Archive and Narrative in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum

This research examines the archival dimension of the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence. It combines two strands of interest: the practical challenges and opportunities of collecting the 'indyref' (evaluating and applying relevant archival principles and practices, notably those of digital collecting), and a series of research questions generated by collecting practice. These questions centre on the political significance of indyref 'self-archiving', whereby recording and curating signs of campaign activity was, itself, a core campaigning and network-building strategy. Thus artefacts of self-archiving embody complex rhetorical and performative aims, and present a range of challenges and possibilities to archivists and researchers. (For a fuller explanation, see the attached Case for Support.)