Curating the Colonial Past: The 'Migrated Archives' and the Struggle for Kenya's History

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Riley Linebaugh
Episode Date: December 23, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Miranda Melcher interviews Dr. Riley Linebaugh about her forthcoming book, Curating the Colonial Past: The ‘Migrated Archives’ and the Struggle for Kenya’s History (Cambridge UP, 2025). The conversation takes listeners through the hidden histories, political complexities, and ongoing debates surrounding colonial archives that were secretly removed from Kenya—and dozens of other former British colonies—by British officials during the decolonization period. Dr. Linebaugh illuminates the motivations for hiding, relocating, and sometimes destroying incriminating documents, the contested meanings of “migrated archives,” and the implications for postcolonial history, access, and reparative justice.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of the Book and Personal Motivation

[02:42]

• Dr. Riley Linebaugh introduces herself as a historian and archivist, tracing her interest to 2012 when, as a student, she witnessed the public disclosure (“Hounslow Park Disclosure”) of previously concealed colonial-era documents.
  • “I was a sort of bright-eyed student who felt like they were witnessing something as it unfolded. I decided to train as an archivist and then do my PhD to study the history of these files.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [02:48]

2. What are the ‘Migrated Archives’?

[04:32, 07:13]

• Files removed from Kenya (and up to 41 other colonies) to London by British colonial officials around the time of independence, especially over fears of “embarrassment” to the British government.
• The term “migrated archives” is contested and multi-layered:
  • First used in the 1970s during disputes between the UK and India about document custody.
  • Holds dual meanings: the physical movement of archives and the bureaucratic concealment of sensitive histories.
  • Dr. Linebaugh puts the term in quotation marks to critique its euphemistic, passive connotation.
  • “Documents aren’t animate objects. They can’t move themselves, but were moved... The passive sort of takes focus away from the act of removal, which is, to anyone who's visited British museums, a very characteristic way of referring to actions in the past that indicate some form of culpability.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [09:03]

3. Why Remove or Destroy Archives?

[06:29, 11:16]

• British officials were especially concerned about files related to violence during the Mau Mau uprising and the Emergency period (1952-1960), seeking to withhold evidence of abuses, torture, and intelligence operations.
• “The key word is embarrassing. To remove anything, any record or document that might embarrass Her Majesty's government or members of the police or military forces, or that... compromised sources of intelligence or informants.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [05:34]
• The muted language avoided “incriminating,” reflecting diplomatic strategies in transition from colonial dominance to Commonwealth partnership and fears of reparations or retribution.

4. Records Organization and the Myth of Coherence

[13:35]

• The process was messy and inconsistent, countering assumptions of systematic archiving and removal.
  • “There was a big gap in my... understanding... between the fantasy of having a comprehensive, coherent record keeping project... and the haphazard, lengthy and imperfect process to coordinate... It also was inconsistently applied... reliant on the subjective interpretation of individuals.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [14:15]

5. Operation Legacy and the ‘W System’

[15:53, 16:27]

• “Operation Legacy”—a term originating in Tanganyika—described systematic attempts to purge sensitive records.
• The “W system” (for “Watch”) designated records for destruction or removal, applied by officials (notably white/European, highlighting the project’s racialized bureaucracy).
  • “It’s a purple W stamp meaning for watch, meaning this file should be either destroyed or removed. It's sort of the highest security grade from the 1960s onwards.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [17:15]

6. Visibility, Knowledge and Immediate Reactions

[20:08]

• Despite later narratives of discovery, the removals and destruction (often via overt bonfires) were known locally and reported at the time.
  • “Anyone who's near a bonfire sees it. But also there was reporting happening at the time about, about bonfire... There was an awareness at that level. And then too, as the colonial government... is being displaced, the independent government is being informed that the outgoing colonial government is taking with them some records.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [21:04]

7. International Actors and the Question of Custody

[24:28]

• The stakes of Kenya’s archives drew attention from global actors:
  • US universities (e.g., Syracuse) and Oxford sought copies to inform area studies, Cold War policy, and to shape the narrative of the British Empire.
  • “There was a concern over... the ways in which the history of the British Empire would be written if left in the hands of the sort of post colonial state.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [26:04]

8. Foundation and Priorities of the Kenyan National Archives

[28:11]

• Kenya prioritized establishing its own National Archives soon after independence—codified by Joseph Murumbi in 1965—with robust investment and symbolic importance for national unity.
  • “It has a lot of sort of political capital attributed to it, which in different moments... also corresponded to political funding... In 1965, we have for the first time, black Kenyans who are able to use the central government library.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [30:03]
• Some missing records were considered beneficial to be kept secret domestically due to political sensitivities around the Mau Mau history and recently suppressed violence.

9. Official Attempts at Retrieval and the Role of International Archival Bodies

[33:00, 37:12]

• The 1965 founding act granted Kenya’s chief archivist explicit power to seek the return of expatriated records.
• The International Council on Archives (ICA) offered a forum for negotiation but ultimately lacked enforcement power and was hamstrung by global asymmetries of power:
  • “The ICA provides at this time sort of support in engaging that process, but ultimately fails to incentivize the goodwill by the UK and other former imperial powers.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [40:40]

10. Recent Developments: The Hounslow Park Disclosure

[42:02]

• Between the 1960s and the 1990s, the files were kept secret in high-security UK locations until discovered due to a legal case involving survivors of British torture in Kenya.
  • “These records... were held in secret storage... until 1994, when they were transferred to Hounslow Port park... an MI5, MI6 facility... so these records, although the Kenyan government... were aware that they had been removed... the UK government was able to maintain their secrecy by concealing them.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [43:12]
• The legal case and historian-witnesses pressured the British government to admit the files’ existence, leading to partial public release (2011–2012), known as FCO 141.

11. Access, Digitization, and Ongoing Contestations

[45:18]

• The files are now (at least in principle) accessible at the UK’s National Archives, but practical barriers persist due to visa policies, lack of digitization, and resource gaps in former colonies.
  • “Can anyone just go and look at them? Well... it depends on how easy it is for you to get into the UK in the first place... Digitization is a different solution than restitution.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [45:20]
• African archivists remain divided—some insist these archives are essential for reclaiming history and sovereignty; others caution against reinforcing the colonial narrative or overburdening already strained local archives.

12. Hidden Labor and Future Research

[48:25]

• Dr. Linebaugh reflects on the unrecognized, gendered labor behind colonial secrecy: Women, often secretaries, physically applied stamps and managed sensitive files.
  • “I came to realize that most of the people actually responsible for stamping that W, for ensuring that sort of sensitive files were not seen, were female secretaries. And these women aren't very well represented in historiography.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [48:49]
• This insight has seeded her next research project: “Caesar’s Wives” and the gendered politics of secrecy in the colonial archive.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Liminality of Official Narratives and Archival Terms

  • “Records that are preserved within archives are usually records that are no longer in use... The records being assembled through this W system are not closed records... Meaning... exactly this. The civil war and processes of detention, villageization and the use of torture by the police in Kenya...” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [20:42]

• On International Power Asymmetries

  • “What we know from many examples of this time period is that the existence of these blocs doesn't resolve the asymmetry on which they're founded.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [40:25]

• On the Political Value of Archives

  • “The National Archives was understood to be an instrument of national unity, that this could be a house where sort of all of the Kenyan peoples might belong. So a deeply political project and ideal that I do not argue was successful in creating a sense of unity, but that sort of expectation, and it did then correspond with funding to get it on a good basis.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [31:03]

• On the Gendered Labor of Secrecy

  • “I came to realize that most of the people actually responsible for stamping that W... were female secretaries. And these women aren’t very well represented in historiography.” – Dr. Riley Linebaugh [48:49]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:42 – Dr. Linebaugh’s introduction and origin of research
• 04:32 – What are the migrated archives?
• 06:29 – Motivation for destruction/removal: “embarrassment”
• 13:35 – Lack of coherence and organization in archival practices
• 16:27 – Operation Legacy and the “W system”
• 20:08 – How removal and destruction were witnessed locally
• 24:28 – International and academic actors interested in the archives
• 28:11 – Creation and priorities of the Kenya National Archives
• 33:00 – Kenya’s official stance on retrieving expatriated records
• 37:12 – The International Council on Archives role and limitations
• 42:02 – 21st-century “rediscovery” and the Hounslow Park Disclosure
• 45:18 – Access, digitization, and ongoing debates
• 48:25 – Hidden gendered labor in archival secrecy and Dr. Linebaugh’s next project

Conclusion

This episode provides an in-depth exploration of the tangled histories and ongoing contestations involving the "migrated archives"—records dislocated from Kenya during decolonization and their impact on historical justice, nation-building, and scholarly access. Dr. Linebaugh emphasizes the archives’ political centrality, international connections and contestations, their chaotic removal, and the unresolved debates over restitution versus access. The episode closes with a preview of her next research focus: the marginalized labor—especially by women—at the heart of colonial record-keeping and concealment.

For anyone grappling with questions of colonial legacy, archival justice, and the power of documentation, this episode (and Dr. Linebaugh’s book) is an essential, nuanced listen.