Process, perspectives and interpretations : an oral archive of the Good Friday Agreement

This paper outlines the process by which an archive of audio-taped interviews with participants in the multi-party negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement was collected. It outlines some of the difficulties which the project met, and also the successes—the way that many participants were willing to give considerable information for the historical record. It argues that such projects can provide for the wider academic public the type of insight which is normally only given to academics in private briefing sessions. It points to several particularly rich areas where the archive can be used for theses or monographs.