Licensing Opportunity - Environmental History in the Twentieth Century

The National Archives (TNA) is seeking expressions of interest from potential partners to digitise and to publish online Colonial Office, Foreign Office and Overseas Development records relating to twentieth century environmental history. The contract award would include a commercial license to publish online digital images and associated metadata, and a requirement to undertake all the necessary activities to make that possible - including conservation, digital image capture, use of metadata to allow for meaningful searches of the records, and online publication. TNA expects that the appointed Supplier will deliver the contract at NIL cost to TNA, and will also deliver a royalty return to TNA during the contract period, in consideration for the licence to publish the Collection. Environmental History is the study of how humans have interacted with the environment in the past. It encompasses the role of nature through human history in a broad social, political, economic and cultural analysis. This collection of up to 2,367 documents will be an important resource enabling the study of colonial and post-colonial environments in the twentieth century, from 1899 up to the 1990s. The early material addresses popular themes such as imperial forestry, wildlife conservation and national parks, soil conservation, tropical disease research, colonial land tenure, industrial development and agriculture. Later material is drawn from the Overseas Development departments and focuses on development aid in the context of natural resources, energy, population and public health, urbanization, pollution, warfare, human responses to natural disasters, renewable technology and climate. If this opportunity is of interest to you, please email us at procurement@nationalarchives.gov.uk by 5pm (UK time) on 23 November 2021.