Croome's new Archive Room

Two shortlisted designs were on display during the summer (2016) at Croome, with visitors being encouraged to share their thoughts to help choose the final winner.

Both proposals that we received were strong, which made it incredibly difficult to choose a winner. Winning the competition by a 2% margin was 'I Am Archive' created by Elena Thatcher, Ruth Hall and Max Jones a mix of theatre designers and architects.

This is the first time these individuals will have worked together on a project of this scale which embodies what we are aiming to do here at Croome. Like the 6th Earl of Coventry, during the 18th century, Croome is providing a platform for this fledgling practice to launch from.

Archives are often considered the domain of the historian, researcher, with overtones of reading rooms, online catalogues and stores tucked well away from public view. Not everyone wants to be a researcher, but there is a growing appreciation of how important archival material is.

The new archive room project is not about recreating the Croome archive or even providing access to all of it, as the archive is carefully looked after at The Hive in Worcester.

Instead, Croome seeks to create an imaginative and stimulating experience for visitors to explore what archives are all about, why Croome’s archive is so important and to help visitors reflect on their own archive in life.

We have been busy going through Croome's archive at the Hive gathering resources. This is quite a complicated process so we are taking a modular process and will be experimenting with different ways to engage with our visitors. 

Visitors have also been encouraged to get involved suggesting stories that they would like to be told when ‘I Am Archive’ is installed.