A state-of-the-art archive centre on Ipswich’s Waterfront part-funded by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership has been officially opened by HRH Prince Richard, The Duke of Gloucester.
The Hold offers space for visitors to enjoy the county’s historic collections, as well as a café, shop, exhibition gallery, and teaching space shared with the University of Suffolk.
Funding of £250,000 was awarded by the LEP from its Growing Places Fund to the project which is located beside the Waterfront Innovation Centre.
During the official opening ceremony yesterday, The Duke of Gloucester was shown artefacts from the Suffolk Archives spanning 900 years of history, from a Charter from the reign of King Henry I to collections of Black Lives Matter postcards from earlier this year. The archive has been open to the public for the past few months but has now been officially opened.
The Duke praised the new facility and congratulated those who had brought the collections together for people to enjoy.
He told invited guests: “I think we have, through hundreds of small bits of information, an insight into the past that we have never had before. It will only work if you have a wonderful central clearing house like this one which will enable people to figure our what they want to know and how they want to find out about it.”
Graham Newman, chairman of Suffolk County Council said: “This is recognition of a project lasting more than 10 years to deliver a Suffolk Archives service for the 21st century, and it has been a great occasion to show off this wonderful building, the work we do and some of the treasures in our archives.”
