To establish a grants programme that funds projects to digitize neglected, vulnerable or inaccessible archives generally older than the mid-twentieth century. The digitized 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 foundation that works to preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge, we have provided grants to over 500 projects in over ninety countries worldwide, in more than a hundred languages and scripts.
Since 2004, the Programme has helped digitise more than fifteen million images and 35,000 sound tracks. Archive types digitised so far include rare printed sources, manuscripts, visual materials, audio recordings. This continually expanding online collection is available freely through local archival partners, this website and it is discoverable via the British Library catalogue, for research, inspiration and enjoyment.
