Hull History Centre exterior

City of Culture Archive

In November 2013 Hull was announced as UK City of Culture for 2017. The scheme, echoing that of European City of Culture, seeks to use culture as the focus for regeneration. City of Culture is what the city makes of it - and that includes the interpretation of what is culture!

The City of Culture archive was launched in Hull on 11 April 2017. Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper at The National Archives who was in Hull to present Hull History Centre with its archive accreditation certificate and to help launch the archive, said: “The archive seeks to capture a pivotal point in Hull’s history and will become a key part of the collective memory of the city. I’m looking forward to seeing how it matures and informs future cities of culture". 

Over the course of 2017 we worked with the City of Culture team to "archive the City of Culture". If you say it quickly it doesn't sound so bad! We have now received a huge born-digital archive of files that will allow everybody to study the how, the why and what of it all.

At the launch of the archive Martin Green, then Chief Executive of Hull 2017, said: “The Hull 2017 archives will tell many tales from the creative minds behind the spectacular performances and events to the people of Hull who experienced it. It will be an important record of our incredible year which will inspire creativity and innovation for years to come.”

We are currently pulling the pieces of this vast and ambitious jigsaw puzzle together. With our partners at CoSector we are now working on building the technical infrastructure that will ensure that the digital records are preserved in the long term and eventually made accessible.

We are also getting our heads around the new challenges and opportunities that accepting and processing digital records bring. We are keen to engage with colleagues about some of the digital preservation and engagement challenges we face once these have become more apparent to us!

We are providing regular updates on the History Centre’s blog and via various social media channels so like us, follow us and re-tweet us (please). 

2017 might be over, but the culture isn’t – please visit the Absolutely Cultured website to find out more about the events, exhibitions and activities happening across the city.