Archive

Welcome to the Testimony Archive! This section gives you unique access to the video interviews that the Testimony Project carried out between 1999 and 2001.

Testimony originally came about as a response to the changing face of the British mental health care system. As the old asylum based hospitals were replaced with different models of treatment, there was concern that the stories of those who had spent time there would be forgotten. At the end of the 1990s a group of interviewers from a range of backgrounds went across England and Wales to record first hand accounts from individuals who had experienced life in such institutions. Their aim was to create a historical resource coming from an often ignored perspective - instead of relying on opinions of those distanced from the situation, it would give those with direct experience the power to speak for themselves.

The project was developed in collaboration with the British Library and the resulting footage is now stored in the archive of their Life Story collection.
Now on the Testimony website you can access its content for the first time outside of the British Library buildings. All the interviews have been fully transcribed and we have created a comprehensive index of key terms, which you can use to perform a search of the transcripts. If you are not sure exactly what you are looking for, we have also divided the content into categories, which you can browse to find the material most relevant to your needs.

If you want to watch the interviews, some excerpts are online here or you can contact the British Library, however you will not be able to make copies or take tapes off site. For broadcast and other research purposes, all Testimony footage is available for usage via this website – please complete the online footage request form here, and we will get back to you.