News

# Emotions in the archives: study scoops international award

The editors of a ground-breaking new study about emotions and archives which
includes work by a researcher at The National Archives has won a prestigious
award.

Published 17 July 2025

Archives and Emotions: International Dialogues across Past, Present and Future
won the Waldo Gifford Leland Award for excellent writing and usefulness for
archivists.

The study examines the role emotions play in the creation and organisation of
archives.

Importantly, it also recognises the reactions of historians, researchers and
communities who find themselves confronted by sometimes challenging records.

It includes a chapter cowritten by Iqbal Singh, Regional Community Partnerships
Manager at The National Archives, and Prof Kevin Lu, from Royal Central School
of Speech and Drama.

> This is a very exciting award. My work in this area was prompted by a very early
> encounter with a record at The National Archives, which made me aware that the
> histories I was encountering were far more complicated they were necessarily
> being presented.
>
> For me the pivotal moment came when a map of the division of India and Pakistan
> reminded me of how my parents, a Sikh mother and a Muslim father, left ancestral
> homelands to travel thousands of miles across new borders to their new homes

Iqbal Singh, Regional Community Partnerships Manager at The National Archives

Archives and Emotions: International Dialogues across Past, Present and Future
was edited by Ilaria Scaglia, senior lecturer in modern history at Aston
University, UK, and Valeria Vanesio, lecturer in the Department of Library
Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta.

Outreach blog

## [Archives and Emotions book launch: reflecting on models of collaboration](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blogs/community-outreach/archives-and-emotions-book-launch-reflecting-on-models-of-collaboration/)

![The front cover to an edited collection titled Archives and Emotions.](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/media/images/Archives_and_Emotion_a1NuISK.ec1f5c98.fill-600x400.format-jpeg.jpegquality-60.bgcolor-fff.jpg)

In this blog post from February 2025, Iqbal Singh reflects on co-authoring his
chapter.

## Help us improve this website

[Complete our short survey (opens in new tab)](https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/DN07V0/?area=footer&source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalarchives.gov.uk%2Fmd%2Fnews%2Femotions-in-the-archives-study-scoops-international-award%2F)

---

[Back to top](#top)