Mandy Banton

Dr. Mandy Banton is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, part of the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Her fellowship term runs from September 1, 2009 to July 31, 2026. Previously, she served as Principal Records Specialist (Diplomatic and Colonial) at The National Archives of the UK (TNA) for 25 years. She holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in February 2017.

Dr. Banton is a leading expert on British colonial records, specializing in the records of the Colonial Office and the so-called "migrated archives" that were removed from 37 UK dependencies at independence and concealed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) until 2011. She is the author of the standard research guide Administering the Empire, 1801-1968: A Guide to the Records of the Colonial Office in The National Archives of the UK, with a revised edition published in 2015 and reissued as an open access online edition in September 2020.

Her research focuses on the administrative history of the Colonial Office, record-keeping practices, and the regulation of "free" labor after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. She has made significant contributions to the global debate on the repatriation of colonial archives, working with the International Records Management Trust, Kenya National Archives, and other international bodies. Dr. Banton is a member of the Expert Group on Shared Archival Heritage (EGSAH) set up by the International Council on Archives in 2016.

Dr. Banton's publications over the last decade demonstrate a consistent focus on displaced archives, colonial record-keeping, and the politics of historical documentation. Her work bridges archival science, colonial history, and postcolonial studies, with particular attention to the ethical and practical challenges of managing colonial archives in the contemporary era. She has contributed significantly to both academic discourse and public understanding of these issues through media appearances and public lectures.

• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (2017)

Dr. Banton has been actively involved in numerous collaborative projects, including organizing conferences on Freedom of Information in the Commonwealth with Dr. Susan Williams, which led to a special issue of The Round Table. She has served on advisory boards for the Institute of Latin American Studies and the Legacies of British Slave-ownership project at University College London. Her work has attracted significant media attention, with consultations and interviews by journalists from The Guardian, VICE News, Radiolab, and other major media outlets.

As a member of the Expert Group on Shared Archival Heritage, Dr. Banton has played a key role in international efforts to address the complex issues surrounding displaced colonial archives. She organized a panel at the International Council on Archives conference in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in 2018, and edited a comprehensive bibliography relevant to EGSAH's work, published on the ICA website in December 2020 and regularly updated.