Dr Janice Kinory

I represent the HEIR Project which is part of the Institute of Archaeology Archive. HEIR has been digitsing images taken from largely forgotten, technologically obsolete resources warehoused in various parts of the university since 2013. Its image collection has expanded to just under 35,000 pictures from multiple university departments, libraries and colleges. Recently, noted scholars from within and outside of the university have contributed additional pictures to HEIR. Just under 35,000 digital images are now publicly available at http://heir.arch.ox.ac.uk.

The University of Oxford was integral to the training of colonial officials for the British Empire. Many images in the HEIR Project digital image archive show scenes from former British Empire countries taken for the purpose of educating future empire officials, with a particularly strong image collection related to the workings of the Imperial Forestry Institute (IFI). The IFI was formerly part of the university. Other images were taken by colonial settlers and provide their own perspective on the countries in which they were resident. Modern viewers can find themselves feeling uneasy when looking at some of these images due to changing perspectives on the impact of empire since they were created.

The HEIR Project conducts research on the images in the collection and will assist others wishing to do so. This work often reveals startling material that had been forgotten due to technological change.