“History is and will always be contested space. It has never been more important to ensure wide access to archival materials that give us insights into the lives of those who shape it.”
The Rt. Hon. Lord Boateng
The Sir Winston Churchill Archive Trust is delighted to announce the appointment of The Rt. Hon. Lord Boateng as its new Chair. The Trust is the registered charity that holds the Churchill Papers collection on behalf of the Nation. The papers are deposited in the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge.
Paul Boateng is a Labour politician and peer who became the first Black Cabinet Minister in May 2002, when he was created Chief Secretary to the Treasury. He has since served as the British Ambassador to South Africa. Paul comments:
“The Churchill Archive is a great national and international resource. I am very much looking forward to joining a distinguished group of fellow Trustees and a dedicated and committed Director and Staff in promoting its use as a resource by a wide and inclusive group at a time when our Islands and global history is rightly the subject of debate and interest.
We have a saying in the African Akan tradition in which I was brought up in Ghana that until the lion writes we will only hear the story of the Hunter. I hope that this hugely significant Archive Centre will come to be seen as a place where many different stories are heard not all of them yet written but where all are respected.”
The Churchill Papers are the personal papers of the former British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), which were purchased for the Nation with the aid of a Heritage Lottery grant in 1995. They form a rich resource for the study of British political, military, imperial, literary, cultural and social history in the first half of the twentieth century.
The papers are held for the Nation by the Sir Winston Churchill Archive Trust (registered charity: 1045646) and are housed in the Churchill Archives Centre in Churchill College, Cambridge, where they are made freely available for research. The Trust has supported the work of the Archives Centre in conserving, cataloguing and exhibiting the collection. It has worked with the publishers Bloomsbury to produce The Churchill Archive Online and a free education resource called Churchill Archive For Schools.
Retiring Chair, Dr Alice Prochaska, reflects: “The Trust has already achieved much in providing access to the Churchill Papers, working with a wonderful staff and with the great support of Churchill College and the University of Cambridge. It has been a privilege to help steer its expanding services and growing profile during the past ten years. The next ten years will be full of opportunities to extend its reach and respond to new challenges. Paul is the ideal person to guide the Trust in this time, and I am honoured and delighted to be handing over to him.”
