Using students’ union archives: Richard Burton Archives, Swansea University and Swansea University Students’ Union (SUSU)
The Richard Burton Archives hold the institutional archives for Swansea University as well as several other collections of local, national and international significance including the South Wales Coalfield Collection. The Archives also hold a number of collections from Swansea University Students’ Union (SUSU), which provide an important counter balance to the ‘official’ narrative of Swansea University. The records of SUSU cover almost a century of student life in Swansea, and primarily consist of records in paper and physical formats – the most notable collection being the SUSU newspapers dating from 1921.
The challenges that the Richard Burton Archives face will be familiar to many working in archives services within higher education institutions. They face general challenges in terms of staff capacity, limited resources and managing the day-to-day running of a busy reader service. Similarly, the relationship with the students’ union, which is generally positive, has waxed and waned over years and interest from SUSU in its own history and records has not been constant. A major challenge the staff at the Richard Burton Archives report is the need to build new relationships with sabbatical officers and the management teams of student societies annually to advocate for archiving records. There are also challenges in a lack of resources to ensure that born digital records, such as SUSU social media content and Student Society records are accessioned and preserved appropriately.
Nevertheless, despite facing many challenges, the records of the SUSU are a rich resource and are popular with many different types of audiences. The Richard Burton Archives works with several different academic departments across the University to deliver teaching sessions using the collections. The records have formed the primary sources for student work including research components for taught undergraduate and postgraduate programmes as well as PhD research. In 2020, the SUSU archives formed a key part of the University’s centenary celebrations which included a written history of the institution, an exhibition and a series of podcasts. A new collection of oral history interviews with staff, students and alumni was built up over the centenary period and is now available for research.
Other uses of SUSU records include their use in university publicity, social media campaigns, commercial licenses and they have even appeared in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine. The use of the SUSU archives at the Richard Burton Archives highlights just some of the rich collaborative research and commercial opportunities that students’ union archives can enable.
For more information on the opportunities and inspiration on how you can use student union archives here are some examples of public history projects engaging in student life: