‘Say nothing’- silenced records and the Boston College subpoenas

8/13/2019 Say nothing- silenced records and the Boston College subpoenas

1/31

Abstract

How will subpoenas for Boston Colleges sealed Irish Republican Army (IRA)

oral histories affect future attempts to archive the Troubles and armed conflict ingeneral? To answer this question, the author examines the long-term

implications of subpoenaing Boston Colleges Belfast Project, arguing that the

subpoenas present a case study of the little-recognized preservation hazard of

silenced or uncreated records. The author situates the case within the context of

the two types of wartime preservation hazards: the destruction or obfuscation of

extant record and the silencing of records that otherwise would have been

created. In order to show the subpoenas grave implications on the archives

mission to record the full story of the Troubles for future generations, the article

places the Belfast Project within the context of other Northern Irish and

international archival projects. Ultimately, the author intends to demonstrate the

relevance of the case to archivists, arguing that the Boston College subpoenas

pose a preservation risk as hazardous as any fire or explosion by threatening to

silence records that otherwise would have been created and thereby creating

irreparable holes in the historical record of the Troubles.

Keywords

Boston College Subpoenas; Belfast Project; archives; silence; preservation;armed conflict; Troubles; Northern Ireland; oral history.


2/31

"

*Northern reticence, the tight gag of placeAnd times: yes, yes. Of the wee six I singWhere to be saved you only must save faceAnd whatever you say, you say nothing

Seamus Heaney, Northi

Talk could be deadly during the Troubles, especially in the Catholic

neighborhood of Divis Flats, where Jean McConville and her children lived. iiOf

the 3,709 people killed during the three decades of sectarian violence, the tragic

circumstances surrounding her execution as an alleged agent for British military

intelligence continues to haunt a traumatized nation. iii Although the Irish

Republican Army (IRA) executed McConville in 1972, her case remainsunresolved more than four decades later. Detailed, first-hand information

concerning her murder only became available under the auspices of a relatively

recent groundbreaking oral history endeavor called the Belfast Project. Brendan

Hughes, a Provisional IRA leader at the time, spoke about the IRA disappearance

of the widowed mother of ten for the first time in a Boston College-sponsored

oral history project:

I knew she was being executed. I didnt know she was going to beburiedor disappeared as they call it now. I know one particular personon the Belfast Brigade at the time, Ivor [Bell], argued for [her] to be shot,yes, but to be left on the street. Because to take her away and buryherwould serve no purpose people wouldnt know. So looking back onit now, what happened to herwas wrong.iv

Like all IRA and Loyalist men and women interviewed by the Belfast Project,

Hughes was assured by Boston Colleges researchers that no material could be

#This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Archives andRecords, Spring 2014[copyright Taylor & Francis],available online

at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23257962.2013.859573

$%&&'()%*+'*,' -% ./0'( 12*34 50/267 .81""9:)2--4'+;


3/31

The literature on archival preservation tends to envision conflict in the

guise of obvious preservation risks, such as fire, looting, or other forms of

intentional or collateral damage. History provides countless examples of how

wars past and present destroy cultural heritage and fragment the historical

record. The Library of Alexandria, for instance offers what James Raven calls the

standard parable of flames devour[ing] truth and memory in the form of a

lost library [that] might have contained a written, real truth.xiiThe last century

has only compounded the sense of loss Alexandria embodies. The incineration

of Chinas Hanlan Library during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 began an

unparalleled century of cultural destruction that included the ravages seen

during the First World War and the Second World War, the Nazi book burnings

of May 1933, the purging of libraries in Asia, and the destruction of collections in

the Balkans.xiiiOf course, cultural devastation continues into the 21st century

as witnessed by recent and continuing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East

creating an urgent preservation challenge for archivists both in the affected

region and in the greater international community. Ethics complicate the

preservation challenge, as todays archivists frequently face what Professor

Douglas Cox, referred to as far from theoretical instances where a choice must

be made between the greater good of preservation and the interests of their own

government.xiv

Naturally, archives are more than four walls and a ceiling, and too oftenregimes target and distort the historical record itself. As Richard Cox and David

Wallace note in their introduction to Archives and the Public Good, It is records

power as sources of accountability that is for us their most salient feature, a

feature that often brings them into daily headlines or into the courtroom.xvAs


6/31

?

essays in that volume and elsewhere show, politically oppressive regimes erase

the record of their accountability in attempts to skirt justice. Whereas East

Germanys secret police, the Stasi, shredded incriminating files once the Berlin

Wall fell, South Africas apartheid government preferred furnaces for their

systematic destruction exercises of evidence before the introduction of Nelson

Mandelas post-apartheid government.xvi As a South African archivist at the

time, Verne Harris experienced first-hand how political upheaval threatens the

archival record: In imposing apartheid ideology, the state sought to destroy all

oppositional memory through censorship, confiscation, banning, incarceration,

assassination, and a range of other oppressive tools.xvii Though sadly not the

only examples, apartheid South Africa and East Germanys Stasi provide well-

known, dramatic instances of how conflict mars, and in some cases eradicates,

portions of the historical record.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland, however, exemplify a less detectable

but equally insidious threat to the archival record: silence. In this instance the

archival crisis has not been the records shredded or burned but rather those that

were never created. It seems entirely appropriate that, as Maurice Punch of the

Manheim Centre of Criminology states, a conflict dominated by clandestine and

secretive insurgent movements and a counter-insurgency campaign with covert

units, dirty tricks and disinformation would provide the ideal case study for a

preservation hazard predicated on silence.xviii

In collecting the stories of itsresidents, Belfasts Ardoyne community describes how a population becomes

silenced:

@%& 0/*A A'/&( -B'&' B/( C''* / &'-2,'*,' -% +2(,;(( D;66A /*+ );C62,6A'E'*-( /*+ 2((;'( -B/- B/E' -%;,B'+ %* 0/*A /()',-( %D -B' ,%*D62,-4 F* 6/&3'


7/31

G

)/&- -B2( 2( / )&%+;,- %D / H(',&',A 2( (;&E2E/6I 0'*-/62-A4 JB/- K/( -B',%*('L;'*,' %D (;CM',-2*3 ,%00;*2-2'( 62N' 8&+%A*' -% 'O-&'0' 6'E'6( %D(-/-' (;&E'266/*,' /*+ )(A,B%6%32,/66A +'(-&;,-2E' ,%;*-'&P2*(;&3'*,A(-&/-'32'(4 O2O

Some archival undertakings have sought to break these silences by performingwhat cultural historian Graham Dawson refers to as subvert[ing] the framework

of official memory, forcing a reexamination of the past and raising difficult

questions.xx The Ardoyne Commemoration Project (ACP), for example, sought

to reclaim their communitys previously distorted narrative through publishing a

remembrance of those lost in the conflict as told by those who knew them.OO2

QB26' (;,B )&%M',-( B/E' (;,,''+'+ 2* 32E2*3 E%2,' -% )&'E2%;(6A (26'*,'+ B2(-%&2,/6

,%;*-'&P*/&&/-2E'(, there remains the more fraught issue of capturing the

historical record of those who arguably remain most entwined in the Troubles

silences: the paramilitaries themselves.xxii

Unlike the ACP and other Northern Irish truth-telling endeavors, the

Belfast Project solicited and archived previously unheard voices of IRA and

Loyalist combatants, thereby breaking some of the historical silences of the

Troubles.xxiiiDue to the size of the country and the nature of the conflict,

paramilitary forces clashed in the shadows, navigating a complex web of

informers, spies, and trapsor, as the old IRA saying simply put it, a place

where the darkest place is under the light.xxivAccording to Boston Colleges

courtroom testimony, IRA paramilitaries who broke this code of silence by

participating in the Belfast Project risked punishment by death.xxvObviously, the

success of any project predicated on potentially endangering its participants

would depend on earning trust and guaranteeing confidentiality and control.

Christine George puts the issue succinctly: For some oral histories,


8/31

R

confidentiality might not be an issue; however, when testimonies coming from

paramilitaries concern murder, conspiracy, and accusationnot to mention the

breaking of a well-known code of silenceconfidentiality is not just important, it

is vital.xxviPreserving the history contained in these stories will prove infinitely

more difficult, if not impossible, given the inevitable deleterious effects of the

Boston College subpoenas, which means that a full accounting of those three

momentous and bloody decades becomes less likely with each paramilitary

death. As Brendan Hughes told interviewer Anthony McIntyre in his final oral

history before passing away in 2008, The reason why Im doing these interviews

is because of my trust in you, no one else.xxvii

The Belfast Project

Northern Irelands peace process presented an historic opportunity for

those seeking to understand and record the conflict. The possibility of an end to

the violence ushered in a wave of storytelling projects wherein both individuals

and their communities could remember, reflect on, and share their experiences

during the Troubles. As Graham Dawson writes inMaking Peace with the Past,

JB' )/&/0262-/&A ,'/('D2&'( %D 9SS= /0'62%&/-'+ -B' ,620/-' %D D'/&T /*+ /( -B'

)(A,B%6%32,/6 )&'((;&' %D +'/62*3 K2-B -B' ;*&'02--2*3 /*+ ,%0)%;*+2*3 20)/,- %D

E2%6'*,' /C/-'+T C'&'/E'+ )'%)6' D2*/66A D%;*+ -20' -% 0%;&* 6%(('(T %D-'* (;(-/2*'+

A'/&( %& 'E'* +',/+'( '/&62'&T KB'* H3&2'D K/( (;()'*+'+I %& (;))&'(('+ 2* %&+'& -%

,%)'4IOOE222JK% 'O/0)6'( %D -B' *;0'&%;( )&%M',-( -B/- D%66%K'+ -B' ,'/('D2&' K'&'

8* $&/**UJB' J&''T KB2,B 3/-B'&'+ -B%;(/*+( %D )'&(%*/6 /,,%;*-( %D -B' J&%;C6'(T

/*+ -B' V/- @2*;,/*' $'*-'& D%& W;0/* X23B-( /*+ Y%,2/6 $B/*3' ZV@$[4OO2OJB' V@$


9/31

S

K/( &%%-'+ 2* / )/&-2,;6/& 3'%3&/)B2,/6 ()/,' /*+ -B'&'D%&' &'D6',-( -B' )%62-2,/6

E2'K( /*+ ,%*,'&*( %D 2-( ,%00;*2-A4 \'(,&2C2*3 -B' V@$T \/K(%* K&2-'(T HF*

*/-2%*/62(- \'&&AT -B' V@$T K2-B 2-( /&,B2E' Z2-('6D / N2*+ %D 0'0%&APC/*N %D -B'

,%*D62,-[ /*+ 62*N( -% %-B'& B;0/* &23B-( %&3/*2]/-2%*(T )&%E2+'+ / 6%,;( D%& B2(-%&AP

0/N2*3 -% ;*+'&02*' -B' %DD2,2/6 (-%&A %D ^6%%+A Y;*+/A /*+ -% C;26+ -B' ,%;*-'&P

0'0%&A %D 2*M;(-2,'4IOOO 8( )'/,' K/66( /*+ %-B'& )BA(2,/6 0/*2D'(-/-2%*( %D

(')/&/-2%* /--'(-T ^'6D/(- /*+ %-B'& )/&-( %D _%&-B'&* F&'6/*+ &'0/2* B'/E26A

('3&'3/-'+ CA ,%00;*2-A`-B'&'CA 6202-2*3 -B' (,%)' %D -B' V@$ /*+ %-B'&

,%00;*2-APC/('+ /&,B2E/6 /))&%/,B'(4OOO2 F* 0/*A &'()',-(T B%K'E'&T -B'('

6202-/-2%*( /6(% )&%E' (-&'*3-B(T 2*,&'/(2*3 -B' 62N'62B%%+ %D )/&-2,2)/-2%* CA

,&'/-2*3 / ,%0D%&-/C6'T D/0262/& ()/,' D%& -B%(' K2-B2* -B' ,%00;*2-A -% ()'/N4

Alongside local grassroots efforts, academic institutions have provided

another, equally fruitful, means for recording the Troubles. Often these projects

seek to combine community efforts in order to capture the broad scope of the

conflict, with perhaps the most innovative being the University of Ulsters web

resource, the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN). Initiated in 1996, CAIN

consists primarily of three types of material: first, material written and edited by

members of the project team; second, articles contributed specifically for CAIN

by external sources; and, third, material that has been previously published

elsewhere.xxxii Recent additions have included visualizations of data related to

the Troubles and digital versions of public records held by the Public Record

Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).xxxiiiBy harnessing cutting-edge technologies,

CAIN and like-minded projects provide new and exciting perspectives on how to

archive, represent, and understand the Troubles.


10/31

9a

Other, more traditional, types of archives have also successfully

documented the Troubles. Belfasts Linen Hall Library hosts perhaps the most

well known example in its Northern Ireland Political Collection. The collection

consists of 250,000 items representing a diverse range of perspectives and

materials dating from 1966 to the present, which provides a unique resource to

the people of Northern Ireland and all those seeking to understand the Troubles.

The archive prides itself on collecting without fear or favour: The Collection is

a unique resource; no other institution in a localized conflict has systematically

collected material from all sides. Much less has it been done in the field and

often literally across the barricades. xxxivIt collects with what it calls an engaged

neutrality that accommodates multiple perspectives rather than shying away

from controversial subjects and materials.xxxv

The Burns Library, across the Atlantic at Boston College, responded with a

similar ethos of archival engagement. It was there that the Belfast Project was

conceived in the wake of 1998s Good Friday Agreement:

The idea for the Belfast Project originated when Boston College LibrarianRobert ONeill approached historian Paul Bew while he was a visitingprofessor at Boston College in 1999 and 2000 about the possibility ofcreating some sort of historical record of the Troubles. When Bewreturned to Belfast he contacted Moloney, an Irish journalist who haswritten extensively about the conflict, who proposed an oral history[]xxxvi

Whereas other projects had sought the oral histories of political leaders and

civilian victims, the Belfast Project looked to record those paramilitarycombatants from the early days of the Troublesa generation that was

beginning to pass away. As Moloney explains in the introduction to Voices From

the Gravethe first and as yet only book resulting from the projectThe

purpose of the Boston College-Burns Library Archive was to collect a story of the


11/31

99

Troubles that otherwise would be lost, distorted or rewritten, deliberately by

those with a vested interest, or otherwise by the passage of time or the distortion

wrought in the retelling.xxxvii Moloney oversaw two interviewers who possessed

both the academic knowledge and political connections to interview members

from the two opposing forces of the republican IRA and Irish National Liberation

Army (INLA) organizations and the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and

Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) communities. Anthony McIntyre, a

Ballymurphy Republican with a Ph.D., interviewed the IRA and INLA

participants, while Wilson McArthur, a Shankhill Road, former PUP activist and

a political science graduate of Queens University, Belfast, interviewed Loyalists

participants.xxxviii McIntyre and McArthur recorded interviews on broadcast-

quality digital tape, while a third party, Michelle Millar, transcribed them in

County Antrim and sent them by encrypted e-mail to Moloney for editing and

indexing.xxxix All interview tapes and transcripts subsequently were archived by

Boston Colleges John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections,

which sponsored the Project as an extension of its long-standing relationship

with the region and substantial Irish and Northern Irish collection.xl Following

the deaths of two major contributorsBrendan Hughes of the IRA and David

Ervine of the UVFMoloney published the intended first fruit of the project.xli

In Voices from the Grave, Moloney writes that he envisioned a project large

in scope, inspired by and modeled on the Irish governments Bureau of MilitaryHistory.xlii Undisclosed for forty-five years, the Bureau of Military History

worked from 1947 to 1957 collecting accounts from participants in Irelands

revolutionary activity leading up to independence in 1921. A vast archive of

1,773 witness statements totaling 36,000 pages of evidence, the Bureaus oral


12/31

9"

histories offer present-day historians unprecedented access to a nation-wide

span of accounts of life in flying columns and the day-to-day activities and

operations of the IRA.xliii Like the Bureau, Moloney hoped to capture the stories

of those active in a historically significant Irish conflict before their voices were

lost to time. Unfortunately, Moloney did not enjoy the Bureaus luxury of

waiting until enough time had passed to cool the passions that earlier had

almost certainly helped to seal lips.xliv To record participants in the Troubles, the

Belfast Project would have to wade into untested legal waters boiling with thirty-

years worth of sectarian violence.

The Boston College Subpoenasxlv

The peril of this type of archival project manifested itself in May 2011,

when the Federal Government subpoenaed Boston College for the notes and

audiotapes of two IRA operatives potentially implicated in the murder of Jean

McConville. Although the subpoenas remain sealed, the order undoubtedly

originated from the British Government acting on behalf of the Police Service of

Northern Irelands (PSNI) Historic Enquiries Team (HET), which investigates

unsolved murders from the Troubles.xlvi The Teams mandate to re-examine all

deaths attributable to the security situation in Northern Ireland during the

period 1958-98 (currently estimated at some 3,268) by pursuing any and every

means for accumulating evidence pertaining to ongoing cases meant that theBelfast Project presented an obvious target.xlvii The United States honored the

British requests because of the international Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty

(MLAT), which obligates signatories to assist each other in international police

investigations.xlviii The Burns Archive released Hughess materials, as he was no


13/31

9

absence of identification codes and contracts, it remains to be seen what if any

assistance the oral histories claimed by the PSNI will provide to their

investigation.

Although archivists have been relatively slow to address the long-term

implications of the subpoenas, the case has galvanized some support for a legal

protection for archivists and donors through a concept referred to as archival

privilege. Aside from isolated blog posts by Christine George, the first public

statement from the Society of American Archivists (SAA) concerning the Boston

College Subpoenas came when the Government Affairs Working Group released

their findings in February 2013.lviii Although the statement encouraged more

discussion among the archival community, the SAA Council ultimately

concluded that it was inappropriate for the Society to take a formal position on

archival privilege at this time. lixIn Anthony McIntyres rebuttal to the SAAs

statement, he wrote, There is so much at stake in this case for archivists that to

allow an adverse outcome to result from badly informed inaction, would be to

do irreparable harm to the art/practice of archiving and research.lxThe SAAs

position proves particularly disappointing given the unique opportunity the case

presents for drawing international attention to the need for archival privilege. As

Harold Miller wrote in 1989 concerning the FBIs subpoena for the Braden Papers

held by the Wisconsin Historical Society: If a similar case comes before the

courts again the Society of American Archivists should not sit on the sidelines.lxi

Building on Millers call to action more than two decades previous,

Georges recent article in the American Archivistargues, Until the archival

community understands the importance of archival privilege and works toward

its adoption, collections will be at risk.lxii Like the legal protection afforded to


16/31

9?

journalists and others, archival privilege would enable donors to participate in

the archival project without rendering themselves vulnerable to any legal

repercussions for making their material known. As Miller states and George

echoes in regard to the Boston College subpoenas, The crux of the archival

privilege justification is also the heart of the archival communitys concern in

this case; namely that without the ability to restrict collections we will be unable

to collect, and important historical information will be lost to this and future

generations.lxiii In other words, archival privilege would not simply shield those

who archive, but alsoand more criticallythose whom the archive serves. In

this regard, fully understanding the stakes of the Boston College subpoenas relies

on grappling with a fundamental question: why do archives matter in Northern

Ireland?

Historical Significance

Paradoxically, the dual preservation hazards of armed conflictthe

destruction or obfuscation of extant records and the silencing of records that

otherwise would have been createdprovide the most compelling argument for

the importance of archives. In Richard Coxs exploration of the archives role as

both the product and producer in constructing war memory, he notes, in

destroying archives, deliberately or accidentally, we see another way in how we

value archives.lxiv

By adapting the paradox to the Belfast Project case, theProjects value to Northern Ireland and the chronicling of political conflicts in

general become clearest when contemplating its demise. The repercussions of

the subpoenas are widespread and dire, impacting cultural, historical, political

and even legal concerns in ways beyond the scope of this paper. For instance,


17/31

9G

Frank Murray recently published an article citing the Belfast Project as an

example of how Americas regressive legal protection of academia should be

remedied by guaranteeing a legal researchers privilege.lxvOne cornerstone of

Murrays argument applies just as well to those concerned with preservation:

the present U.S. courts have opted for an incredibly shortsighted view that the

free flow of information in this case would experience no harm because the

Belfast Project itself had stopped conducting interviews.lxviThough this project

may have ended, the greater project of recording and understanding the

Troubles is only beginning, and the courts handling of the case will inevitably

detour future projects seeking to record the voices of conflict. As Bray succinctly

observes, Turn scholarship into a police instrument, and scholarship shrivels

into silence.lxvii

Lamentably, a compromised Belfast Project furthers Northern Irelands

trend towards ignoring the communitys past trauma. Patricia Lundy and Mark

McGovern, who have written extensively about Northern Irelands unsteady

transition to peace, indict the governments lack of progress towards

reconciliation:

In the last three decades truth-telling has come to be seen as a key elementof post-conflict transition in societies throughout the world. At leasttwenty-four countries emerging from conflict have held some sort ofofficial truth-telling process, often called a truth commission. The Northof Ireland is not one of them. Indeed, the North is beginning to appeardecidedly out-of-step with other post-conflict societies because of that

absence.lxviii

Although the scope, horror, and context of the Troubles and Pol Pots Killing

Fields vary widely, Michelle Caswells analysis of Cambodias national

amnesia speaks to a governments temptation to forget. lxixResponding to a

government that exhorted its citizens to dig a hole and bury the past in it,


18/31

9R

Caswell celebrates the DC-CAM as an archive that filled the void of state-

sponsored forgetting by creating a space for remembering the past and bringing

those responsible to justice.lxxLuke Gibbonss Transformations in Irish Culture

provides a more subtle version of the temptation to forget: The historians fear,

he writes, is not simply of myth, but of history itself, particularly when it is not

easily incorporated into the controlling, seamless narratives that allow

communities to smooth over, or even to deny, their own pasts.lxxiWhile the

historical focus and necessary seal on the oral histories release limited how the

Belfast Project might contribute beyond an historical understanding of the

Troubles, it nevertheless worked to establish an historical truth, in Caswells

sense of a version of the truth that, while plural and partial, is also ultimately

pursuable.lxxii

Although community-based and academic grassroots storytelling

projects like the previously mentioned ACP have done much to record and

preserve the voices of victims of the Troubles, the paramilitaries most embroiled

in the conflict have remained largely absent from such projects. The TRC in

South Africa had navigated this dilemma through a built-in mechanism for

inducing the perpetrators of violence to add their stories to the collective

narrative of apartheid. As anthropologist Richard Wilson relates in his study of

South African reconciliation and revenge, The amnesty hearings were a

theatricalization of the power of the new state, which compelled key actors in theprevious political conflict to confess when they would rather have maintained

their silence.lxxiiiWithout any type of amnesty for providing an account of

politically motivated violence, any paramilitaries who did share their unique

knowledge of and perspective on the Troubles were liable to face retributive


19/31

9S

violence or criminal prosecution. The Belfast Project uniquely situated itself to

retrieve these seemingly irretrievable voices for future historians, as well as

potentially created what Murray termed a database of information to assist the

Irish and British governments in any potential truth and reconciliation

process.lxxiv

Boston Colleges decision to fund and sponsor the Belfast Project

answered Ellen Swains call to step outside the archival box by embracing oral

histories and promoting the importance of depositing oral histories in the

archives.lxxv In the present case, the archive took the even more unorthodox step

of not just embracing the practice of oral history but also employing clandestine

techniques such as encryption in order to facilitate them. Paula Hamilton and

Linda Shopess introduction to Oral History and Public Memoriesexplains that oral

historys value lies in terms of uncovering unknown stories or giving voice to

the unheard, the secret, making it, in effect, a form of expose or evidence where

none other is available.lxxvi Oral history, in the service of the Belfast Project,

preserved a unique and previously unheard record of the Troubles for future

generations, which thereby captured what Marie Smyth and Marie-Therese Fay

of the Costs of the Troubles Survey termed, the texture and depth that written

sources lack.lxxvii

Although, of course, only time will reveal the long-term historical value of

the Belfast Project, its potential historical significance can perhaps best be gaugedby examining the contributions of its inspiration, the Irish Bureau of History. As

Moloney stated in his introduction to Voices from the Grave, The resulting

archive, while small in comparison to that compiled by the Bureau of Military

History, provides a rare and valuable resource for historians seeking to explain


20/31

"a

and understand the Troubles.lxxviii In essence, the Belfast Project archive sought

to provide historians the same unique combatant perspective to the Troubles that

the Bureau of Military History now offers concerning the Irish Revolutionary

Period. As Ferriter wrote when the Bureaus archive of oral histories spanning

from 1913 to 1921 finally opened to historians in March 2003, Given the volume

of the material [] it will be some time before the significance of this archive can

be absorbed fully, but an initial examination suggests it has the potential to

enhance or change our understanding of the period in a number of respects.lxxix

The sentiments were echoed seven years on when historian, Fearghal McGarry

described how he drew from the Irish Bureau archive to write 2010s The Rising:

While the witness statements do not, for the most part, fundamentally alter our

knowledge of what occurred, they enhance our understanding of the

motivations, mentality, and experiences of the revolutionary generation,

preserving something of the texture and complexity of the past rarely recorded

by conventional sources.lxxx In this regard, the Belfast Project promises to

surpass its model by furthering our knowledge of previously unknown and

contested aspects of the Troubles.

Along with contextualizing the historical value of the Project, the Bureau

also presaged the inevitable obstacles to furthering the historical record within

the politically charged milieu of a post-conflict society. Although the Bureau had

sidestepped the political minefield that was the Irish Civil War by limitingtestimony strictly to events preceding 1921, Ferriter relates how it was built

uponand, at various times, beholden toa myriad of competing interest,

including professional historians, the Department of Defence, the Taoiseach,

Eamon de Valera, and the political parties of Fianna Fil and Fine Gael.lxxxi All


21/31

"9

had a stake in the manner that the Bureau, and, therefore, future historians and

citizens would represent and remember Irelands revolutionary period.

Fortunately, since the Bureau operated under the aegis of the Irish government,

eighty-three steel boxes housed in government buildings secured the material

from 1959 until its intended release for its intended historical purpose. The

archived Belfast Project, in stark contrast, would almost immediately be coopted

into the unfinished business of the Troubles and other matters beyond the

archives control. And though the stated aims of the Belfast Project were all

historical in nature, extra-historical political, judicial, and justice concerns

irresistibly pulled the Project into their respective orbits.

Conclusion

The Belfast Project provides a case study signifying both the present

hazards of soliciting and preserving previously silenced records and the vital

need for such projects to continue. Ethically paramount to any project employing

oral history in a war-torn country is what Philippe Denis of South Africas

University of KwaZulu-Natal refers to as a moral obligation to consider the

possibility of harm as a direct or indirect consequence of his/her research.lxxxii

Although the court ultimately gave the Belfast Project a partial victory by

limiting the number of oral histories released, any future like-minded projects

must learn from the legal precedents set here and spare their participants theturmoil and uncertainty of a judicial challenge. Until a form of the academic or

archival privilege advocated by George, Murray, and others becomes a reality,

the preservation challenge of retrieving those voices silenced by conflict will

remain legally fraught for future projects. While future projects should therefore


22/31

""

proceed cautiously and with an emphasis on full disclosure of any potential risks

to participants, they should nevertheless continue to seek effective and ethical

means for the historically invaluable work of retrieving silenced records.

Within the secured Treasure Room of Boston Colleges Burns Library, the

audiocassettes of the Belfast Project were protected by combination code and key

entry, a Halon fire suppressant system, and other state-of-the-art preservation

and security measures.lxxxiii Despite their physical safekeeping and the fact that

the building rests an ocean away from Divis Flats and the streets of Belfast, the

integrity of its collection became compromised by the politics and unfinished

business of a lingering conflict. Like its model, the Irish Bureau of Military

History, the full scope of the Projects mitigation of the historical silences

surrounding the Troubles will not be known for some time, though it will likely

provide what Punch called, a large chunk of what went on in this largely

concealed area.lxxxivSince the Belfast Projects contentious and ongoing legal

struggle will likely stymie similar projects in the future, it falls to the archival

community to ensure that silence does not distort and erase portions of the

historical record. Moloneys introduction to the Belfast Project declared

optimistically, One thing is certain; there is more to come.lxxxvUnless archivists

willingly engage the fraught political and legal dimensions of conflict, the ironic

twist of a long, bitter court case will have the last word on conflict preservation.


23/31

"S4

22

JB' J&%;C6'( &'D'&( -% -B' 0%(- &','*- 0/*2D'(-/-2%* %D / 6%*3P(-/*+2*3/&0'+ ,%*D62,- 2* _%&-B'&* F&'6/*+ C'-K''* &');C62,/*( K%&N2*3 -% &'E'&(')/&-2-2%* -B&%;3B -B' ,&'/-2%* %D / ;*2D2'+ F&'6/*+ /*+ 6%A/62(-( (''N2*3 -% &'0/2*K2-B2* -B' b*2-'+ 12*3+%04 FX8 ZV&%E2(2%*/6 /*+ cDD2,2/6[ /*+ d%A/62(-)/&/0262-/&2'( Zbe@T X'+ W/*+ $%00/*+%(T /*+ %-B'&([ &')&'('*-'+ -B' /&0'+0/*2D'(-/-2%*( %D -B'(' ,%0)'-2*3 2*-'&'(-( KB%`/6%*3 K2-B ^&2-2(B 0262-/&AD%&,'(`K'&' &'()%*(2C6' D%& ,%*-2*;/6 D23B-2*3 D&%0 9S?S -% -B' D%&0/6 ,'/('D2&'(%D -B' 9SSR f%%+ @&2+/A 83&''0'*-4 JB' '*+ +/-' %D -B' J&%;C6'( 2( +'C/-/C6' K2-Bg36/23B */ Bh2&'/**I(T / +2((2+'*- &');C62,/* 3&%;)T /--'0)- -% C%0C / B%-'6 %*i/&,B ">T "a94

Ei%6%*'AT 5"01'3T G4

E2^&/AT H^%(-%* $%66'3' Y;C)%'*/(TI 94 ^&/A /6(% ,%*-&2C;-'( &'3;6/&6A -% /,%0)&'B'*(2E' /*+ K2+'6AP,2-'+ K'C(2-' ,;&/-'+ CA $/&&2' JK%0'AT K2D' %D -B'

^'6D/(- V&%M',-I( 8*-B%*A i,F*-A&'T -B/- ,%66',-( *'K( &')%&-( /*+ 6'3/6 &'(%;&,'(,%*,'&*2*3 -B' ^%(-%* $%66'3' Y;C)%'*/( /-C%(-%*,%66'3'(;C)%'*/:K%&+)&'((4,%04

E22\/K(%*T 6)70*8 /')1'T S4 H80%*3 -B'(' +'/-B(T / E'&A B23B )&%)%&-2%*P(%0' "Taaa ,/('( 2* "aa?PB/E' A'- -% C' )&%)'&6A 2*E'(-23/-'+T /*+ &'0/2*H;*(%6E'+I 2* -B' ('*(' -B/- -B' ,2&,;0(-/*,'( %D +'/-B B/E' *%- C''* ,6/&2D2'+ /*+-B' 2*+2E2+;/6 /3'*-( &'()%*(2C6' B/E' *%- C''* 2+'*-2D2'+ %& ,/66'+ -% /,,%;*-4I


24/31

"=

E222@%& 'O/0)6'( %D B%K %-B'& ,%00;*2-2'( B/E' /++&'(('+ -B' ,/('T ('' J'+V/6A( /*+ .%B* d%K0/*T H\'D'*+2*3 X'('/&,B $%*D2+'*-2/62-ATI /*+ i;&&/AT H^%(-%*$%66'3'I( \'D'*('4I

2O f'%&3'I( K%&N K266 C' +2(,;(('+ 'O-'*(2E'6A -B&%;3B%;- 0A /&3;0'*-T)/&-2,;6/&6A 2* -B' (',-2%*( &'3/&+2*3 -B' /&,B2E/6 &'()%*(' -% -B' ^%(-%* $%66'3'Y;C)%'*/(4 @%& /* 'O/0)6' %D B'& K%&NT ('' f'%&3'T H8&,B2E'( ^'A%*+ -B' V/6'4I

OJB' &')'&,;((2%*( %D -B' Y;C)%'*/( /&' /6&'/+A C'2*3 D'6- 2* -B/- -K%d%A/62(- )/&/0262-/&2'(T Q2662/0 HV6;0I Y02-B /*+ Q2*(-%* HQ2*N2'I X'/T B/E' -/N'*6'3/6 (-')( -% B/E' 2*-'&E2'K( &'-;&*'+4 Y02-B K/( L;%-'+ /( /(N2*3 HW%K ,/*)'%)6' ()'/N %)'*6A -% 32E' D;-;&' 3'*'&/-2%*( -B' C'*'D2- %D 6'/&*2*3 /*+ -B',B/*,' -% /*/6A(' 'E'*-( 2D -B'&'I( / ,%*(-/*- -B&'/- %D )&%(',;-2%* B/*32*3 %E'&-B'0jI X%K/*T Hd%A/62(- Q/*-( J/)'( X'-;&*'+4I

O2"#$%&$' ()* +,-./0 1#-2 #.2 3.0#-2'4 5678

O22X/E'*T F*-&%+;,-2%* -% 9"3$ 90:#)#0'3,


25/31

">

D%& / +'(,&2)-2%* %D -B' 5%6/( V&%M',-T /*+ C'1"#+0*8 6'D"#0'3T >>T D%& / +2(,;((2%* %D-B' $%2(-' */ *PF/&,B202 Z$%2(-'[T /* %&3/*2]/-2%* %D F&2(B &');C62,/* 'OP)&2(%*'&(4

OO2E$%%3/*T A%' A#"


26/31

"?

O622FC2+4T >4

O6222@'&&2-'&T A#)*3I"#D)$0"*T 9RS4

O62E

i%6%*'AT 5"01'3T >4O6E866 2*D%&0/-2%* 2* -B2( (',-2%* 2( /,,;&/-' /( %D Y')-'0C'& =T "a9P"R?4

6FC2+4T "RG4

62Y'' f'%&3'T H8&,B2E'( ^'A%*+ -B' V/6'TI /*+ V/6A( /*+ d%K0/*T H\'D'*+2*3X'('/&,B $%*D2+'*-2/62-ATI D%& / +'-/26'+ /,,%;*- %D -B' E/&2%;( ,%;&- )&%,''+2*3(4

622V/6A( /*+ d%K0/*T H\'D'*+2*3 X'('/&,B $%*D2+'*-2/62-AT "RR4

6222$;66'*T HV&%(',;-%&( k;'(-2%*'+4I

62EV/6A( /*+ d%K0/*T H\'D'*+2*3 X'('/&,B $%*D2+'*-2/62-ATI "Sa4

6Ef'%&3'T H8&,B2E'( ^'A%*+ -B' V/6'TI 994

6E2W%K/&+T H^%(-%* $%66'3' Q2*( / d'3/6 e2,-%&A4I

6E22^&/AT H8*%*A0%;( e%2,'(4I

6E222Y'' f'%&3'T H^6%3 5*-&A >I/*+ f'%&3'T H$/662*3 V&2E26'3' / X23B-4I

62OY88 f%E'&*0'*- 8DD/2&( Q%&N2*3 f&%;)T H\2(,;((2%* %D -B' ^%(-%*$%66'3'UFX8 c&/6 W2(-%&A Y2-;/-2%*4I

6Oi,F*-A&'T HX'()%*(' -% Y88 \2(,;((2%*4I

6O2i266'&T H8,,'(( X'(-&2,-2%*(TI 9RS4 JB' ^&/+'* ,/(' )&%E2+'( -B' D2&(-2*(-/*,' %D -B' ,%;&-( C'2*3 ;('+ -% %)'* )&2E/-' )/)'&( 2* /* /&,B2E'4 JB' ,/('C'3/* 2* 9SR? KB'* 8**' ^&/+'* +'*2'+ / &'L;'(- D%& /,,'(( -% B'& &'(-&2,-'+)/)'&( CA -B' @'+'&/6 ^;&'/; %D F*E'(-23/-2%*T KB2,B (;C('L;'*-6A 6'+ -% -B' )/)'&(C'2*3 (;C)%'*/'+ /*+ / 6'*3-BA ,%;&- C/--6'4 86-B%;3B -B' M;+3' &;6'+ 2* D/E%& %D


27/31

"G

-B' @^FT -B'A *'E'& D;66A /--/2*'+ /,,'(( -% ^&/+'*I( ,%66',-2%*4 Y'' i266'&T H8,,'((X'(-&2,-2%*(TI /*+ f'%&3'T H8&,B2E'( ^'A%*+ -B' V/6'TI -% 6'/&* 0%&' /C%;- -B' ,/('4

6O22f'%&3'T H8&,B2E'( ^'A%*+ -B' V/6'TI "S4

6O222i266'&T H8,,'(( X'(-&2,-2%*(TI 9R=4

6O2E$%OT H8&,B2E'(T Q/&T /*+ i'0%&AI 9T =4

6OE22 ^&/AT HY;C)%'*/(TI "4

6OE222d;*+A /*+ i,f%E'&*T H HIl%; b*+'&(-/*+ 83/2*IITI >


28/31

"R

6OOO2FC2+4T 1->&.:&0' #.2F=G&$ -. 1->&.:&'4!"#$%&'"%'A6 J5KKALE 56MN5@@8

$/(K'66T i2,B'66'4 H1B0'& X%;3' 8&,B2E'(7 8,,%;*-/C262-AT -&;-BT /*+ 0'0%&A 2*$/0C%+2/4I .#1%0;)( ?10'*1' 9a Z"a9a[7 ">P==4

$%%3/*T J20 V/-4 A%' A#"


29/31

"S

$;66'*T 1'E2*4 HV&%(',;-%&( k;'(-2%*'+ 2* H^'6D/(- V&%M',-I 8))'/64I A%' % A0D'3T8)&26 >T "a9"4 8,,'(('+ _%E'0C'& 9=T "a9"4B--)7UUKKK42&2(B-20'(4,%0U*'K()/)'&U2&'6/*+U"a9"Ua=a>U9""=


30/31

"


31/31

"

Documents

‘Say nothing’- silenced records and the Boston College subpoenas