Module Directory

Archives have often been central to how we make, break, and understand heritage, even as much heritage work is linked to tangible remains or intangible practices. As archives (defined broadly) are used to help delimit the boundaries of what heritage is, without them certain forms of heritage - and the people and groups connected to them - risk underrepresentation or lack of representation entirely. Why has this situation come about, and how might rethinking archives help to overcome such issues?

This module explores not only how we can use archives to help understand the history of heritage and museums, but also how archives can be used to relate new and underrepresented types of heritage. Examining different types of archive, we will explore how and why those archives have shaped heritage and museum work today. Simultaneously, we will think about how archiving offers the potential of more representative 'heritage futures'.

The aims of this module are:

• To provide an introduction to archives, their operation and their scope.


• To understand the types of archive used in heritage and museum work, and why those archives might differ from some archives traditionally used in history.


• To investigate how archiving has shaped heritage and museums today.


• To consider how to create new forms of archive and generate more representative heritage and museum practices.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Formulate a substantial understanding of the relationship between archives, heritage, and museums across the world.


2. Critically describe, analyse and interpret the types of heritage and museum archives discussed in the module;


3. Write in a sophisticated and informed manner on the relationship between heritage, museums, and archives and to form an argument relating to various aspects of the topic.


4. Demonstrate the mature ability to treat heritage and museum archives as primary sources, relating them to wider theoretical literature relating to the topics covered on the module.

By the end of the module, students should also have acquired a set of transferable skills, and in particular be able to:

1. Define the task in which they are engaged and exclude what is irrelevant;


2. Seek and organise the most relevant discussions and sources of information;


3. Process a large volume of diverse and sometimes conflicting arguments;


4. Compare and evaluate different arguments and assess the limitations of their own position or procedure;


5. Write and present verbally a succinct and precise account of positions, arguments, and their presuppositions and implications;


6. Be sensitive to the positions of others and communicate their own views in ways that are accessible to them;


7. Think laterally and creatively (i.e., to explore interesting connections and possibilities, and to present these clearly rather than as vague hunches);


8. Maintain intellectual flexibility and revise their own position based on feedback;


9. Think critically and constructively.

The main objective of this module is to provide students with a sound understanding not only of the ways that archives sit centrally to (the history of) heritage and museum work, but also what is particular about practice and materials within those archives. Likewise, the module will demonstrate to students how archival work offers one way to generate new and more representative forms of heritage, at the same time as showing how archives are involved in research directed towards object repatriation.

During the module, students will be introduced to a global range of issues related to heritage and museum archives and the way that they have developed. They will learn about the wide range of heritage and museum archives that exist and how they are being used to support ideas around heritage today.

Indicative syllabus:

• Archives and heritage archives


• Archives and the creation of heritage


• Archives and the museum


• Archives and repatriation


• Decolonising heritage archives


• Community heritage archives


• Heritage archives and gender


• Personal heritage archives


• Archives and heritage futures

This module will be delivered via:

• Nine 1-hour lectures taught by the module leader; and
• Nine 1-hour seminars, in addition to an optional trip to a relevant archive outside the University of Essex.

There will be one Reading Week. The seminars will consist of a combination of contributions from students and classroom discussion. Students will read weekly assignments and additional readings. The module will also be available on Listen Again. Detailed information about the learning and teaching methods will be available in the outline on the Module Directory and from the full module description.