Bridging the Gaps Between Communities and their Memories: Comparing Community-Based Archives in Five Countries

Abstract

While there is a developing international discussion on the topic of community archives in different parts of the world, there has not been any sustained attempt to study community-based archives within a comparative framework. The aim of the article is to initiate a more systematic and comparative discussion of the different realities of community archives internationally (measured against and perhaps critiquing the descriptions and definitions offered by the dominant Anglophone literature on the topic). This article draws upon the authors’ presentation at the ICA’s Rome 2022 Conference of their comparative analysis of the contexts, form, and operation of community archives in five different countries (Brazil, China, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom). The authors also put forward an initial set of six criteria they believe are useful for future international comparative approaches to understanding community archives: terminology and definitions; typologies and characteristics of the archives; recent history and social structure of the country/region; relationships with external entities; funding and support; law and national archival and heritage systems.