{"id":18778,"date":"2020-03-20T13:56:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T12:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wwwdev.embl.org\/news\/?p=18778"},"modified":"2023-03-08T09:58:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T08:58:08","slug":"the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"The history of EMBL in many voices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.embl.de\/aboutus\/archive\">EMBL Archive<\/a> is a living repository for the objects \u2013 both physical and digital \u2013 that embody EMBL\u2019s scientific and institutional heritage, and the history of European molecular biology. But without the context of the stories behind them, some archival holdings can have little meaning. Our institutional memory is preserved not only in documentary heritage but also \u2013 and sometimes more vividly \u2013 in the personal stories and memories of the people who have experienced EMBL through its history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As <a href=\"http:\/\/news.embl.de\/lab-matters\/1504-archive\">EMBL\u2019s first archivist<\/a>, Anne-Flore Lalo\u00eb faced a big challenge when she arrived at EMBL Heidelberg in 2015: to capture and preserve as much of EMBL\u2019s 40-year history as possible. Inevitably, there are gaps in the physical record, but there are many members of the EMBL community with recollections of EMBL as part of their personal history. Lalo\u00eb realised the potential of this untapped resource and established the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.embl.de\/aboutus\/archive\/oral-histories\">Oral Histories programme<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\u2019s now on a mission to record the memories of a broad cross-section of this EMBL demographic, in their own voices. Everyone has their own unique perspective and their own story to tell. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to capture some of the diversity of EMBL voices,\u201d says Lalo\u00eb. \u201cIt\u2019s also an alternative way of making our records accessible to the public. As a publicly funded organisation, EMBL is accountable to the public and to society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With each new recording \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.embl.org\/index.php\/hcm06\">there are 35 to date<\/a> \u2013 the oral histories collection becomes richer and more revealing. Lalo\u00eb has spoken to different people with their own versions of the same stories. \u201cYou piece it all together,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s about getting the bigger picture. And now the public also have access to these stories and are able to connect the dots for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stories from EMBL\u2019s past are captured via the EMBL Archive\u2019s Oral Histories programme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":19067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[80,246,322,952,14001],"embl_taxonomy":[19215],"class_list":["post-18778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lab-matters","tag-alumni","tag-audio","tag-embl-archive","tag-history","tag-osim","embl_taxonomy-embl-archive"],"acf":{"article_intro":"<p>Stories from EMBL\u2019s past are captured via the EMBL Archive\u2019s Oral Histories programme<\/p>\n","featured":true,"article_sources":false,"related_links":[{"link_description":"","link_url":""},{"link_description":"","link_url":""}],"color":"#b65417","link_color":"#fff","pdf_archive_link":"","description_pdf_archive_link":"","vf_locked":false,"show_featured_image":false,"in_this_article":false,"youtube_url":"","mp4_url":"","video_caption":"","press_contact":"None","field_target_display":"embl","source_article":false,"field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"article_translations":false,"languages":""},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[{"uuid":"a:3:{i:0;s:36:\"302cfdf7-365b-462a-be65-82c7b783ebf7\";i:1;s:36:\"17a6384a-fa1a-49d9-89ca-811de30c6abf\";i:2;s:36:\"863f68e2-d084-4d37-a3aa-16fc4b68f366\";}","parents":[],"name":["EMBL Archive"],"slug":"embl-archive","description":"What &gt; Scientific Information Management &gt; EMBL Archive"}],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The history of EMBL in many voices | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stories from EMBL\u2019s past are captured via the EMBL Archive\u2019s Oral Histories programme\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The history of EMBL in many voices | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stories from EMBL\u2019s past are captured via the EMBL Archive\u2019s Oral Histories programme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-20T12:56:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-08T08:58:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cella Carr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cella Carr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cella Carr\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3bb76de286246270a71cf08b368e0594\"},\"headline\":\"The history of EMBL in many voices\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-20T12:56:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-08T08:58:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/\"},\"wordCount\":297,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"alumni\",\"audio\",\"embl archive\",\"history\",\"osim\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lab Matters\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/\",\"name\":\"The history of EMBL in many voices | EMBL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-20T12:56:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-08T08:58:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"Stories from EMBL\u2019s past are captured via the EMBL Archive\u2019s Oral Histories programme\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"The EMBL Archive's Oral Histories programme records diverse stories from the EMBL community. PHOTO: Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory News\",\"description\":\"News from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"EMBL News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory\",\"alternateName\":\"EMBL\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":144,\"caption\":\"European Molecular Biology Laboratory\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/embl\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embl_org\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15813\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/emblmedia\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3bb76de286246270a71cf08b368e0594\",\"name\":\"Cella Carr\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c018afa51082d626819d9140ccdc9c99bbbfdd79750cf4223c486ea8305e60e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c018afa51082d626819d9140ccdc9c99bbbfdd79750cf4223c486ea8305e60e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cella Carr\"},\"description\":\"Cella is a writer and editor. As Editorial Officer in the Communications team she spent her days chatting to smart people about science, and writing their stories for EMBLetc. Red hair is the source of her superpowers (this has yet to be proven by science).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/cella-carr\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The history of EMBL in many voices | EMBL","description":"Stories from EMBL\u2019s past are captured via the EMBL Archive\u2019s Oral Histories programme","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The history of EMBL in many voices | EMBL","og_description":"Stories from EMBL\u2019s past are captured via the EMBL Archive\u2019s Oral Histories programme","og_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/","og_site_name":"EMBL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","article_published_time":"2020-03-20T12:56:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-08T08:58:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cella Carr","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@embl","twitter_site":"@embl","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cella Carr","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/"},"author":{"name":"Cella Carr","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3bb76de286246270a71cf08b368e0594"},"headline":"The history of EMBL in many voices","datePublished":"2020-03-20T12:56:27+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-08T08:58:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/"},"wordCount":297,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg","keywords":["alumni","audio","embl archive","history","osim"],"articleSection":["Lab Matters"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/","name":"The history of EMBL in many voices | EMBL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-20T12:56:27+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-08T08:58:08+00:00","description":"Stories from EMBL\u2019s past are captured via the EMBL Archive\u2019s Oral Histories programme","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/lab-matters\/the-history-of-embl-in-many-voices\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg","width":1000,"height":600,"caption":"The EMBL Archive's Oral Histories programme records diverse stories from the EMBL community. PHOTO: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/","name":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory News","description":"News from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization"},"alternateName":"EMBL News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization","name":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory","alternateName":"EMBL","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/EMBL_logo_colour-1-300x144-1.png","width":300,"height":144,"caption":"European Molecular Biology Laboratory"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/","https:\/\/x.com\/embl","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/embl_org\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/15813\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/emblmedia\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3bb76de286246270a71cf08b368e0594","name":"Cella Carr","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c018afa51082d626819d9140ccdc9c99bbbfdd79750cf4223c486ea8305e60e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c018afa51082d626819d9140ccdc9c99bbbfdd79750cf4223c486ea8305e60e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cella Carr"},"description":"Cella is a writer and editor. As Editorial Officer in the Communications team she spent her days chatting to smart people about science, and writing their stories for EMBLetc. Red hair is the source of her superpowers (this has yet to be proven by science).","url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/author\/cella-carr\/"}]}},"field_target_display":"embl","field_article_language":{"value":"english","label":"English"},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/EMBL-archive-oral-histories_shutterstock_222401611.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18778"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19115,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18778\/revisions\/19115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18778"},{"taxonomy":"embl_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/embl_taxonomy?post=18778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}