Buckinghamshire Archives: Disability Sports Archive project - ARA Archive Volunteering Award 2025 - Case study
Disability Sports Archive Project
Buckinghamshire Archives in partnership with National Paralympic Heritage Trust
This project was nominated for the Archive Volunteering Award 2025. The judges commented on the project:
A positive aspect of the application are the plans/proposals for future work involving volunteers which suggests that the experience of the project for the service has been positive and given staff confidence to consider other projects involving volunteers.
A huge achievement, the archives must be credited for enabling access for researchers and putting disability histories at front and centre in this ambitious project. It also demonstrates how a well-designed project can become a model for further work to build on.
A major funded project with high visibility and genuinely opening up collections and incorporating a mix of experiences
A well-managed and inclusive volunteer programme. Strong engagement, particularly from underrepresented groups. Volunteer feedback is positive, and continued involvement suggests a meaningful experience. Clear organisational benefits. The project improved access, enhanced volunteer coordination, and contributed to the archive’s strategic goals. A strong example of participatory practice. The project has broadened access to an important collection and raised awareness of Paralympic heritage. Public recognition supports its wider relevance.
Project Case Study
Buckinghamshire Archives worked with the National Paralympic Heritage Trust (NPHT) to make their internationally important archival collections relating to disability sports more accessible. Following a Wellcome Trust funded project called Spinal2Sport, which aimed to widen access to these collections, 463 boxes of unlisted archive records remained. To make these accessible, the Archives Service recruited a Project Archivist and 30 volunteers, and NPHT 11 volunteers, who collectively gave 5,000 hours of their time, to catalogue 35,000 records, contained within the 463 boxes. These records can now be searched online for the first time. The new disability sports catalogue was launched on 14 August 2024 and was described as, ‘A huge milestone for Paralympic heritage’ by Natalia Dannenberg-Spreier (Head of Paralympic Heritage at the International Paralympic Committee).
The aim was to make the 463 boxes of unlisted archive records accessible for the first time via the Service’s online catalogue, and to promote use and enjoyment of the records via community engagement activities. The records are of international importance and were a priority for the Archive Service to catalogue due to their significance to the development of the Paralympic movement.
The project started off as an externally funded, staff-led piece of work. Around 75% of the project was still outstanding when previous funding ran out. nalysis of the material in consultation with NPHT concluded that this was a project that would benefit from volunteer input. Volunteer recruitment was very successful, and quickly became our largest ever volunteer project (c. twice the size of the next largest) with 41 volunteers taking part. Training was provided to volunteers by an archivist. Volunteers visited the archives boxes of the collection. Volunteers worked across two sites (Buckinghamshire Archives and NPHT offices) and included volunteers from disability/neurodiversity communities with some support from Social Care. The work was QA checked to ensure quality and consistency. This was carried out by BA staff and by specially selected and trained volunteers working remotely. The contents of each collection were examined by an archivist, the final collection trees designed and individual records assigned item level references. When the item level references were assigned, the data was checked a final time and imported into our collections management software Epexio for inclusion on the catalogue.
The launch of catalogue containing c. 35,000 items was described by the IPC Head of Heritage as ‘A huge milestone for Paralympic heritage’, supporting access to the collection to academic and non-academic audiences.
There has been ongoing enthusiasm for the county’s heritage among the volunteer group and all volunteers working on the project at close have transitioned to a new volunteer project.
The project has strengthened relationships with partners, and we are now working together on a new project with strong volunteering component (Jean Stone). The work on this project proved that this is a model which allows us to make progress and we are now using the same model and volunteer’s skillset to address an entirely different set of records (Eton RDC planning records).
The publicity we received in ARC magazine, and on the Local Government Association website and elsewhere, has strengthened both internal and external perceptions of the service at a critical time in the run up to a service relocation.
Service staff learned an enormous amount from this project. It was the first time the service had employed volunteers on this scale to deliver this type of work. The scale of volunteers involved proved a mixing blessing; the amount of contact time was limited by the number of participants, which left some undertrained. The project continued post launch with work on records received after the project began
"My involvement with this project has awakened skills I thought I had lost through lack of use in recent years. It gave me a much deeper understanding of the struggles and determination of the many individuals responsible for the emergence of what we know today as the Paralympic movement. It would have been very sad if this wonderful history still only resided in brown boxes away from a much wider audience now and in the future".
“I had little knowledge of the Paralympics movement and even less knowledge of the complexities of launching a collection online prior to volunteering. I learnt about the fascinating journey from the small beginnings of Sir Ludwig Guttman’s resolve and determination in establishing the Stoke Mandeville Games to all those who have made the Paralympics what they are today. I also learnt about the complexities of creating an important archived collection, the vast number of people involved, and the importance of teamwork.
My experience as a volunteer has been extremely rewarding. I have been treated as part of the team with clear communication and support and training when required.
It has been a privilege to support the work of Bucks Archive and NPHT by volunteering on this project.”
The project team reflecting on the project, has the following tips for others embarking on similar projects:
Keep instructions short or volunteers will not read them.
Roll out training to small groups, making sure they receive lots of attention and feedback early to avoid bad habits setting in.
Involvement of appropriately trained and supervised volunteers into traditional archive spaces made this project possible; important to be flexible about who can be involved in what work.
Keep volunteers informed of project progress and other developments. It is easy to forget they aren’t involved in normal communication channels.
Expect significant drop off in number of volunteers from the initial cohorts – people get jobs, move away, find the project isn’t quite right for them. Ongoing rounds of recruitment may be required.
Making sure volunteers are aware of expectations up front can minimise drop off.
Work continued on this project after the August close for six months on additional records deposited after the project began and were initially out of scope. Archives Revealed funding has been awarded to us and our partner NPHT for work on the Jean Stone collection. This collection is closely allied to the WheelPower collection and the project plan has a strong volunteering component based on learning from this project. The catalogue is being used to identify relevant material to support ongoing social media and outreach work by both us and by NPHT. Work is underway to digitise photographic collections (largely out of scope of this project) ready to crowdsource information on them via Zooniverse. Project lessons have been absorbed into volunteering practice at Buckinghamshire Archives.