Digitising Manx language recordings: Manx National Heritage and the British Library’s ‘Unlocking our Sound Heritage’ project

Abstract This paper gives an overview of the Manx sound recordings in the Manx National Heritage (MNH) collections and the project to digitise and publish a selection of the archives through the British Library’s ‘Unlocking our Sound Heritage’ (UOSH) project. As with many sound archives, legacy issues of poor cataloguing, old and disintegrating formats and budgetary constraints have in the past made access to the MNH sound archive very difficult. An opportunity to tap into UK Heritage Lottery money (usually unavailable in the Isle of Man) to fund the digitisation of select sound archives was presented to MNH, through participation in the British Library’s Unlocking our Sound Heritage (UOSH) project. The digitisation of the recordings was funded through the project and undertaken at UOSH hub National Museums Northern Ireland and the work to catalogue, describe and make discoverable was undertaken by MNH staff and encompassed a large volunteer project. This paper will discuss the UOSH project in the context of the Manx language content, the particular challenges of cataloguing minority language recordings and making them discoverable to the public.