Special Collections: Common Ground Archive

Has the Common Ground archive been catalogued?

Yes! Between 2018 and 2020, a project took place at the University of Exeter Special Collections to catalogue and make this archive more accessible. The majority of the archive has been catalogued at file level and is descriptions of the material is available to search and browse on our online archives catalogue.

How can I search the Common Ground archive catalogue online?

If you're new to using archive catalogues, we would recommend first taking a look at our LibGuide on Searching for Archives and Rare Books on our catalogues, which provides lots of useful tips to guide you through the process. 

The Common Ground archive can be searched via our online archives catalogue. To get a good overview of the different material you can find in the archive, click on each individual section, series and file in the tree and read the descriptions. If you're looking for something specific, such as a report on the Confluence project, go to the Advanced Search page, type the reference number for the relevant sub-section e.g. EUL MS 416/PRO/13* (remember to add a * at the end) in the 'Ref No' field and type report into the 'Any text' field. 

Our top tip for searching the Common Ground archive is to also try searching for a project or item across the whole archive. Many of Common Ground's projects overlapped chronologically and thematically, so you will often find material relating to a particular project across several different sub-sections. You can search the entire archive by going to the Advanced Search page, typing the collection reference number - EUL MS 416* (don't forget to add a * at the end) - into the 'Ref no' field and a particular project - e.g. Parish Maps - into the 'Any text' field. This may result in a large number of results, but this will give you the best possible overview of all material relating to that particular project.

Where can I find images from the archive?

A small selection of images of Common Ground archive material have been made available through our Project Blog and our Twitter page.

You can also find images from lots of Common Ground's projects on the Common Ground website. 

A selection of photographic slide transparenices in the archive were digitised in 2014. Please contact Special Collections for a full list of images. Please note that these images are subject to copyright restrictions and permission must be sought from the copyright holder before any images can be supplied.

Are there any plans to digitise the archive?

We are currently working with the Digital Humanities Lab at the University of Exeter to digitise audio cassette tapes and floppy disks in order to make these accessible for research in our reading room. However, at the present time we have no further plans to digitise the archive.