IASA-BAAC 2026 Conference

Name: Community Archives: Refugee Narratives and Political Prisoners’ Histories
Start: 2026-10-21T12:00:00+0300
End: 2026-10-21T12:30:00+0300

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Community Archives: Refugee Narratives and Political Prisoners’ Histories

Wednesday October 21, 2026 12:00pm - 12:30pm EEST

Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

The Digital Repository of Ireland is a Core Trust Seal-certified repository for the preservation of Ireland’s humanities, cultural heritage, and social sciences digital data for long-term access and discovery.

Since 2018, the DRI has run a Community Archive Award scheme, allowing unfunded archives and researchers the opportunity to avail of preservation services at the DRI, providing training and assistance to the winners and making these collections accessible to both the communities they represent and the wider public.

The winner in 2020 was the ‘Asylum Archive’, a collection that documents life under Ireland's Direct Provision system, collected by artist and activist Vukašin Nedeljković. This collection represents a hugely important effort to capture the experience of the Direct Provision System in Ireland.

The winner in 2026 was the ‘Long Kesh Style’ collection. This is an exceptional collection of historical documents relating to the conflict in Northern Ireland known as ‘the Troubles’ (1968-1998). The collection comprises hundreds of prison letters, communiqués, crafts, and other artefacts. Curated by Holly Lennon, this collection seeks to centre the stories of protesting and non-protesting republican prisoners who have been censored politically and historically, and whose voices are absent from dominant institutional archives.

This paper explores the importance of the Community Archive Scheme and its role in giving visibility to alternative narratives and fostering a more inclusive understanding of social and political history, represented in these two collections.

Speakers

Holly Lennon

Executive Officer, Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS)

Holly Lennon is a writer from Belfast. She began collecting archival material from Long Kesh prison while completing her master's degree in English literature, during which she wrote her thesis on Bobby Sands and the 1976–1981 prison protests. A bursary from The Bobby Sands Trust... Read More →

Noelia Romero

Digital Archivist and Training Manager, Digital Repository of Ireland

Noelia Romero holds the position of training manager and digital archivist as part of the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) team based at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA). In her role, Noelia provides expert advice and hands-on assistance to DRI members to facilitate the ingest, preservation... Read More →

Wednesday October 21, 2026 12:00pm - 12:30pm EEST
Education hall: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Short Presentation, In Person

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Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81977024051
Zoom password 867213

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IASA-BAAC 2026 Conference

Holly Lennon

Noelia Romero

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IASA-BAAC 2026 Conference

Holly Lennon

Noelia Romero

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