Paper Short Abstract:

Developed at the request of community members, this project not only creates a new archive- but asks our neighbours what an archive can do for them. We ask how an archive could be better shaped to serve our community and follow the communities lead in reshaping it, offering a model for public folklore in a British context.

Paper Abstract:

In a partnership between We Live Here, the Working Class Movement Library, Greater Manchester Tenants Union and the residents of Hulme, Manchester, this project aims to capture, preserve, and provide community access to heritage around the Hulme Tenants Alliance. This heritage is at risk due to the age of those currently holding it and the condition of social housing in Hulme, where much of the material heritage is stored.

The Hulme Tenants Alliance (HTA) were active from the 1970s to early 2000s, organised around the precarity of renting in Hulme. Despite their enduring impact on the physical geography of Hulme, there is little collected record of their activity and scant awareness of their work among present residents of Hulme.

This work offers a model for public folklore in a British context. Developed at the request of community members, this project not only creates a new archive- but asks our neighbours what an archive can do for them. Using a range of artistic and ethnographic interventions we identify how an archive could be better shaped to serve our community and follow the communities lead in reshaping it.

The community identity and cultural heritage of Hulme relies upon its residents’ ability to tell stories about themselves. More broadly this project serves the need to create historical context, continuity and access to the cultural heritage of renters in Hulme.