Save the Worcester Hive Archive.

I am Head of the Department of History at the University of Birmingham. The proposed funding cuts to the Worcester Hive Archive represent a serious challenge to the ability of historians, students, and members of the public to access this vital resource. The Hive Archive is an integral part of our teaching and research at Birmingham. To cut its funding is both short-sighted and damaging.

Libraries matter.

I used the archive for my MA dissertation. The service was invaluable.

I am a doctoral student in the History Department at the University of Worcester, undertaking research into the local area, and am greatly dismayed at the prospect of such a cut in funding. The archive is an invaluable resource for current and future students and researchers in the area, and contains many unique items which cannot be accessed at any other location. Such a cut would be very damaging to scholarship relating to the history of Worcestershire and surrounding counties, but more than this, it would prevent those not in academia from accessing a multitude of resources which develop and encourage an interest in local and family history. I strongly urge the council to reconsider its decision, in consultation with those who work in and access the archive on a regular basis.

7 years ago Featured

I am a historian and would like to add that papers which might seem worthless now will be gold in 20, 30, 500 years. And if we don't preserve opportunities to study our past, we'll be subject to whatever uninformed stories other people want to tell about us.

I was doing sabbatical research in the UK last year, living in Herefordshire, and found access to the archives at the Hive really helpful to my research. Having this kind of resource available to the community is invaluable; it makes knowledge accessible to everyone and makes the cultural heritage of the area broadly accessible. It's short-sighted to cut off that kind of access.

The Hive is an invaluable and innovative resource which must be preserved. Lose the Hive and you will lose the heart of your community

Opening hours for the record office have already been reduced since the move from County Hall: to do so further would restrict research facilities for so many, not just students.

This is a vital and essential resource for the city and county of Worcester

This is an appalling prospect - not only for the people of Worcestershire but for all those historians, genealogists and researchers in all aspects of social and political history who rely on visiting local archives to pursue their studies.

I have been researching the history of Halesowen for over 40 years, and have used the records of the Hive and its predecessor buildings for that time. I am currently a postgraduate researcher at the University of Birmingham, continuing my interest in a more formal way. The records at the Hive have been essential to my work, and the staff have been invaluable in assisting me with their knowledge and skills. A cut in funding would destroy this capability which is used by so many people a wide range of interest.

I realise that money is tight due to government cuts but please resist such drastic cuts to the archives which house unique records that are not only valuable to historians but also help to train the minds of young people, many of whom go on to do valuable jobs in the wider economy.

I am a senior lecturer in early modern history at the University of Birmingham, and also Director of the University's Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies (CREMS). The County Archive Network is of the utmost importance to understanding almost every aspect of our local, regional and national history, and an invaluable resource for students, academics, and the public at large, whose interest in local and family history has never been stronger. This kind of financial evisceration of a unique and irreplaceable resource would irreparably harm the cultural and intellectual life of the region.

I am Director of the Centre for West Midlands History at the University of Birmingham and very many of my students including undergraduates and postgraduate MA West Midlands History and PhD students have used and are using the Hive. The archive resources there are unique and can't be consulted elsewhere. It is an essential location for research into the Black Country as well as Worcestershire. Scholars who come from outside, including overseas bring money into Worcester to spend on accommodation and food. Please reconsider a move which is not only damaging to scholarship and education, but also to a resource which helps to cement and enhance what we are as people with a past as well as a present and future.

This valuable resource and the The Hive must be supported and protected to continue this exceptional and unique service to the community and the University.

I have used the archives in the past in my work on the history of nursing and intend to use them in the near future. I am deeply worried about this move.

This is a short-sighted decision that will genuinely affect how people understand their civic and local identity.

I use the Hive Archive for my PhD. It is an invaluable community resource.

As a practicing historian and supervisor of university student research, this decision is a threat to my work and that of many students. More importantly still, county archives are a key resource for community and family history. They bring the community together around our shared heritage and in commemoration of key events such as recent 100 year commemorations of the First World War.

As a professional historian and tutor at another University in the West Midlands, I am horrified at this decision. My recent work on the 1918 election and the press culture of the region would have been immeasurably poorer without the excellent materials held at the Hive archive. My own research students rely heavily on the Hive archive for their projects and would find their studies seriously jeopardised if the Hive archive was closed.