Annual Huntley Conference 2026: I Am an Archive. We Are an Archive.
The 2026 Annual Huntley Conference marks twenty years since this gathering began — first shaped by The Groundings with Bogle-L’Ouverture : A Story of Black Publishing. Two decades on, the question remains direct: what does it mean to treat archives not as static records, but as living sites of struggle, creativity and collective memory?
This year’s theme — I Am an Archive. We Are an Archive. — puts that idea into practice. It recognises that archives live in institutions, but also in people: in lived experience, migration, organising, artistry, resistance and care. At its centre is an explicit tribute to Eric Huntley — organiser, publisher, steward and quiet strategist — whose belief in community-led knowledge and intergenerational exchange continues to guide the spirit of this conference.
A programme built around tribute, dialogue and participation
Across the day at The London Archives, sessions unfold in parallel across multiple spaces, encouraging movement, exchange and discovery.
The Main Conference Space (Archive Study Area / Reading Room) anchors keynote conversations, tributes and collective moments. The day opens with welcome and reflections from Emma Markiewicz and Beverley Mason, marking twenty years of the Huntley Conference as an evolving, community-built meeting ground.
From there, the conference moves into a dedicated tribute: “Ascension – The Gentle Pan-African Warrior: Celebrating Eric Huntley’s Life”, hosted by Juliet Alexander. Drawing on excerpts from The Huntley Archives alongside invited reflections, the session honours Eric’s role in shaping this gathering — and his long-standing commitment to volunteer leadership and emerging voices.
The programme also makes space for collective exchange through Participatory Table Conversations, inviting attendees to share memories, reflections and tributes in dialogue with one another.
Key themes and speaker highlights
Artistic practice as living archive
In the afternoon, Sharon Walters joins Beverley Mason for an artist’s talk exploring her Seeing Ourselves work and her sustained engagement with archives, collections and legacy. The conversation includes her commission for National Portrait Gallery, featuring Jessica Huntley and Eric Huntley, and considers portraiture as a research method — where artistic intervention becomes a form of archival practice.
Archiving resistance and the politics of knowledge
The keynote address, “Archiving Resistance: Black Studies, Identity, and Power in a Changing America”, is delivered by Abdul Alkalimat. The session examines intensified attacks on African American history and Black Studies within a broader reactionary political climate, and argues for memory and knowledge preservation as an act of self-determination and resistance.
Film, movement and the body as archive
In the Glass Cube Education Room, the programme includes a live online screening of “Our Bodies, Nigeria’s Ghosts (19’)” with Rose Nneoma Abba, followed by discussion and Q&A. The film traces how rhythms of living — movement, discipline, survival and care — are inherited, imposed and consciously chosen across generations, connecting personal experience to wider histories of colonialism and power.
Workshops: community practice, digital futures, and archival poetics
Smaller reflective sessions take place in the Huntley Room, with limited capacity and facilitated groups designed for participatory discussion. Highlights include:
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“It Starts with Us: The Importance of Black-Led Archives” with Symona Turkson — a youth-led session exploring authorship, authority and stewardship in community-based archival practice.
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“Black Archives in the Digital Age” with Drew Iheoma — an interactive workshop engaging with digitisation, photographic materials and the politics of digital preservation.
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“I Am an Archive. We Are an Archive: A Journey to Lift Us Up and Beyond” with Pauline Rutter — reflecting on Lifting Us Up and the wider Black Living Archive initiative, and what it takes to sustain underfunded and unstable historical records through restorative, community-rooted practice.
Memory Corner: add your voice to the archive
Throughout the day, attendees are invited to contribute reflections — written or recorded — in the Memory Corner, supporting The Black Witness Archives oral history project. The aim is straightforward: to capture tributes and highlights in real time, and to ensure that voices from the room become part of an archive that continues to grow.
Practical notes for the day
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Sessions take place across the Reading Room (main conference space), the Glass Cube Education Room, and the Huntley Room (smaller workshops with limited seating).
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Lunch break runs from 1.00–2.00pm, served from the Glass Cube Education Room. Lunch can be eaten in the Reading Room or the Huntley Room; other archive and library areas remain food and drink free zones to protect the collections.
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In the afternoon, the Huntley Room also becomes a dedicated space for ongoing reflection and participatory activity (including postcard prompts), extending the day’s conversations beyond the formal sessions.
Tickets are available on Eventbrite (link opens in a new page)
Downloads
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Download the conference programme (PDF): [insert link to PDF]
Archive documents included in the 2026 Huntley Conference programme brochure
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Download the list of archive materials (PDF): [insert link to archive documents list]
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