The core objectives of the Archives Centre can be defined as follows:

• To build on its position as one of the premier repositories in the United Kingdom for modern personal papers and to expand and diversify the range of its holdings within the parameters of the existing Mission Statement and Collections Development Policy.
• To ensure that it offers the best standards of preservation for the materials in its care.
• To continue to make its archival material available to researchers at all levels, from school children to university professors, both on site in Cambridge and remotely, while retaining the core principle of free access on site, and to expand and diversify access.
• To support the broader educational work of Churchill College and the University of Cambridge, and to preserve the College’s own institutional history.

To deliver these core objectives, the Archives Centre has the following strategic priorities for the period 2024-26:

1) Facilities: continue to provide the best facilities for access to the unique archival collections, both on site in the Archives Centre and remotely:

• make our buildings as energy efficient and carbon neutral as possible and to maintain a suitable environment for the collections as passively as possible;
• To meet the requirements for preservation of and access to digital formats, using the digital preservation management system and related open access portal;
• To continue to plan for the future expansion of the Archives Centre, including the provision of more accessible reading room space, largely passive storage areas and the development of classroom/workshop facilities.

2) Collections development and processing:

• To continue to collect and to engage in collections development work, around core subject areas, whilst also dealing with existing cataloguing backlog;
• To ensure that diverse voices are collected and presented, reflecting changes in wider society, while still working within our Mission Statement;
• To preserve and catalogue collections in line with our catalogue priority schedules and research interests;
• To review past cataloguing practices and modify lists and/or produce online resources with the aim of highlighting diversity of voices within the existing collections and to review historic cataloguing, removing outdated and/or offensive terms and updating language as appropriate.

3) To continue to offer a public service and to promote the archive materials we hold to expand and diversify access to the collections, ensuring we are genuinely ‘open to all’:

• To maintain onsite public service in reading room and continue free copying programmes for those unable to visit in person;
• ensure that the public service as a whole is meeting the needs of new and existing users by engaging with all stakeholders and by conducting regular assessments and reviews of user needs;
• To consider fairer provision of volunteering and research opportunities (including collaboration with University of Fort Hare, participation in Open Oxford Cambridge Doctoral Partnership and providing grant funding for By-Fellows and researchers);
• continue to engage with a variety of audiences through a wide range of outreach activities drawing on the breadth of the collections;
• To continue to host the prestigious Antcliffe and Roskill lectures.

4) To support the broader educational work of Churchill College and the University of Cambridge, and to preserve the College’s own institutional history:

• To continue to develop academic engagement with History and related faculties in Cambridge, including partnership projects with academics using the Centre which promote their research through events, lectures, blogs, and social media;
• To redesign the Wolfson Foyer exhibition within Churchill College;
• To assist the College in its records managements and ensure that electronic records are kept in accordance with departmental retention schedules and GDPR.

Date: January 2025
Date of next review: October 2025