Back to search
Arcadia

Arcadia serves humanity by preserving endangered cultural heritage and ecosystems.

We protect complexity and work against the entropy of ravaged and thereby starkly simplified natural environments and globalized cultures. Innovation and change occur best in already complex systems. Once memories, knowledge, skills, variety, and intricacy disappear – once the old complexities are lost – they are hard to replicate or replace. Arcadia aims to return to people both their memories and their natural surroundings. What we want to preserve remains fragile, small and dispersed. But if we do not protect it – if it vanishes forever – then future generations will have no base from which to build a vibrant, resilient, green future.

Because knowledge should belong to all, we also promote open access, seeking to make information available without barriers of cost or distance. Charities, businesses, universities, schools, the media, politicians, and citizens all benefit when research and data are no longer locked behind paywalls or reserved for those who live near their repositories. The economy benefits too from better-informed decisions, improved schooling and knowledgeable citizens, from enhanced academic research and innovation based on shared knowledge.

We do not accept applications, but seek and support organizations run by exceptional individuals, operating in a cost-effective, scientifically sound, and ethical manner that share our vision.

Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Funder Website

Arcadia Projects

Eap 1228

Locating and Sampling Arabic and Arabic-Malayalam Manuscripts in Kerala, South India

The Arabic and Arabic Malayalam literature of Kerala (Malabar) constitutes an important, under-researched link in the history of intellectual and religious networks in the pre…

Explore project
EAP Placeholder

The Jerba Libraries Project: Preserving Endangered Manuscripts and Early Arabic Print Materials in Private Libraries in Jerba, Tunisia

Private libraries in Djerba (Tunisia) contain a variety of material which would offer scholars, local families, and institutions a window into the island’s past. However, held…

Explore project
EAP1213 Buppha Saramat at National Library of Thailand resized 0

Sounds of Siam Archive: Siamese/Thai 78 rpm Gramophone Records from 1903-1960

In 1903, Fred Gaisberg and George Dillnutt conducted the first Asian recording expedition for the Gramophone Company. The recording represents the beginning of the recording t…

Explore project
EAP1212

Digitisation of Documentary Heritage of the Colombian Caribbean in the Maritime Port of Cartagena de Indias

Cartagena de Indias was one of the most important centres of the Spanish crown in the 18th century. Though it is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its archival document…

Explore project
Eap 1167

Safeguarding Colonial Plantation Records of Malawi

Between 1891 and 1964, the British Protectorate of Nyasaland (Malawi) saw the establishment of plantations of tea and tobacco. This marked the transition from rudimentary agri…

Explore project
EAP Placeholder

Building Early Accra: Preserving Historical Building Permits in Ghana

Accra was the first settlement in Ghana to keep written records. The archives of the city hold important documents detailing urban development and cities in Africa, histories …

Explore project
Eap 1160

Documenting royalty through the changing political culture in Kongu Nadu, South India, 1400-1950

Kongu Nadu is one of the earliest cultural areas in ancient Tamil land. The documents held by chieftains in the region are of great interest to historians, anthropologists, so…

Explore project
Eap 1153

Preservation of audio recordings, and accompanying documentation of music and folklore of Western Rajasthan

Rajasthan’s cultural heritage is heavily based on oral traditions. Professional bards and musicians of the region recite traditional epics, with puppetry and music. Recordings…

Explore project
EAP1150 1 0

Fragile palm leaves digitisation initiative

The Fragile Palm Leaf Foundation (FPL) holds hundreds of unknown and unstudied manuscripts and texts. Access to this vast collection would revolutionise the study of Theravāda…

Explore project