Prisons Memory Archive

The Prisons Memory Archive (2010) is a unique collection of on-site filmed recordings of 175 people who worked or were imprisoned in Northern Ireland’s prisons during the Troubles. Participants include a Secretary of State, prison staff, probation service, teachers, chaplains and prisoners; the sites include the Maze and Long Kesh Prison and Armagh Gaol. Underpinned by collaborative practices and using a life-history approach which allows the materiality of the site to stimulate memory, the archive, by developing digital interactivity, addresses how we manage the process of allowing the ‘other’ to speak and be heard, where conflicting versions of the past constitute part of the contested present. This audio visual material will provide primary sources for future generations of international scholars investigating story-telling from post-conflict societies. The prototype is available at www.prisonsmemoryarchive.com. Selected highlights have been screened at international research centres in the USA, Estonia, Spain and Australia. A commitment to host the archive has been given by Boston College, the Imperial War Museum, London, the National Museum of Ireland.