Posted on 3 March 2020
Open Polytechnic Lecturer for Information and Library studies, Sarah Welland, has been awarded the Ian McLean Wards Scholarship of $10,000 to support her community archives research project.
“This scholarship will provide a wonderful opportunity to research an area of archives management that I think deserves more focus across the archival community – that of community archives,” says Sarah.
The purpose of Sarah’s research is to address a gap in New Zealand archival knowledge by reviewing and comparing viewpoints of those who manage community memory at the grass-roots level, and those who have a more theoretical perspective of community archives.
“Understanding of community archives seems to vary widely across the cultural heritage and archival communities. As a result, and given the changes to the broader information landscape (especially over the past 10-15 years), it is not clear whether community archives are actually cutting edge in their practices and formal archival theory has not caught up, or whether archival theory is simply not understood or applied during normal day to day business practice.”
The Ian McLean Wards annual scholarship was established to assist researchers and practitioners in the librarianship, archives and records management fields to undertake research for a specific project advancing knowledge or improving practice relating to the recording, care, or conservation, of historical research materials.
The scholarship honours the outstanding cultural contributions of the late Ian McLean Wards (1920-2003), Chief Government Historian between 1968 and 1983. A life member of the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand and the Friends of the Turnbull Library, Ian was also a stalwart of many other cultural and artistic organisations. He is widely remembered for his untiring campaigns to safeguard the nation's historical records and the integrity of the institutions holding them.