‘Activating the archive’: the Henry Moore Institute Archive, Leeds

Abstract

A set of papers becomes an archive when its life as a series of active documents is finished and they are deemed worthy of permanent preservation. Archives are not, however, an ending but rather a beginning. Although one of the major functions of a repository is to store and preserve, one of the other challenges for archivists is how to activate their collections and exploit the latent potential of the silent memory that is stored in the boxes. This article outlines how the archive at the Henry Moore Institute is attempting to do this.