Give That Back!: Digital Repatriation
- sararebstock
- Jul 18, 2024
- 2 min read
One way in which technology can be utilized by archivists and archival institutions to benefit their community and adjacent communities is through digital repatriation. Digital repatriation can be defined as the action of returning digital collections of archival materials to the rightful community from which the physical or digital items were originally removed from. The purpose of this return is to right the wrong of the materials having been removed without the proper approval or documentation from the rightful community. The rightful communities are generally minority groups who have been disenfranchised by the institution or community by which the materials were taken.
The reason for returning the materials in a digital format instead of returning the physical item can be complex and dependent on the holding institution and the originating community. One reason that it may not be possible to return the physical materials is due to condition. For example, if the materials are made up of extremely fragile paper that needs to be kept in specific conditions or enclosures that the holding institution is able to provide but the originating community cannot, digital repatriation might be the best decision for the further preservation of the materials. Additionally, there are times where the item is much too large to be physically transferred or times where the materials have become widespread and are not housed in a single holding institution. Ultimately, it is up to the discretion of both the institution and community to determine the actions that best suit both entities and the materials.
The progress of digital repatriation in preservation technology in recent years is to thank for the useful task. Prior to the development of high-quality digitizing tools and hosting platforms, it was much more of a struggle to provide access to materials that originating communities would have wanted returned to them. It is certainly my hope that further develops will only provide more avenues and methods for repatriation of all kinds.
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