12 March 2026 | 6.30pm | St Pancras Church, Euston Road, London
This State of the United States event convenes two of the world’s most influential stewards of cultural memory to examine how archives, libraries, and museums underpin a functioning democracy. Together they will explore how the decisions societies make about what to document, preserve, or overlook shape the civic imagination and influence national identity, especially in a period when history itself has become a fiercely contested terrain. At a moment defined by disinformation and distrust, their conversation will consider how non-partisan knowledge institutions act as stabilising forces, safeguarding trusted information, modelling transparency, and helping citizens of every background develop the skills to discern high-quality evidence. They will also reflect on how such institutions can defend themselves from political interference, how the US and UK might learn from each other’s successes and vulnerabilities, and why investing in resilient, apolitical repositories of public knowledge is essential to protecting constitutional democracy in an increasingly volatile era.
Dr Colleen J. Shogan was the 11th Archivist of the United States and the first woman appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to lead the National Archives and Records Administration. A political scientist and award-winning public servant, she has held senior roles at the White House Historical Association, the US Senate, and the Library of Congress. She is currently President of More Perfect, a Senior Fellow in Civics Education at Stand Together, and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University.
Richard Ovenden OBE is Bodley’s Librarian and Helen Hamlyn Director of the University Libraries at the University of Oxford, with strategic responsibility for the Bodleian Libraries and Oxford’s Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM). He has held senior roles at Durham University Library, the House of Lords Library, the National Library of Scotland, and the University of Edinburgh, and has been at the Bodleian since 2003. He writes widely on libraries, archives, and cultural heritage, and is a regular contributor to the Financial Times and the Observer. His book Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge under Attack was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2021.
The talk will be moderated by the Director of the UCL Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism, Professor Erin Delaney.
