monitoring and press releases, briefings and media packs from the initial Greyfriars dig, osteology, genealogy and DNA analysis, through to reinterment.
We also have some of the audio-visual material related to the second Greyfriars dig in July 2014 available to view online.
ULA/PM/A Audio-visual press material
This material, generated by the University’s External Relations Division, features photos and video of the Greyfriars dig, Richard III’s discovery and the University’s analysis to confirm the identity.
How to search
To restrict your search to the Richard III collections, choose Advanced Search and enter the above Reference Numbers into the Document Reference Number field.
Alternatively, you can use Advanced Search to select ‘University of Leicester Special Collections’ as the Archive Repository and ‘Richard III’ in quotations into the Any Text field.
Other collections
We have wide range of other material related to the University’s role in the discovery and identification of Richard III which is still being processed and will be made available in due course. Collections include:
- Project files from key stakeholders
- Emails from key stakeholders
- Outreach materials
- Additional video and photographs
- External news coverage
- Marketing material and publications
- Legal documents relating to the excavation
- Podcasts
- Webpages
We also have a number of rare books, spanning hundreds of years, which feature accounts of Richard III and his life and death. These are searchable through the Library catalogue.
How to access
Our archives are open to all and can be consulted in the Special Collections reading room. Find out how to book your place and order material.
Our grateful thanks to Ruth for her perseverance in identifying holders of material, encouraging deposit, testing out tools to aid processing, and developing and refining our digital preservation workflows. This has put the archives and special collections team in a better place to be able to preserve the digital outputs of the University which will become archives in due course.
Subscribe to vholmes's posts
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.