Interviews: We have recorded around 100 extensive interviews on audio or video to date, of around 3 to 8 hours in length and are always fundraising to record more. Archive material: We collect and preserve archival material relating to the field, clearing copyright and digitising selected items to make them available on our web site and liaising with appropriate museums and libraries to ensure its
long-term preservation . We have lodged material with Bishopsgate Institute (our main archive), the Victoria & Albert Museum, Rose Bruford College of Drama and Special Collections at the University of Bristol and University of Sheffield to date, with the proviso that they are accessible to the public. AV material:
• UH locates and organises the preservation copying of audio and video material from work of the period, including unique footage. This is lodged it with the Sound Archive at the British Library where, again, it is accessible as part of the public record. Material includes interviews and audio and video show recordings.
• UH is working to ensure the preservation and publication of numerous unpublished scripts, many of which have never been submitted to the national collection at the British Library and are therefore in danger of being lost to posterity, as well as other important written documents relating to the movement. Research Support: UH commissions and conducts research and creates freely available online digital resources to encourage research, study and new creative work in response to this history. These include educational resources mapping contemporary publications in the field. We have completed an online index of 8 key journals on alternative theatre in the 1960s-80 and scanned many 100s or articles and listings, but need further funding to make this accessible online. Personal Histories: In 2013 UH developed a new project to encourage those who were involved in the movement to begin to record the individual histories of the 700+ companies set up within this time frame. It also plans to document the key venues and organisations that supported the work. See www.unfinishedhistories.com to discover the enormous quantities of material already gathered to record this history. UH has so far received funding from Heritage Lottery, Unity Theatre Trust, Awards for All, Lipman-Miliband Foundation, Palatine (in conjunction with University of Sheffield), Rose Bruford College and others as well as individual donations.
