I signed up to the tour of the Guardian’s archive because there was one artefact I really wanted to see and that was the hard drive containing the Edward Snowden data. When it all happened, I was following the NSA files in the Guardian and across the web.
It was pretty surreal to see it laid out on the table. The story is that some spooks came to Guardian headquarters and instructed the then editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, to destroy the hard drive. We were told the Guardian had the equipment to destroy it but GCHQ said it was inadequate, so they brought in their own equipment. It sounded like something out of a John le Carré spy novel.
Apparently there’s a lot of interest in the hard drive in Germany, because the Germans take privacy very seriously and are opposed to state surveillance. Having a big interest in German culture, I found the contrasting approach really interesting. From time to time the hard drive is requested for exhibitions around the world.
There was also a letter from the Guardian diplomatic correspondent FA Voigt to his editor, William Crozier (1932-44). Voigt was in contact with a friend at the Italian embassy who had been the liaison officer between Hitler and Mussolini when they met in Venice and then later in Berlin. The letter said that when they met in Venice, Mussolini said Hitler was an imbecile. However, the letter goes on to explain how Mussolini was won over by Hitler during their meeting in Berlin. History would have benefited from finding out what happened between the first and second meeting. The letter is a fascinating artefact that touched upon various European political situations at the time.
I was fascinated by how the Guardian has been digitising its picture library since 2001. Older images are kept in the collection downstairs. The paper has done a huge amount to digitise its collection.
The group was also really interested in how the archive as a whole was affected by the digital age. For example, the Guardian website is fully archived. We learned how journalists used to want their news to be in the newspaper but now they can churn it out quickly for the website, which involves new ways of working. I’ve always been interested in the behind-the-scenes stories. I went to a Long Reads event and was fascinated by the fact that there’s a six-month process to get a piece focused.
I was surprised that some of the collection was not organised chronologically. We were shown pictures of Margaret Thatcher – and they weren’t, as I imagined, ordered by year or alphabetically. It felt like it was in an order that only a specific archivist would seem to know. Some are by event, or by year. I was in awe of the whole taxonomy process.
We also had a look at the first issue of the Guardian, which was brought up from the collection. I really wanted to have a flick through. It was refreshing to learn more about the Guardian’s roots in Manchester – especially that the Guardian had its own delivery network with horses and stables. There was a real sense of history.
Guardian Member Ayo Dada lives in London and works in IT consultancy. He’s a keen sportsman, loves learning random facts about the tube and is an avid reader of Guardian Long Reads.
This event took place on Tuesday 19 July. To find out more about forthcoming events, sign up to become a Guardian Member.
