Arcadia has committed $18.0 million to protect and disseminate historical records of pre-industrial societies.

As globalisation accelerates, these records (in Asia, Latin America, Africa and even parts of Europe) are fast disappearing through neglect, physical deterioration or destruction. It is hoped that the Endangered Archives Programme will help safeguard some of this documentary heritage.

We modelled the programme on the Endangered Languages Programme. It is administered by the British Library, and decisions about research grants are taken by a panel of international experts. The panel considers grant applications from researchers to identify and copy important, preservable material and to re-locate it in local archives for public use. Copies are held by the British Library and made available for researchers throughout the world.

The programme is primarily concerned with written material (manuscript or print) but may also include graphic material (photographs, prints, posters), audio or video records, digital records and objects and artefacts.

The programme aims to safeguard archival material relating to societies before 'modernisation' or 'industrialisation'. The relevant time period will therefore vary according to each society. The programme is open as to theme and region but normally preserves older records from non-western societies.

To date, the panel has awarded 41 research grants. These include grants to preserve Iranian photographs from c. 1900; audiovisual material on Andean culture in Peru; Telegu paintings in India; rare Buddhist artefacts and manuscripts that survived Soviet rule in Mongolia; Daoist and Confucian texts and musical scores in China; state papers in Liberia as well as Tuvalu and Yap (in the Pacific); a monastery library in Bhutan; and archives in Nigeria, Chile, Romania, Cameroon, Siberia, Egypt, East Timor and Brazil.

We follow strict ethical guidelines; before a grant is made, local authorities and owners of archival material have to agree on all copying, storing or re-locating of materials. Wherever possible, materials are left in situ. No materials are moved outside their countries of origin. Indigenous cultural attitudes must be fully respected.