‘An Archivist’s Diary’: Big Flame Participants Speak to the Museum of Youth Culture
Yeliz Zaifoglu, Archivist at the Museum of Youth Culture, spoke to our Little Flames, Jack and Jason. Read a snippet below!
We are fortunate to have been asked by Yeliz at the Museum of Youth Culture to have a chat about the Big Flame Project. Little Flames, Jack Clarke and Jason Lee, were in conversation with Yeliz about how they found working with archives and putting together the co-curated exhibition, Keep The Flame Burning, which you can see fully at the Library until April 10 2026 and partially online here.
Little Flames Seth, Ally, Ezrin (and Jason and Patricia in the background) in our banner making session with Lou Miller!
Read a snippet of the blog below:
An Archivist’s Diary: The Working Class Movement Library
For its latest exhibition, the Working Class Movement Library brought together a group of young, working class archivists to tackle the Big Flame archive. Drawing out parallels to the fights being fought today, the exhibition is not only a look back but a mediation on the future. Yeliz spoke two of the young archivists about their journey.
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After a very sleepy morning train, my colleague Lisa and I arrived in a cold Salford and ran into the safety of the Working Class Movement Library! My first introduction to the library was through a workshop we had to do and engaging with the loveliest group of young people that were a part of a project to interact with the archive and create an exhibition dedicated to Big Flame and its revolutionary history. We spoke about all things archiving and how easy it is to start that process, with a simple change of perspective and sometimes just a cardboard box we made it very clear that championing archiving can really start with the self. It felt like that sentiment resonated with the group because we were met with nothing but warm stories of their upbringings and passionate conversations about what they’ve been learning when being exposed to what histories the library cares for. For this chat rather than sitting with an archivist I sat with two of these ‘Little Flamers’ and caught their thoughts of what this project not only taught them but how it changed them.
Shout out to Jack, Jason, Amie and the rest of the Little Flamers!
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What sparked your initial interest in working with the Working Class Movement Library?
Jack Clarke: I think for me it was quite a big deal, because it’s in Salford! But the thing is I went to Salford University and I’d never even heard of the movement library. And I thought I was, like, a genuine, great shame. When you walk inside, it’s a very small and intimate building, but particularly if you’re working class, you’ve never had access to a space before. It’s just really, really interesting and engaging. So it was important for me to do something that was local, where I feel local history is being lost.
I guess its more connecting to where you know, and like, the idea of wanting to preserve somewhere you know, because, maybe because you know how easily it could be lost in a way?
Jack Clarke: Yeah, well, I mean, just to add a little bit onto that, because it’s where I’m from and my family’s from, what I see Salford as now is almost like two sides of the same coin. On one side, you’ve got Media City, which has sort of become like a mini middle-class London. On the other, you’ve got young people doing balloons in alleyways, and they’re not seeing the benefits of that development. Local history is preserved in places and people are interested in it, but slowly and surely it feels like it’s being lost, replaced by car parks, Lidls, and all that kind of jazz.
It’s like a way of Salford almost regaining its autonomy back in a way! Do you agree, Jason, what’s your opinion of the question? Like, what sparked you?
Jason Lee: What Jack said is really interesting. Because I think for me, I’m not a Salford resident. I’m from Huddersfield, which is also like quite a working class town. But I came here as a student and as someone that does history for their degree. It felt very natural in that way. But before this project, I’d never actually seen a non sanitized version of our history being preserved, and,for free! I think that’s quite powerful.
Read the blog in full on the Museum of Youth Culture’s website!
A snippet of the Little Flames’ project diaries, which served as their own archive of the project.