Work

Different Traditions: Understanding the Archives and Record Keeping Practices of Students’ Unions in Britain

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Recognising the often haphazard way in which students’ union records in the UK have been preserved, the article presents new research into the record keeping practices of students’ unions. Drawing on survey data and qualitative interviews, the paper explores the varied record keeping practices across and challenges that students’ unions and archives services face. We argue that faced with limited staff capacity and lack of resources, records appear to be low priority for students’ unions and perceived as low value to their associated HEIs. Yet individual students’ union records should be valued as irreplaceable records of locally rooted student life.

Source: Cultural and Social History

DOI: 10.1080/14780038.2025.2577348

Authors: Paul Beard, Georgina Brewis

Institution: University College London

Language: English

Topic: Digital and Traditional Archives Management

Subfield: Conservation

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Funder: British Academy