When I heard on Saturday (15th of February) that a fire had broken out in the National Archives in Kew, London, my heart skipped a beat and started to pound very hard. National Archives is the treasure for any scholar or researcher, so someone like myself who has researched and used the National Archives in Kew for many years, I could not even imagine for a minute at the kind of damage that a fire can cause in a short time. The fire can claim very quickly stored and preserved historical documents, in front of our eyes.
Lucky the worst scenario didn’t happen and the fire was brought under control by 20 fire-fighters who tackled the blaze which affected two disused water towers. Now an investigation will take place which will look into the cause the fire.
With approximately 11 million historical documents of national and international importance, with some records dating back more than 1,000 years, the National Archives plays a big role looking back at history. In the collection there are electronic records, paintings, maps, posters, old books and photographs.
It is important to mention Thomas Jefferson who said “Let us save what remains: not by vaults and locks which fence them from the public eye and use in consigning them to the waste of time, but by such a multiplication of copies, as shall place them beyond the reach of accident.”
And yes, we have to preserve all the documents which are national and international interest in order to know more about the past and leave something for the future. Otherwise how would we have known of the recently published Government papers under the 30 year rule, of the shocking role the British Government played in the run up to the massacre of 3000 Sikhs in Amritsar, India in June 1984? Revelations from the National Archives that led the present Government and the Prime Minister Cameroon to initiate an urgent enquiry that has significant implications for UK’s ethical foreign policy, its stance on human rights, free speech and its arms trade for some time to come.
Anytime I’m at the National Archives sitting at the desk looking at documents in Kew which were recorded many years ago, I feel excited, as I know I am going to learn something new which nobody has read or discovered so far. Therefore preserving and supporting the work of the National Archives is not only a Governments duty but also every citizen’s responsibility. We owe a duty to our past, present and future generations to record the folly as well as the triumphs so that the human race is richer by us preserving this knowledge today. My heart is now beating as one with all the fellow researchers and scholars who share this vision.
12.2.2014
Copyright Semra Eren Nijhar – All rights reserved
Semra Eren-Nijhar 