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Endangered Archives Programme (EAP)

To establish a grants programme that funds projects to digitise neglected, vulnerable or inaccessible archives from across the world. The digitised materials are available for free online.

The Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) facilitates the digitisation of archives around the world that are in danger of destruction, neglect or physical deterioration. Thanks to generous funding from Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, we have provided grants to more than 400 projects in 90 countries worldwide, in over 100 languages and scripts.

Archive types digitised so far include rare printed sources, manuscripts, visual materials, audio recordings. This continually expanding online collection is available freely through the British Library website and local archival partners, for research, inspiration and enjoyment.

Summaries of individual projects funded by EAP can also be found on the Culture in Crisis portal. These summaries were created from EAP project proposals and final reports. They have been edited for consistency but retain the original language of the applicants and project leads.

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Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) Projects

Eap 848

Digitisation of Georgian national heritage materials at the National Scientific Library

The National Scientific Library of Georgia holds the Library-Museum of Joseph Grishashvili, one of the most valuable and full archives in the Caucasus. The material covers a p…

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EAP847 Pub001

Protecting the Archive of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa

The archive held in the bell tower of St. Andrew’s Church in Nairobi (Kenya) includes material produced by two colonial missions, the Church of Scotland Mission to Kenya and t…

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Eap 845

Endangered ethnohistories: preserving and digitising the DF Ellenberger ethnohistorical archive

"History of the Basuto, Ancient and Modern", compiled by the French missionary David-Frédéric Ellenberger during the second half of the nineteenth century, remains the seminal…

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Eap 844

Recovering the Middle Congo archives at Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo: new steps towards the social history of the Congo

This pilot project intends to locate the lost archives of the French colony of the Middle Congo, in Pointe-Noire, and to ultimately make them accessible - essential for studyi…

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EAP839 Gallery 001

Endangered Urdu periodicals: further preservation and access for vulnerable scholarly resources

This project digitised six series of Urdu periodicals and newspapers housed in three libraries in Pakistan, continuing the work started in the previous project EAP566. These t…

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EAP838 DGCAF GN A I 170

Digitisation of the photographic collection from DirghaMan and GaneshMan Chitrakar Art Foundation

The DirghaMan and GaneshMan Chitrakar Art Foundation has a total of 1,800 glass plate negatives and 4,000 acetate negatives. At a time when most people did not have access to …

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EAP835 Pub002 0

Jaffna Protestant digital archive project

The Tamil Protestant community of the Jaffna Peninsula has left an indelible mark on Sri Lanka’s modern history. These sources contribute to how we understand ritual, textual,…

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EAP833 Pub001

Safeguarding the fragile collection of the private archive of the Lazić family

The Lazić family counts six generations of librarians. The family collection is open for public consultation, which puts the material at great risk of deterioration. The digit…

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Eap 823

Digitisation and preservation of the manuscript collection at the Monastery of St Saviour in Old Jerusalem

This project digitised the full collection of manuscripts at the Franciscan monastery of St Saviour in the Old City of Jerusalem. The collection contains codices and rotuli, d…

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