Digital Strategy and Sustainability in Welsh Heritage Future Scoping Document for WCIA

OHOS Community Fund Output

The Temple of Peace and Health and Welsh Centre for International Affairs [LH1] launched an innovative training internship in their archives.  The Temple of Peace is a non-religious civic building in central Cardiff, which since its inception has housed organisations devoted to health and international affairs. One such organisation is WCIA, a think tank promoting the exchange of ideas on international issues, build international partnerships connecting Welsh people and organisations with the world, and encourage global action in communities and organisations across Wales.

Using students on placement and volunteers, director Craig Owen used OHOS funding to run an Archiveathon for WCIA’s Peace Archives. Participants gained deeper knowledge of the building and its history through a guided tour, before selecting their own material from the shelves to catalogue and explore. The collaboration is intended as a stepping stone towards building capacity for online public access to peace archives, and onsite volunteering and heritage work at the Temple of Peace. In this way, OHOS has created a platform for ongoing digital preservation of a collection of international importance that also foregrounds the lives and stories of the Welsh people. It has also provided up-to-date training in digital sustainability for all participants in the internship and volunteering aspects of the project.