Legasee Educational Trust is pleased to announce that it has been awarded funding from The National Archives through its Records at Risk programme. The grant will support work to strengthen the long-term resilience of Legasee’s digital archive and ensure that its growing collection of veterans’ testimonies remains accessible for years to come.
Jack Butterworth, Head of Research, Grants, and Academic Engagement at The National Archives, said:
“The National Archives is delighted to have funded the Legasee Educational Trust in preserving the stories of the UK’s military veterans through our Records at Risk programme. Containing over 700 filmed interviews with British military personnel, from the Second World War to Iraq and Afghanistan, the collection is a powerful and irreplaceable record of our past, now under threat from technical obsolescence. We are proud to be providing funding that will secure our veterans’ stories for the future.”
The funding will enable Legasee to migrate material held on legacy LTO tape formats into a more sustainable digital environment, while rebuilding its digital asset register and clarifying how content is stored, managed and maintained as the archive continues to grow. The work is about making sure that digital change does not become a barrier to access or use.
Martin Bisiker, Founder of Legasee Educational Trust, said:
“This grant allows us to be proactive rather than reactive. It gives us the time and space to deal properly with digital obsolescence and to put clear systems in place that support the archive as it evolves. It’s an important step in making sure the stories people have trusted us with remain usable, credible and accessible in the long term.
The project forms part of Legasee’s wider approach to archive resilience, ensuring that its collection continues to support research, education and public engagement well into the future.
#MilitaryHistory #VeteransVoices #OralHistory #NationalArchives
