Donations

We are committed to preserving the history of Greater Manchester’s global majority communities, anti-racist activism and thinking about race and ethnicity. We continue to collect archive materials and oral histories that reflect the changing landscape.

Photo of carnival queen on parade from Moss Side Carnival collection

Many of our archive collections come to us via our sister organisation the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust, whose groundbreaking community-led collecting model works sensitively and ethically with individuals and community groups. We centre our donors in the acquisition process: we invite them to determine the terms of the donation or loan, and to set any conditions or restrictions on access or use of the archive materials.

Archive collections are conserved and preserved, and stored in Manchester Central Libraries' archival facilities. We make them available (in line with the donor's wishes) to researchers, community members and anyone interested in these valuable resources, via the Search Room in Manchester Central Library.

As well as looking after donated or loaned archives, we actively share them with communities, academics and researchers and wider audiences, to ensure the experiences and perspectives they represent are not lost or ignored. We do this in line with the conditions for donation or loan and we always think carefully about the ethics of how, when and where we share records, as many contain potentially painful, sensitive and deeply personal histories.

Donations

We welcome approaches from anyone who has items they'd like to donate to us. If you are interested in donating or loaning material to us, please complete the Archive Donation Form and either e-mail it to rrarchive@manchester.ac.uk or post it to the address below.

Alternatively, email us at rrarchive@manchester.ac.uk if you'd prefer to discuss this with us before completing the form.  

Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre
Central Library
Manchester City Council
PO BOX 532
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA