Sounds for the Future

We are delighted to announce that the East Midlands Oral History Archive (EMOHA) and the University's Special Collections are coming to the end of their project, 'Sounds for the Future'. The project has been funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and has run from May 2022 to October 2023, with an extension to April 2024. The project has secured the future of the collections of the EMOHA.

In the past, many recordings were archived to CD-R, which are now at risk of deterioration, as are several collections of tapes that have never been digitised. There was also a large backlog of cataloguing, which means that many recordings were not available to be listened to.

Sounds for the Future has preserved all of EMOHA's collections in a new digital preservation system and brought the cataloguing up to date. The project has also created lots of opportunities for volunteers to learn about oral history, audio preservation, and how to use oral histories to explore local history and heritage. A full list of web exhibitions created by the project can be found on our round up of 2023 blog.

Our collections mostly cover the history of Leicestershire and Rutland although we also have collections from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Nottinghamshire too. We were particularly pleased to be able to preserve at-risk collections from Northampton Central Library. Search for Northamptonshire on our catalogue to see these.

From January 2024 to April 2024 we will be giving free talks about EMOHA, oral history and our audio preservation work. If your group or organisation would be interested in booking us, please get in touch. More details on where and when on our blog.

If you would like to find out more about the project contact Colin Hyde on emoha@le.ac.uk or 0116 2525065.