British Universities Film & Video Council

moving image and sound, knowledge and access

Chronicle: BBC Northern Ireland’s television news from the 60s and 70s

This image may be used only for promotion of this project, please do not reproduce - rights held by the BBC.

This image may be used only for promotion of this project, please do not reproduce – rights held by the BBC.

NB The site is currently down for maintenance. If you have any queries, please email: ask@bufvc.ac.uk

Duration: 2009- ongoing

Funded by: JISC, Learning on Screen and BBC

Partner(s): BBC Archive Development Team, BBC Northern Ireland, the JISC-led Strategic Content Alliance

Key objectives:

  • To provide Authenticated Users (in HE and FE) access to digitised copies of selected BBC news and current affairs material covering Northern Ireland and The Troubles (1963-1976)
  • The digital preservation of news material recorded between 1963 and 1981 on 16mm film and at risk of deterioration.

Learning on Screen involvement / Project outcomes:

The audio-visual archives of the BBC contain a wealth of material gathered since it was founded in the 1920’s but it remains largely inaccessible. ‘Chronicle’ has made part of that archive available to UK higher and further education by digitising hours of content from the BBC Northern Ireland’s vaults.

The digitised material will allow users to explore events over a 14 year time period (1963-1976) of Northern Ireland’s history, delivering a rich and contextual experience from a political, historical and cultural perspective. At the time of writing around 4,000 videos are available (ranging from 1963 to 1971) but more will be added as the collection is catalogued.