(Re)Presenting the Archive

In a Higher Education context where “originality” in research is increasingly valorised, what place is there for explicitly re-presentational practices such as scholarly editing and curating? At first glance, the REF2014 landscape would seem favourable. The panel guidelines recognise “scholarly editions”, “databases” and “electronic resources” as outputs, and promote “the creation of archival or specialist collections to support the research infrastructure”. Edition and curation also produce tangible results—including printed and digital texts, catalogues and exhibitions—that can ‘impact’ beyond the academy, preserving and presenting materials for a general audience. But what is the value of these activities and how can it be measured? How will REF2014—with its categories of “originality”, “significance” and “rigour”—judge the editor and curator?

This symposium will address such topical debates, interrogating theories and practices of editing and curation alongside methodological questions raised by innovation in the digital humanities. The relationship between editing, curating and pedagogical practices will also be addressed, and we will ask how scholars working with archival materials might learn from those working outside Higher Education (e.g. how do museums and galleries (re)present the archive?).

Image: St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 51, p. 78 – Irish Evangelary from St. Gall (Quatuor evangelia) (http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/csg/0051)