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Digitisation and the Silence of the Archives

Commonwealth Secretariat Archives & Association of Business Historians' Symposium in London, July 2025

Stephanie Decker FAcSS FBAM

Aug 8

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Does digitisation overcome the silence of the archives, or does it amplify them?

In between conferences this summer, I joined a really interesting symposium in London, organised by Arif Zaman, hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat and sponsored by the Association of Business Historians (ABH). Located in Marlborough House in central London, the Commonwealth Secretariat is an interesting organization that, with its focus on its overseas member states, inhabits the grandeur of one of Britain’s highly aristocratic former mansions in an odd juxtaposition.

By CMallwitz at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Broadbeer using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5189401

It has a publicly available archive, but, being located in London, it is not easily accessible for researchers in Commonwealth member states. There is also a digital oral history project on Commonwealth leaders, which, while another example of elite oral history, is clearly a useful and more accessible archival resource:

The archival catalogue online: https://thecommonwealth.org/library-and-archives
The Commonwealth Oral History: https://commonwealthoralhistories.org/ , conducted by Professor Sue Onslow, funded by the AHRC

The event features some interesting talks and discussions, a visit to the archive and a tour of the house, including portraits of its famous prior residents (Lanthimos’s The Favourite, anyone?)...