The Many Lives of Cardboard

The Many Lives of Cardboard is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary project that will explore the pasts, presents, and futures of an everyday material that is all around us, but often overlooked.

About the project
Publications

About the project

Funder: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
Timeframe: February 2026–May 2027
In partnership with: The University of Edinburgh and the University of the Highlands and Islands
The National Archives' project lead: Lucy Razzall

The Many Lives of Cardboard is a multi-disciplinary project that will combine approaches from material culture studies, environmental humanities, contemporary archaeology, and creative practice. In doing this, the project will investigate the pasts, presents, and futures of an everyday material that is often hidden in plain sight.

This project will follow the biographies of cardboard, from raw material to recyclate and beyond. This will bring cardboard histories in the records of the state at The National Archives into dialogue with collections, people, and institutions in the many lives of cardboard across the UK.

Through a series of archive and field visits and practical workshops (historic records and collections, sites of manufacture and waste management, artists’ studios) the project will:

Explore the potential of heritage collections for understanding the histories and futures of cardboard;
Investigate the diverse creative roles of cardboard;
Assess how the many lives of cardboard offer a model for material histories more widely.

A final symposium at The National Archives in spring 2027 will bring together participants from academia, cultural heritage research and practice, industry, and the sustainability sector.

Publications

Our research blog