Introduction

The Glasgow Women's Library, born in the 1990s, has grown to be a vibrant space that encompasses archives, a museum collection, and a library. It challenges notions of the “archive” as simply an institutional, governmental repository and recognizes a multitude of record forms. Its archive is a community space where the record can be both a paper document and a protest badge. A record is narrowly defined by ISO 15489 as something which reflects a transaction and has authenticity, reliability, integrity, and usability. This essay will reflect a broader view of a record, which might encompass anything given the story behind it. The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA), for example, further challenges notions of what an archive is through being an intersectional community archive and through its transcendence of the physical archive in its purely digital presence; indeed, these two challenges are interdependent. These archives demonstrate the changes to the archival space that have been witnessed by archivists over recent years. Archivists have grappled with the digital (which includes both digital content and the digital space) while considering who the archive does and doesn't represent.

This essay first examines intersectionality and archival theory, considering their compatibility in light of the changes the archive has undergone. It then uses Terry Cook's conceptualization of archival paradigms to argue that as the archival theory enters a new paradigm, both intersectionality and the digital have a crucial role to play. To underline this, I examine the work of the SAADA. The second part of this essay will look at a study undertaken by the author of three archives in Glasgow, Scotland. Data from this study, in the form of qualitative interviews, reveals the role of digital accessions in the archive and archivists’ understanding of the term intersectionality. The essay concludes with some suggestions around the effect of archives entering a new paradigm on research, particularly within digital humanities.

A Note on Terminology

The term “traditional archive” is used to describe an archive that is based within an institution, holds material primarily in the form of written documents, receives regular funding (usually from the institution in which it is based), and employs a professional archivist.