The Humanitarian Archive
Date range: 1960 – present
The Humanitarian Archive provides a permanent home for endangered collections connected to humanitarianism and related subjects. The Archive is a unique partnership between The University of Manchester Library and the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute.
Its remit covers the work of individuals and small non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in overseas aid and war and natural disaster response, and cultural artefacts relating to humanitarians, with a focus on underrepresented views and events.
The Archive was launched in 2021 and currently works closely with the HCRI’s Developing Humanitarian Medicine project, which examines the development of humanitarian medicine over the past 50 years. The Humanitarian Archive builds on the Library’s existing humanitarian collections, which encompass poverty and medicine in the Manchester area, the nineteenth-century anti-slavery campaigns, pacificist movements and disability rights.
Tony Redmond (1980s - 2010s)
The personal archive of Professor Tony Redmond, medical doctor, humanitarian and the founder of UK-Med, the UK’s Emergency Medical Team. This collection covers Redmond’s entire emergency medical career, from the 1980s-2010s, including his work assisting in aid for the 1988 Armenian earthquake, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Lockerbie Air Disaster and the Bosnian war.
Elizabeth Wilson Collection (1909 – 2000)
The papers of Elizabeth Wilson (1909-2000), founder of Hudfam, pacifist and Oxfam activist. The collection includes her correspondence, photographs and diaries, which represent her work in the UK and internationally. These papers complement the Hudfam organisational archives which are deposited in the Kirklees Archive Service.
The British mission in Saigon (1964 - 1973)
Papers relating to the British Medical Team who were sent by the British government to work in Saigon during the Vietnam war. Includes photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence.
Ron Ockwell Papers
A collection of grey literature, research notes and correspondence spanning the 1980s to 2000s collated by Ron Ockwell. Ockwell was a humanitarian and consultant who researched and produced guides for organisations including UNICEF and WHO.
Antonio Donini Papers
Papers from the personal collection of Antonio Donini, humanitarian, relating to his work in Afghanistan for the UN, covering the period 1988-2012. Includes letters, reports, grey literature, and published material.
Jonathan Falla Collection
The diaries, published works and other papers of Jonathan Falla, author and former humanitarian aid worker. The collection covers Falla’s time in India, Indonesia, Uganda, Nicaragua and El Salvador, Burma, and Sudan, spanning 1974-1991.
Norah Niland Papers
The personal papers of Norah Niland, former Director of Human Rights in UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This collection consists of reports, minutes, policy documents, grey literature and correspondence, and relates particularly to the position of women and girls in Afghanistan
World Refugee Year Collection
A collection of ephemera, memorabilia and correspondence relating to World Refugee Year 1959-1960, collated by Professor Peter Gatrell over the course of his research for his book Free World? The Campaign to Save the World's Refugees, 1956–1963.
Roger Briottet Collection
The personal papers of Roger Briottet, a legal expert and humanitarian activist who worked extensively in Ethiopia and Eritrea in the 1980s, during the war and ensuing famine and criminal trials. His papers also cover his work in Togo, Burundi, Algeria, South America and Sudan.
Further information
To find out more about the Humanitarian Archive, please contact Flora Chatt, Humanitarian Archivist.
To discuss how this archive will contribute to the scholarship of humanitarianism and humanitarian aid, please contact Professor Bertrand Taithe.
Blog posts
- Introducing the Humanitarian Archive
- Elizabeth Wilson’s tea cosy
- Ron Ockwell: A guiding hand for humanitarian aid
Useful links
- The Developing Humanitarian Medicine project
- The Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI)
Related subject pages
- Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE Centre Collections
- Christian Brethren Archive
- History of Medicine Collections
- History of Science and Technology Collections
- Maps, Travel and Discovery Collections
- Methodist Archives and Research Collections
- Military, Colonial and International History Collections
- Social and Political History collections