Dr Elizabeth Haines
- Roles
- Author
- Researcher
Principal Records Specialist – Empire and Commonwealth
About
Through partnerships and creative projects Elizabeth seeks to connect records from British colonial history with new audiences and new uses. Sometimes this involves thinking through digital tools and platforms that can increase access to records from the British imperial past. Sometimes it involves rethinking human processes to increase equity of opportunity to explore and narrate colonial histories.
Research activity
Elizabeth Haines is a historian with an interest in exploring the history of global processes through co-produced, creative research. Her PhD was a collaborative doctoral award in Historical Geography from Royal Holloway, University of London and the Science Museum, exploring the role of mapping in colonial governance practices in Northern Rhodesia [Zambia].
Before joining the National Archives, Elizabeth was a Lecturer in Global History and Decolonisation, and Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow in History at the University of Bristol. Her previous research projects have included collaborations with artists, filmmakers, community groups, museums, and scientists, in the UK, Europe, North America and Africa. She has previously been Chair of the Outreach and Engagement Committee for the British Society for the History of Science, and is currently Programme Secretary for SCOLMA, the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa.
Publications
- Razzall, Lucy, Lora Angelova and Elizabeth Haines, “From Habitat to Service Equipment: The British Government Book as Container in ‘the Tropics’”, Inscription: the Journal of Material Text- Theory, Practice, History, no. 5, (2025).
- Boon, Tim, Elizabeth Haines and Arnaud Dubois, “Introduction”, In Understanding Use: Objects in Museums of Science and Technology, edited by Tim Boon, Elizabeth Haines, Arnaud Dubois and Klaus Stauberman, 1-17. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Scholarly Press, 2025.
- Angelova, Lora and Elizabeth Haines, “Insect ‘enemies’ and chemical legacies: reflections on archival practice”, Troubles dans les collections, no. 7, (2024).
- Haines, Elizabeth V., “Maps and the man on the spot: circulations of knowledge and authority around and about the Zambezi”. In Construction and Circulation of Knowledge in a Global Imperial Age (1700–1914) eds. Matheus Duarte, Haddad, Thomás and Raj, Kapil, London: Routledge, 2023.
- Haines, Elizabeth V. “Visual evidence and narrative in botany and war: two domains, one practice” in Narrative Science: Ordering Knowledge from the Nineteenth to Twenty-First Century eds. Mary Morgan, Hajek, Kim M., and Berry, Dominic. Cambridge: CUP, 2022.
- Haines, Elizabeth, Cara Davies and Heide Hinrichs. “Protocol for the Archive as Gesture” in Archivolt: the archive and the artist ed. Nico Dockx. Antwerp: Track Reports, 2021.
- Haines, Elizabeth, “Embracing noise and other airborne risks to the reading body” in shelf documents: Art Library as Practice eds. Heide Hinrichs, Tang, Jo-ey, and Haines, Elizabeth. Antwerp: Track Reports and Berlin: b_books, 2021.
- Haines, Elizabeth. “Archive”. In The Routledge Handbook of Reenactment Studies, edited by Vanessa Agnew, Jonathan Lamb, and Juliane Tomann, 11–15. London: Routledge, 2019.
- Haines, Elizabeth V. and Anna Woodham, “Mobilising the Energy in Store: stored collections, enthusiast experts and the ecology of heritage”, Science Museum Group Journal Issue 12 (2019)
- Haines, Elizabeth V. “Visions from behind a desk? Archival performance as the re-enactment of imperial bureaucracy” Area Vol 51 (1) 25–34 (2019)
Contact
If you are interested in collaborating on an academic research project, please get in touch.
Articles
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Blog post
The Global Second World War: Languages, cultures and legacies
How did we design a workshop to explore the wide range of experiences that the Second World War resulted in for different communities in the UK?