Social inclusion: A historian's perspective

Abstract

In January 2001 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published a document: Libraries, Museums, Galleries and Archives for All: Co‐operating Across the Sectors to Tackle Social Exclusion. As the then Secretary for State, Chris Smith, put it: ‘There have been some comments that it is not the business of [such bodies] to be involved in social regeneration by serving a wider and more diverse audience. I cannot agree. It is clearly right that these national treasures should be available and accessible to all citizens, and there need be no conflict between the dual responsibilities of responding to the needs of society today, and protecting and conserving treasures for future generations.’ The pressure was thus on for libraries, museums, galleries and archives to show that they were taking such issues seriously and developing social inclusion as ‘a policy priority’.1 Existing and additional funding were clearly implied to be at stake—providing a carrot and a stick for those involved. One response to this government initiative was an internal conference at the Public Record Office in Kew devoted to ‘Social Inclusion’ which took place in June 2001. Historians of African Caribbeans and of gays and lesbians, officials from the DCMS, archivists and others were invited to give papers. I gave a presentation on ‘Social Exclusion: Perspectives from a Historian of Ethnicity and Immigration’. What follows is a revised version of this paper (although I have largely kept the informality of the original). My contribution to the conference itself reflected at least to some extent the vision of the founders of Immigrants & Minorities nearly 20 years earlier and many of those who have contributed to the journal subsequently.2