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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 1034

Preserving Traditional Buryat Book Culture

The Tibetan collections at the Centre of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs (Russian Academy of Sciences) and Aga Buddhist monastery are two of the largest in the world. Thes…

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United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) Church Endangered Archives Pilot Project

The United Congregational Church of Southern Africa was born out of the London Missionary Society in the early 1880s. The Church contributed to the socio-economic development …

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Eap 1031

Pre-modern Visions, Modern Frames: Digitization and Conservation of Manuscripts and Books in Bardhaman and Nadia Districts, West Bengal

Private and institutional collections in West Bengal districts hold manuscripts, newspapers, and books that show the traditional, literary, artistic, judicial, political and s…

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EAP1029 D Full Team with trainers and owners after trainning

Preservation and digitisation of endangered Sundanese manuscripts of Paseban Tri Panca Tunggal Collections, Kuningan Regency, West Java Province, Indonesia

The manuscripts collection of Paseban Tri Panca Tunggal contain the historical records of Prince Madrais Sadewa Alibassa Kusuma Wijayaningrat, a Sundanese leader in the Dutch…

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EAP Placeholder

Beyond the Revolution: Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Frères de l’Instruction Chrétienne Collections, Bringing Nineteenth-Century Haitian History to the World

The Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Frères de l’Instruction Chrétienne in Port-au-Prince holds the only extensive collection of 19th century newspapers in Haiti. These shed light o…

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EAP1023c

Digitising Rare Medieval Sanskrit Manuscripts scattered in Newār Settlements in Rural Kathmandu and Hill Areas in Nepal.

Nepal has a rich tradition of manuscript production, especially from the Nepalese Middle Ages (12th to 18th century). These are mostly kept in private collections, where the c…

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Eap 1020

Preserving and Digitising The Endangered Manuscript in Kampar, Riau Province, Indonesia

The manuscripts in Kampar hold the knowledge of the ancient city, central to the trade between Indonesia and the rest of Asia. By preserving the manuscripts, the history of th…

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Eap 1017

Manuscripts and Archival Documents of Russian Old Believers Skrytniks (Escapists) in the Russian Academy of Sciences Library

The Skrytniks were a social group of Old Believers in opposition to the Russian government. This community was rarely in contact with the outside world, and little was known a…

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Lama Mani: the texts and narrative thangkas of India’s exiled Tibetan storytellers

The Lama Mani performers allowed the population to learn about central Buddhist principles. However, the practice is almost extinct. Locating and digitising the Lama Mani text…

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