Archive Lab
The physical studio in Accra where collections are digitized, recorded, assessed and taught.
Si Hene preserves cultural knowledge. The Archive Lab opens access to it, and teaches and supports preservation. The Digital Toolkit helps communities do this work themselves.
Families and community groups holding their own material; traditional councils and palaces; researchers and students; museums, university departments and institutions planning a digitization programme.
Community collection consultations are free. Scanning, photography and recording are charged per session, with a reduced rate for members and no charge where material is deposited with the archive.
A working studio, not a store room
The Archive Lab occupies studio space at the Si Hene Cultural Centre. Material arrives in trunks, envelopes and plastic bags, and leaves with its owners the same day wherever possible. What stays behind is the record: a scan, a photograph, a recording, a description, and a note of what may and may not be published.
The room is also where the Foundation trains. Workshops run in the same space, on the same equipment, so that what is taught can be practised immediately. Everything the Lab teaches is written up in the Digital Toolkit for people who cannot travel to Accra.
Explore the Digital Toolkit →
Si Hene Cultural Centre
Equipment and services
8 servicesFlatbed and overhead scanning of documents, albums, negatives and bound volumes, at archival resolution with a checksum record.
Object and regalia photography on a copy stand and in the studio, including cloth, stools, swords and metalwork.
A treated room, two microphones and an operator, with transcription and a consent record kept alongside the audio.
Assessment of damaged paper, photographs and textiles, with a written recommendation and referral where treatment is needed.
Consultation of originals and restricted files in the reading room, by appointment, with an archivist present.
Bring a box, a trunk or a room. We look at it with you and set out what to do first, at no charge.
Scheduled workshops in the Lab, and sessions run in-house for institutional teams.
Multi-year digitization and cataloguing programmes planned with university departments, museums and councils.
Ask the Archive Lab
Tell us what you are holding and what you would like to do with it. An archivist replies within five working days, and there is no obligation to deposit anything.
Work through the Community Archive Starter Guide and, if you can, list what you hold on the Collection Inventory Template. A session goes much further when there is a list.
Photographs, documents, oral histories, objects, places and people, with the records that describe them.
The guides, templates and training the Lab uses, written for people working at home or in a community.
Members get reduced session rates, priority booking and the member-only toolkit resources.