Fire at MSPCA Archive

Of all the animal advocacy organization headquarters that the Grumpy Vegan has visited over the years in the U.K. and U.S., the one with the most professionally organized and comprehensive archive is the Massachusetts SPCA in Boston. I was therefore greatly concerned to learn that there was recently a fire where the archives are kept. The MSPCA reports

Unfortunately, the room where the fire broke out also contained much of the MSPCA-Angell’s archives dating back to its founding in 1868. Early publications of the organization were lost in the blaze; however, staff continue to uncover salvageable items including scrapbooks and journals, some from George T. Angell, the non-profit’s founder. A listing of the historical items that have been lost is being compiled and will take several weeks to create.

Fortunately, no animals or humans were at risk from the fire. But, tragically, a significant part of our movement’s history is damaged or lost.

This speaks to the importance of such collections as the Tom Regan Animal Rights Archive at North Carolina State University. Clearly, there needs to be similar archives elsewhere in the world. It’s the Grumpy Vegan’s enduring wish that his collection becomes the corpus for an animal rights archive in a British university, and is quietly working away toward accomplishing this. Please contact me if you have materials to donate and an interest in helping to make this happen. The dream is to establish an academic centre with an archive at its hub.