BEAM works with born-digital material from a range of archival collections held in the Bodleian Library's Department of Special Collections.
Below is a taster of some of the collections we work with in the near future. The born-digital elements in these archives are brought into a digital curation environment, where they can be preserved for the long-term. Some material will be made available for research, while other material will be preserved to ensure it is accessible when catalogued and released for research at a future date.
Conservative Party Archive
The Conservative Party archive first arrived at the Bodleian Library in 1978. This substantial archive continues to grow thanks to regular additions from Conservative Campaign Headquarters. In recent years, the digital component of the archive has increased dramatically; this includes: files from the Conservative Research Department, press releases and speech transcripts, posters and leaflets, policy discussion brief mailings to Party members, videos of party political broadcasts and conferences, and images, c. 1990-2012.
The literary archive of the Clutag Press
The Clutag Press was established in 2000 by Andrew McNeillie. It has since issued numerous Poetry Broadsheets and more substantial finely produced pamphlets by major literary figures, including Seamus Heaney, Tom Paulin and Geoffrey Hill. The Bodleian is acquiring the papers in regular (roughly annual) tranches, working closely with McNeillie. Through this form of close working between creator and curator, the archive allows the Bodleian to capture an important record of contemporary literary culture which owing to its 'ground up' hybridity would otherwise be at risk of loss. The archive of the press has been in digital and paper formats from its inception and is therefore an excellent example of the complexities and richness of hybrid collections.
The archive of Sir Walter Bodmer and Lady Julia Bodmer
The archive of distinguished geneticists Sir Walter Bodmer (b. 1936) and Julia, Lady Bodmer (1934-2001) is currently being catalogued. The archive, which arrived at the Library in 2011, provides a record of Sir Walter's career from undergraduate days onward and includes a range of digital material in addition to papers and photographic materials.
The archive of Barbara Castle
Baroness Castle of Blackburn (1910-2002) has been described as one of the most important Labour Party politicians of the twentieth century. The Bodleian holds her archive, the majority being in paper format. An accession of 2006 comprised a significant quantity of digital material, including correspondence, draft chapters of memoirs and miscellaneous files, c. 1980s-1990s.
The archive of Edmund Dell
Edmund Dell (1921-99) served in both the Wilson and Callaghan governments. He was the founder Chairman of Channel 4 television from 1980-7, and the author of a well-received 1996 study of British Chancellors of the Exchequer. His papers came to the Bodleian in two tranches: the first tranche, catalogued and accessible, includes a number of important audio cassettes containing his diaries; the second, more recent and substantial, tranche contains a quantity of digital material.
The archive of Emma Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne
Emma
Nicholson, formerly the Conservative then Liberal Democrat Member of
Parliament for Torridge and West Devon, is a life peer in the House of
Lords. She was formerly a Liberal Democrat Member of the European
Parliament for South East England. The Bodleian holds her extensive
archive, which includes born-digital material.
