Archive and experience

Abstract

This paper argues for a new understanding of the purposes of an archive in the public domain. Alongside the dense cultural issues involved, often emanating from the profound local value of the material being preserved, there is the further problem of making this material available for research and teaching. It is suggested that a category distinction be made between the collection – often the by-product of research itself – the catalogue, and the archive. In arguing for a recognition of the complexity of an archive in its full sense, the essay locates the problem within the twin processes of providing researchable data and new pedagogic structures. It argues for a new distinction between the database, the pedagogic middleware grid, and the ‘new classroom’ or intelligibility structure that may well constitute the new location for what used to be called research.