Abstract
This article analyses the previously unexplored archives of the British charity, Carers UK, and its predecessor organizations, from its formation in 1965 to the present day. We argue that the archive is a valuable resource for social, political, and economic histories of care in the home, women’s work, feminist campaigns, and charitable organizations in the UK and beyond. It gives voice to traditionally silenced populations of carers through a strikingly diverse range of letters, edited collections of fiction, minutes of meetings, video diaries, newsletters, and anthologies of creative writing. As a case study, the Carers UK archive provides an important and early example of an archive in which the commitment to social justice is articulated through its participatory practices of citizen archiving, from the preservation of early letter-writing campaigns to online poetry competitions and performances. Beginning with the story of Sandra Leventon, a carer and self-trained cofounder of the archive, we critically analyze key examples from the Carers UK archive in order to argue for an understanding of archiving as a creative practice in which the roles of archivist and advocate are fundamentally intertwined.
Recommended Citation
Hall, Alice and Tweed, Hannah
(2019)
"Curating Care: Creativity, Women’s Work, and the Carers UK Archive,"
Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 6, Article 24.
Available at:
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol6/iss1/24
Included in
Archival Science Commons, European History Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, History of Gender Commons, Social History Commons, Women's History Commons