A history of survival: preserving and working with an archive of single parent activism

ABSTRACT In this article, we relate the story of a grassroots feminist archive. Single Parent Action Network, a Bristol-based national organisation, curated its own archive with great care throughout its history. When the organisation was forced to close in 2016, this irreplaceable repository of records, documents and audio-visual material was unceremoniously dumped in a skip. Thanks to prompt action by two long-time SPAN workers, it was rescued and became the foundation of a public history project run by a university-community partnership. This project was structured around a History Group of community researchers, which met weekly. The project also included the cataloguing and preservation of the archive, in preparation for its accession to the Feminist Archive South. The project team carried out 27 interviews with former SPAN workers, members and volunteers to add to the archive, and also served to create connections between the project team and those who had been involved with the organisation. Finally, the History Group devised a number of creative outputs including a piece of public art, a film, and a series of commemorative mugs. The article reflects on some of the tensions and difficulties that emerged during this work.

This article tells the complex history and remarkable survival of a feminist archive, and how it went on to inspire and inform a public history project.When the Bristol-based organisation Single Parent Action Network was forced to close its doors in 2016, the records were very nearly destroyed.Rescued from a skip by former SPAN staff members, the material was subsequently stored in homes and offices around Bristol.Funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council allowed a team drawn from the University of Bristol, inner-city community centre the Wellspring Settlement and local residents to come together to catalogue the archive, transfer it to Feminist Archive South, and use it as the basis for an exploration of SPAN's history.From 1990-2016, SPAN provided local support to single parents in Bristol, managed a national network and operated across Europe.It was an activist group that also delivered educational activities, research, and policy work.While SPAN did not always badge itself as a feminist organisation, it was woman-led and informed by a strong ethos of feminism as well as an antiracist approach embedded in its constitution and governance.Its activities were driven by a core belief in the importance of grassroots experience, which meant that an understanding of intersecting racial, class and gender inequalities underpinned its work. 1 Our roles on the project spanned from researcher to evaluator, community support worker, archivist, and activist.In this article, we want to share our experiences of working on a project that originated in an archive, was fundamentally informed by it, and had as one of its central aims the preservation of that archive for future researchers.The article is bookended by and rooted in two personal stories of encounter with the archive: Sue Cohen, former CEO of SPAN begins by describing how both the creation and the rescue of the archive was informed by the feminist principle of the 'personal is political'.Vivian Latinwo-Olajide, the project's Archival Fellow, ends the article with an account of how the archive resonated both with her own family history and her emerging career as an archivist.Between these two accounts, we explore how the archive shaped the project and its outputs.The article is both multi-vocal and collective: it was important to us to preserve different perspectives on the project, but we also came together repeatedly to review and revise the whole piece.This process was not always easy: in reflecting on the project, we revisited some of the project's unresolved tensions and questions.Like SPAN itself, and countless other grassroots and feminist organisations, we found that the tensions of negotiating difference went hand in hand with the process and pleasure of making something together.

Sue Cohen, former Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of SPAN, and community consultant on the project
As Coordinator I knew that in Bristol One Parent Project [BOPP, SPAN's predecessor organisation] and SPAN we were making history-single parents working together in this multi-ethnic organisation that grew organically from single mothers living in poverty meeting in a bedroom in Bristol to share and challenge their housing and homelessness problems-into a network supporting thousands of one parent families across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.That, from 1990-2016, led members to take collective action against poverty, racism and gender discrimination at local, national and EU levels.And that the material that grassroots women were co-producing-the newsletters, the Single Parent Roadshow that started off in Westminster and travelled around the country, the policy papers and participatory research, the graphics, the photos, films, the posters, poems, printed T shirts-told a collective story of the journey through poverty, single motherhood discrimination, racism and political strife.
Was there an organisational approach to preserving material despite moving to multiple premises in the city?Yes-we took our history with us-not only were we proud of all that we had attained, with the constant relocations it was more important than ever to preserve the intellectual property that defined the organisation.
On a personal level, I'd done a Combined History and English Degree.It's only in recent years that I've understood the level to which that history degree at Leeds University stood me in such good stead for my future work with grassroots organisationsfunding applications, co-produced research, perspectives on gender, class, and ethnicity.I'd always been interested in social history-how it interrelated with economics and the politics of the day, the unheard voices of people in poverty, the collective action that went unnoticed until it erupted at key political moments-when we seized the moment for example in 1997 to protest in Westminster, challenging the new Labour Government that was to perpetuate the cuts to lone parent benefits.
And on a 'personal is political' level how we carry our history within us-those of us with a family history as migrants, how it informs who we are and why we do what we do.Central to this was the preservation of black women's history in the organisation.When Yvonne Dingwall one of the founding volunteers of SPAN looked me in the eye and said: 'We want our history as black women to be told not lost-we want to be recognised for what we did for SPAN,' I committed.Her sister Pearl Miles said, 'We are doing this for our children and grandchildren.' Yvonne, who was Jamaican, was fired up by her distant family history with the Maroons-how they escaped slavery to set up their own communities in the mountains.Yvonne's fierce survival spirit kept me going through SPAN's hardest days.
I'd helped establish SPAN in 1990, leaving the organisation in 2013 on what I had hoped was a sure footing-its own building, funding streams and reserves in the bank.But it was not to be.The organisation did not survive.When I look back over more than 20 years working for both BOPP and SPAN, the steep organisational learning curves were developing power sharing decision-making structures, preceded at each stage (three in all from my perspective) by periods of turmoil.With the help of advice from a black activist directing us to the model of Southall Black Sisters, SPAN settled into a long and stable period of decision-making.But that fell away when it came to succession planning.Indeed, there was no succession planning at all before I left as CEO, although I had given notice months ahead that I would be leaving.A steep learning curve for me is how critical that process becomes to both holding onto and developing the values and vision of an organisation when managing change.
In 2016, sometime after I had left, I received an anguished phone call from [long term SPAN employee] Annie Oliver to say could I get over to the building as a decision had been made to empty the property and to throw all of SPAN's precious inheritance into the skip parked outside her office.I dropped everything I was doing and drove over.I knew what to preserve-SPAN's history was etched into our lives.I prioritised the voices of single parents in BOPP and SPAN, the unique self-help focus of groups in our network and material that I knew would not be replicated elsewhere.Annie and I loaded up the boxes in my VW camper.I had no choice-it was both inevitable and painful, not least because I knew that the many boxes would rest with me and then where would they go?I stored them in the small bedroom reserved for grandchildren and there they stayed for over a year-on rare occasions I would survey them with a heavy heart.
Then as my grandchildren grew bigger, I had a brain wave.I would contact Josie McLellan who had led history groups at SPAN, knew SPAN's trials and tribulations in its latter days and had offered to help in whatever way she could.And so it was that I ended up loading up my camper van once again, this time to take to the University, depositing the boxes of papers and artefacts in Josie's office where they rested safely, to live another day.

Josie McLellan and Ellie Pridgeon
The History Department at the University of Bristol had had the opportunity to work with SPAN on a number of projects: on the most ambitious of these, we had worked with a group from SPAN over eight weeks to create an exhibition on the history of women in East Bristol. 2 We had been lucky enough to collaborate with DM Withers on the exhibition project, and their input and work on feminist history and archives was a crucial influence into the design and framing of this project. 3At the time, we had discussed how great it would be to do something more substantial on the history of SPAN, so when Sue got in touch about the archive it felt like the time was right to apply for some more substantial funding.This was an opportunity to preserve an extremely rich and unusual archive, which would be of immeasurable value to future historians of women's history, black history and the voluntary sector.The Feminist Archive South (FAS), based in the University of Bristol's Special Collections, were enthusiastic about taking the archive on.The Family Support Team from SPAN had found a new home at Wellspring Settlement, who generously agreed to be a partner in our funding application, and allowed us to bring Annie Oliver on board in her role as Community Inclusion Manager.With crucial input from Sue as Community Consultant, the application to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) was prepared and, after an anxious wait, we heard that funding had been awarded in summer 2018.
Given SPAN's grassroots ethos, it felt essential to ensure that this was not a topdown, classically 'academic' research project.SPAN had been a pioneer of participatory research and evaluation, and many of us in the project had been involved in co-produced research projects, funded by the Connected Communities programme.We decided to structure the project around a 'History Group' of community researchers, who met at Wellspring Settlement weekly for a year, in order to engage with the archive and research the history of SPAN.When recruiting the researchers, we sought to put together a group that reflected the diverse demographics of SPAN: all were mothers of pre-school or primary age children and fitted one or more of the following criteria: single parent, English as an additional language, first-generation migrant, inner city resident.In order to support the needs of this particular group, childcare, breakfast and lunch were provided.Facilitated by two academics (Jenny Barke and Josie McLellan) and a Community Support Worker (Jude Hutchen), the group was responsible for formulating the research questions, carrying out research and designing public-facing research outputs. 4Our Connected Communities experiences, and the AHRC's support of co-produced work, enabled us to design a project that had a lot of built-in flexibility about its eventual outcomes and allowed the History Group to be extensively engaged in the design of the research and outputs.Working alongside the History Group were an evaluation team (Lorna Henry and Tim Cole) who also took on an invaluable critical friend role. 5n integral part of the project was the cataloguing, repackaging and re-boxing of the archive, in preparation for its accession to the FAS.FAS had itself begun as a private collection in an attic in 1978, and has since grown into a unique collection on the history of feminism from the 1960s to the 2000s.This highly significant archive is now part of the Special Collections at the University of Bristol, and Archivist and Special Collections Manager Hannah Lowery proved to be a steadfast supporter of our project.While we had budgeted for the archiving, the success of the project was dependent on the capacity and goodwill of both the FAS Trustees and Hannah as the Special Collections liaison.Our archival team was led by Ellie Pridgeon, an experienced consultant archivist who brought a deep understanding of the nature of community archives to the project.Vivian Latinwo-Olajide joined Ellie as an Archival Fellow.Ellie and Vivian's domain was a chilly portacabin, where order urgently needed to be brought to the productive chaos of an archive which encompassed everything from early minute books, newsletters and AGM reports, a large press-cuttings collection, correspondence, audio-visual recordings in a range of historical formats, books, exhibition materials, T-shirts and tote bags.SPAN had also collected thousands of photographs and negatives, which provided a rich and unique visual record of single parent life in the 1990s and 2000s, but also raised some pressing questions about consent and confidentiality.
The collection documents SPAN's work providing expertise and support for childcare and self-improvement, pushing for improved housing, training, educational opportunities, employment security, working conditions, and wages, and petitioning policymakers, parliamentarians, and trade unions.The archive also records how SPAN developed a dynamic network that linked single parents and groups, both within the UK and internationally.The organisation supported the establishment of the European Network of One Parent Families-a network aimed at linking oppressed groups, single mothers, fathers, and parents living in difficult conditions such as poverty and isolation, and enriching their lives.The SPAN archive is unusual because it contains material relating to the organisation's work overseas, including publications in different languages that reflect SPAN's considerable international reputation.
Evaluation: reflections on the archive Lorna Henry, Independent evaluator My orientation to the SPAN History Project was complicated.I had worked with SPAN as an evaluator in the 1990s when the organisation had recently established its Study Centre and was developing its creche service.In addition, staff and single parent volunteers were engaged in international conversations, exchanges and activism to challenge welfare policies across Europe.Since then, my career had taken two pathways, one in academic social research and the other in the not-for-profit sector.As trainer, consultant and project worker, I gained experience of supporting community organisations to develop their 'user involvement' and governance.Working with many small organisations, I had gathered an understanding of the context for the sector and a lifecycle of voluntary organisations involving initiation, growth and stability as well as conflict, restructure and sometimes ending.Perhaps more significant, I had grown up in a Black single parent family experiencing racism and stigma; the development and protection of the SPAN archive was something that I was keen to support.
My role as evaluator and critical friend to the project involved maintaining a distance from the day-to-day activity, whilst being close enough to the project to gain people's trust and an understanding of the relationships and practices which supported (or hindered) the collaboration.It was not an easily balanced position, but as evaluators (Tim Cole was evaluation lead), with the help of Researchers and facilitators, we were able to provide feedback to the facilitation team that was formative for the project and, in the final evaluation report we provided insight into project activity and relationships and suggestions for similar collaborations in the future.

Tim Cole, Evaluation lead
We interviewed ten researchers, seven people paid to work on the project (including ourselves) and two SPANers 6 about their involvement in the History Project.Here we outline contributions about the significance of the SPAN archive.
The project was informed by the understanding that the history of organisations like SPAN was 'exactly the sort of history that gets lost repeatedly over generations, and it's hard to find it and delve into it'. 7The preservation of the archive was seen to be a guarantor that the history of SPAN would not be 'lost'.Indeed, one project partner saw the preservation of the archive as the most significant result of the project.This safeguarded the raw materials for future production of SPAN's history as the records moved from a spare bedroom, through an academic's office, to the institutional home of the Feminist Archive South.But the project was seen as doing more than simply safeguarding and adding to an archive.It also widened the group of those 'invested in that archive'. 8This coming together of a group interested in the history of SPAN, with the archival means to write that history, was seen as critical.This personal investment was crucial in guaranteeing that the archive would not remain mute, but be given a voice.The sense of an archive alone not being enough was one shared by a former member of SPAN who feared that the story of SPAN would end up being locked 'away in a filing cabinet somewhere' rather than having impact in the wider world. 9n the interviews undertaken with community researchers as they began the project, a number explained that their engagement with this particular history project was driven by an awareness of the fragility of the history of SPAN-bearing material form in the 'about-to-be-skipped' archives when the organisation ended.One articulated a fear that campaign groups like SPAN might be 'written out of history' and another explained her desire to make visible 'what we've lost'. 10For these researchers, the archive had a political relevance and potential to inspire future action to empower single parents or other disadvantaged groups.
In the evaluation interviews, researchers considered highly pertinent questions about power and representation in the SPAN archive.One researcher observed that the people accessing services at SPAN tended to leave a lighter archival trace than those providing services.Similarly, another asserted that the source base for the project seemed to privilege 'the top people in the organisation' with less voice given to 'people on the ground and the parents … the service users.' 11 Despite SPAN's reputation as a grassroots organisation (most of the workers in SPAN had lived experience of single parenthood, and many had first come into the organisation as volunteers) this researcher's picture of a contrast between the 'top people' in the organisation with 'service users' shows an alternative impression of SPAN where the it is regarded as a more typical hierarchical organisation within the voluntary sector.

Reflection (all)
Engaging with the researchers' observations as we wrote this article brought up two key tensions that lay at the heart of the project and of our collaboration.The first was the balance between history and co-production in the research process.A key factor here was the limited time available to researchers, and constraints on the availability of the creche.Involving researchers in the co-production of the project (e.g.devising research questions, interview questionnaires, carrying out interviews, planning and producing project outputs) and ensuring that the research process was inclusive and consensual was extremely time-consuming, and came at the cost of spending time investigating the archive and the history of SPAN.As a result, researchers' work on the archive was restricted and tended to focus on 'key' sources such as minutes and newsletters.If we had made different decisions about the balance of co-production and historical research (something that was the subject of debate throughout the project), we could have given more time to working creatively with the archive to engage productively with researchers' critical perspectives.We might have, for example, worked more extensively with the vast quantities of photographic material that captured much about the experience of one parent families.We could also have used the archive to explore the ways in which feminist organisations like SPAN tried to break down distinctions between service users and providers.
The second key tension that reemerged as we wrote this piece was between celebratory and critical approaches to SPAN's history, and between the 'turmoil' and the 'joy' that Vivian evokes at the end of this article.A major motivation for carrying out this research was a wish to preserve and amplify the work of SPAN as an important example of grassroots women's, working-class and black activism, and a hope that this might act as a source of inspiration for the present and future.Of course the organisation also had periods of conflict and struggle as it grew and changed and as it weathered funding crises and the destabilising loss of premises.These challenges and conflicts have left their traces in the archive, but as a team we lacked confidence in how to integrate some of these perspectives into our history in a way that did not seem to undermine SPAN's achievements.Now the project is over, it seems obvious that the ways in which SPAN overcame and learnt from its crises are an essential part of its legacies.So why did we find this territory so hard to navigate?One factor was the limitations on time already mentioned: more time with the archive would have resulted in a more nuanced approach.Another was our different relationships to the history of SPAN.Some of us had been key protagonists in SPAN's history and were highly present in the archive.Others were coming to this material for the first time.We also had to navigate the complexities of university-community collaboration: in our efforts to build trust and relationships, perhaps we remained too tentative.A third and crucial factor was the circumstances around the closure of SPAN.SPAN had shut recently (2016), in the context of increasing time-poverty on the part of single parents, challenges around premises, a worsening financial climate for the voluntary sector and a troubled and contested succession process. 12The consequences for the organisation and its activists were calamitous, impacting careers, friendships and legacies.These experiences were still extremely raw, and there was a shared understanding that it was too soon to explore what had been a highly painful period.In hindsight, the need to be sensitive about the ending of the organisation may also have held us back from probing other moments of conflict.As Sue Cohen puts it: perhaps some of the more difficult times were too painful to revisit and unravel in great detail especially when we came through and learnt from these timesperhaps we tended to focus on the positives of those learning curves.But we didn't shy away from challenges which is why I think we were able to learn and grow.There wasn't a day when working for SPAN that I didn't want to go to work.

Jenny Barke, Senior Research Associate
Right from the start of the project we had planned to carry out oral history interviews to complement the written archive. 13We were very fortunate to be able to access a wide network of former SPAN members and workers, and we also knew that this group were important stakeholders who were invested in the project and its outcomes.On a Saturday in October 2019, we invited people who had worked for and/or used SPAN's services to a community centre, to have lunch and learn about our research.This event was particularly valuable in demystifying the research project and in bringing interviewers and interviewees together: many of those who attended took part in interviews and supported us in publicising the research.
For the history group, oral history interviews were a way for the group to understand, capture and share the history of SPAN, and to be actively involved in the creation and expansion of the archive.Initially the group spent some time learning about ethics and oral history as a method.They then worked together to develop an interview schedule that encompassed their varied interests drawing on what they had learned so far about SPAN.In total, 27 interviews were conducted; the three facilitators and almost all members of the history group took part in at least one interview each either independently, or with other group members.Interviews took place in person at interviewees' homes, cafes, and community centres or by phone or video call and lasted between 30 min and 2 h.Several interviews took place over multiple sessions.26 of the 27 interviewees were women and their involvement with SPAN varied in terms of time period and type of involvement.Our contacts came via the SPAN members who had been involved in initiating the project.We worked to make sure that the experiences of black and minority ethnic members were represented (although white interviewees make up the majority).We interviewed people who had been involved in setting up SPAN, as well as those who worked for and alongside SPAN in policy, research, teaching, administration, and finance.We spoke to SPAN trustees and people who engaged with services or groups as well as those who managed the creche and café.A small number of the members we approached did not wish to be interviewed or did not respond.It is certainly worth reflecting on the fact that those who agreed to be interviewed and to have their interviews added to the archive were likely to be those who had a more positive relationship to the organisation.Although many of the interviews contain critical reflections of working for and with SPAN, interviewees tended on the whole to have good memories of the organisation.
In addition to the individual interviews the history group made a film about the project.As part of this they organised a focus group with five women who had been involved with SPAN across the organisation's history.The group developed a series of questions, and a group member chaired the session which was recorded to include in the archive and edited into a short film.The full-length interview is almost two hours long and can be categorised as a group oral history of SPAN.The interviewees discuss the formation and purpose of SPAN, they reflect on the work of the organisation and the changes it went through.The group asked questions of one another, prompting, and reminding each other of the work they did and their achievements.It seemed that this collective act of retelling stories and reflections of SPAN helped to develop a shared understanding of the importance of SPAN and its vital role for single parents.It is also striking that the group interview-and its skilful moderation by a History Group researcher-created an atmosphere where interviewees felt able to touch on and begin to unravel the painful subject of SPAN's ending.
The history group felt a strong sense of responsibility about collecting and archiving oral histories.It was important that interviews recognised and captured the work that SPAN did and were a genuine resource for future researchers.We reflected that the oral history interviews and group interview enriched our understanding of SPAN.Undertaking interviews also provided the history group with new knowledge and made SPAN's work more real: 'Because you can never really feel emotion when you just read, can you?'. 14 For some researchers, there was a strong preference for the more interactive nature of the oral history interviews.One asserted, ' … speaking to real people gave you more of an insight of what it was like at SPAN' and another prized the opportunity for conversation when she said, 'the best part was interacting with them … when it comes from their mouth, you know, … it's quite a different experience.' 15 These personal encounters brought SPAN's history alive, and the 'shared authority' of the oral history interview was welcomed by the community researchers as an antidote to the usual hierarchies of knowledge production.

Generating from the archive: creative outputs
Becky Whitmore, History Group Researcher and Jude Hutchen, Community Support Worker The archive has been at the heart of all of the project outputs (and indeed its cataloguing and expansion should be seen as one of the most important outputs of all).We have produced an academic article on the history of SPAN, and a film that combines the group interview with the community researchers' reflections on the project. 16We also commissioned a piece of public art by Carrie Reichart, herself a single parent whose work is often rooted in historical and archive sources.Carrie worked with the history group on the design of a mural which draws extensively on text, photographs and images from the archive.This mural was originally designed to be installed on a busy pedestrian and cycle route in East Bristol, close to one of SPAN's former premises.Unfortunately, a series of unforeseen events made this impossible, and we now hope to install the mural in the grounds of the University of Bristol.
The History Group had agreed that one of the key project outputs should be an exhibition.This was seen as an opportunity to display SPAN's values and work for the wider population, and to provide access to archival material that might not otherwise be publicly visible.The Community Support Worker (Jude Hutchen) and a History Group Researcher (Becky Whitmore), both trained artists, teamed up to lead on this.It quickly became clear that both were interested in a different take on the usual twodimensional printed wall-based presentation.They wanted the form of the exhibition to reflect the research activity as well as re-present the values of SPAN.With SPAN's culture of promoting accessibility in mind, they came up with a proposal which would bring archive material out of the limited academic space and into the domestic: by creating a collection of commemorative mugs featuring archival images and quotes from interviews or SPAN publications.The mugs were originally conceived to be used and enjoyed during the launch event and then given to people who had been interviewed or who had supported the project, as well as the community researchers.Taking reproductions of archival material into the home was also designed to reflect the impact of SPAN, and the history project, on people's lives and personal development.
Due to issues around ethical consent for photographs it was agreed that only text or graphic motifs would be used.With support from archivist Ellie Pridgoen an afternoon was spent selecting and scanning images, from early Bristol One Parent Project material through SPAN's entire history, referencing many of the campaigns, education programmes, printed publicity materials and even maps of different sites.It was agreed that four mug designs covering themes of anti-racism, grassroots organising culture, women's rights and valuing single parent families would be generated for the group to make the final edits.Although it was challenging to imagine the designs in three dimensions the history group worked together to consider all the designs, make selections and suggest changes and improvements.
Originally it was planned that the group could design their own personal mugs through a workshop led by the Community Worker showing them how to place the decal transfers and prepare the mugs for final firing.However, as the first Covid lock down descended, this was no longer possible and all of the mugs were sent for assembling by Stokes Croft China (an activist-orientated local business).When images of the mugs were circulated to the project team one of the older images from the archive was questioned by the Steering Group: a drawn illustration in half point print from the 1990s of a black woman.On reflection it was agreed by all that while the image had been acceptable at the time, possibly even an unusual and positive presentation of a minority group, it now appeared at least clumsy, if not stereotyped, and was not a positive image to use.This was also the summer following the killing of George Floyd, when the Colston statue was toppled in Bristol and questions around visual representation and historic commemoration had been set alight.Members of the History Group had attended Black Lives Matter protests in Bristol, and we discussed how protest and protesters were portrayed in the media.The history group edited the design and the image was replaced.They discussed the tensions between considering archival images as historic documents and the sensitivity required to avoid misrepresentation of SPAN's anti-racist politics or reproducing problematic representations of race.
Due to continued Covid restrictions, the project launch took place online as a webinar.The decision to make the 'exhibition' as a mug was perhaps particularly fortunate and meaningful in this context when people were isolated at home.Mugs were posted out to ex-SPAN member interviewees and supporters across the country-as a surprise thank you.Emails and photos of delighted people with their mugs were returned for display on the website. 17The collection of four mugs were delivered to each Community Researcher by hand and were also received with delight-as keepsakes of the project, a physical reminder of all their effort, the positive group experience, their learning about SPAN's work and values as well as the relationships developed through the process.
Although our project has now come to an end, we hope that the life of the archive is only just beginning.As part of the FAS, accessible via the University of Bristol's Special Collections, it adds to a rich repository of feminist activism and thought.As researchers begin to extend the history of feminism and the women's movement into the 1990s, it is sure to be an invaluable resource.A follow-on project, led by Jude Hutchen, is using some of the archival material to prompt discussion of the experiences of marginalised parents during the pandemic and what needs to change in order for families to thrive.We end with Vivian Latinwo-Olajide's reflections on the resonances of the archive.Our project too had its moments of 'turmoil and joy' and it seems appropriate to close with a reminder that feminist archives can both contain and kindle such histories of emotion.

Me and the archive
Vivian Latinwo-Olajide, Archival Fellow Sometime in 2018 I had decided to pursue a career as an archivist.I had little to no practical training on how to archive, other than time spent pouring over records at various specialist libraries across the United Kingdom.From the perspective of a researcher, archival material was integral to the composition of the stories I wanted to tell and yet I would often leave record offices feeling daunted.There was always so much to engage with and never enough time.This sense of incompleteness motivated my interest in archiving.Specifically, the need to demystify the archival process.I also wanted others to recognise the value of their everyday materials.To understand that an archive already exists in one's own life.The task was to see it and curate it.Much like Sue Cohen, the coordinator of Bristol One Parent Project and later the Single Parent Action Network had done; when she and others salvaged ephemera from a skip, having recognised the value in the material they acquired over time.So, along the journey to becoming an archivist, I began a series of archival workshops and training through which I encountered Lorna Henry, one half of the project's evaluation team.In passing Lorna mentioned her connection to the project SPAN: a hands-on history project, and that the team were searching for an archivist.This led me to Josie McLellan, project lead, who created an archival fellow position assisting Ellie Pridgeon, the project's consultant archivist, for me to support the project and acquire experience.
Ultimately, what drew me to SPAN was a combination of my desire to be an archivist, to encourage archival practice in our everyday lives and the need to ask critical questions on what constitutes an archive.A series of encounters had put me where I needed to be.What emerged was a sense of familiarity with the material.The daughter of a single parent of two, who herself had experienced so much of what the archive had attempted to preserve, which I will generally describe as the history of the survival of single parents organising for a better life for them and their children.I had arrived at my first archival role seeing and feeling myself and my survival in the material that Sue and her peers had generated and gathered over time.A reminder that grassroots organisations such as Bristol One Parent Project and SPAN are about more than preserving records, more than cataloguing, repackaging and re-boxing.I would argue that what makes the SPAN archive unique for me is its ability to elicit sensations.To recall the past, the turmoil and joy of the single parents who fought tirelessly to make a better world.For themselves, their children, each other and other mothers.Doing so, not knowing that one day, the materials that they made to protest, to disseminate information, to challenge moral ideals, to get funding, to reconcile disputes, would form an archive.For me engaging with the SPAN material is a critical reminder that no history is valueless.It has affirmed the ways I wish to work; politically, intimately and always with care.