MAY 2018

Working Together: an update
In 2017 the Co-operative Heritage Trust launched
Working Together, a project to look for, record and
preserve the heritage of the workers’ co-operative
movement of the 1970s-1990s.
Last April the Trust received £43,000 from the
Heritage Lottery Fund to ensure key records could
be identified and saved. This was supplemented
by donations of more than £16,000 from current
workers’ co-ops and co-operative organisations.
Project archivist Philippa Lewis gives an update
and shares some of the documents uncovered...
Uncovering heritage
The first stage of the project focused on locating
and contacting over 240 key workers’ co-ops active
in the 1970s-1990s – and finding out what kinds of
materials they held. The next step was making sure
that material would be safely deposited with the
National Co-operative Archive, or another relevant
local repository.
One of the most interesting sets of material we
received was from Unicorn, the workers’ co-op
grocery based in Chorlton, Manchester. Items
include minute books showing how collective
decisions were made, as well as a selection of items
highlighting Unicorn’s personality and role in the
local community – such as aprons, T-shirts and
promotional flyers.
This material was transferred to the National
Co-operative Archive in Manchester and has been
safely deposited in the archive storeroom.
The material will now be put into archivalstandard
packaging to ensure its long-term
preservation. Digitisation of key items and a
catalogue entry on the Archives Hub will make it
more accessible to future researchers.
Oral histories
Another element of the project has been the
recording of oral histories with people linked to the
workers’ co-operative movement in the 1970s-90s.
These interviews have been conducted in locations
all over the UK, including Brighton, Northampton,
Liverpool and Manchester.
This ensures the long-term preservation of
personal experiences of those involved in workers’
co-op such as Daily Bread, Infinity Foods and
York Community Books, as well as various
co-operative support agencies.
These recordings are being transcribed
and will shortly be uploaded to the National
Co-operative Archive website.
Volunteers and next steps
Crucial to the project has been the hard work of
our volunteers, who have been involved in tasks
such as: identifying workers’ co-ops; repackaging,
cataloguing and digitising material; and creating
summaries and transcriptions of oral histories. In
the next stage of the project, volunteers will help
us create outreach materials such as exhibition
boards and learning resources.
The next stage is to make sure the material is
made as accessible as possible. As well as making
digital copies available on the National Cooperative
Archive website, we will display catalogue
entries of material on the Archives Hub, to ensure
collections are more accessible to researchers.
We are also planning an exhibition to showcase
some of the material. In May, we are holding
sessions at the Co-operative Education and
Research Conference, the Working Class Movement
Library and the Worker Co-op Weekend. The
exhibition will also be displayed at long term
exhibition venues including the Rochdale Pioneers
Museum and Warwick Modern Records Centre.
For more details, find @CoopArchive on Twitter
or visit www.archive.coop
HERITAGE
BY PHILIPPA LEWIS,
Working Together project
archivist at the
Co-operative Heritage
Trust
28 | MAY 2018