A new digital resource preserving the story of the Soufrière Hills volcano eruption and its lasting impact on Montserrat is live. Launched at the end of June, according to an article from 3S Research, the archive marks a major milestone in safeguarding the island’s volcanic heritage.
The Montserrat Volcanic Crisis Archive has been developed through the Archives Assemble! project, with significant contributions from 3S researcher Martin Mahony, in collaboration with the Montserrat National Trust. The online collection brings together photographs, reports, oral histories, and other records from the 1990s eruption, making them freely available via the Digital Library of the Caribbean.
The archive is designed to keep growing, drawing on materials from multiple collections worldwide and making them newly accessible to a diverse range of audiences, from researchers and students to Montserratians at home and abroad.
The broader Archives Assemble! Activating the Archives to Collaboratively Reimagine Volcanic Geoheritage project involves researchers from three UK universities, the UK National Archives, the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, the Montserrat Public Library, the Montserrat Tourism Division, and the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre. It builds on the earlier Curating Crises project, which examined how colonial histories have shaped volcano science and how those legacies are experienced today.
In the coming months, the collection will expand to include newly released UK Government materials from The National Archives (UK). The public is encouraged to check the site regularly for updates.
The Montserrat Volcanic Crisis Archive is now live and accessible worldwide, offering a vital platform for education, research, and the preservation of Montserrat’s volcanic story for generations to come.
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