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The Archiverse

A digital universe of stories crafted by under-16s

Welcome to the Archiverse

Make your mark on East Riding history by visiting our Archiverse world to tell us your story, your way!

The East Riding Archives have created a fun and interactive world called the Archiverse, built using the Minecraft: Education Edition videogame, populated by stories created by under-16s. At the centre of the Archiverse is a fully-explorable recreation of the Treasure House, home of the East Riding Archives, featuring interactive characters and a chance to see behind the scenes in the archives.

Image: A recreation of the Treasure House in the Archiverse.

A recreation of the Treasure House in the Archiverse.
The build zone in the Archiverse- each built creation tells a story.

The build zone in the Archiverse- each built creation tells a story.

Written contributions created by young people using the ‘book and quill’ item are on display in the Archiverse research room.

Written contributions created by young people using the ‘book and quill’ item are on display in the Archiverse research room.

Example of a written creation by Emma, Age 14, telling us about her COVID-19 lockdown experience as part of the East Riding Blockdown project. Her story is now in the archives as ERBP/3/38.

Example of a written creation by Emma, Age 14, telling us about her COVID-19 lockdown experience as part of the East Riding Blockdown project. Her story is now in the archives as ERBP/3/38.

Example of a written creation by Emma, Age 14, telling us about her COVID-19 lockdown experience as part of the East Riding Blockdown project. Her story is now in the archives as ERBP/3/38.

Example of a written creation by Emma, Age 14, telling us about her COVID-19 lockdown experience as part of the East Riding Blockdown project. Her story is now in the archives as ERBP/3/38.

Your story, your way

The Archiverse is a world where young people can craft and share their life experiences, in their own creative way, by building and writing.

Each story is not only exhibited in the Archiverse for others to see, but they will also be added to the real-world East Riding Archives as unique historical records, making each young person a history maker!

Add your story to the Archiverse

If you are 16 or under, have a connection to the East Riding, and would like to make your mark on history, we welcome your life stories for the archives!

Your stories can be crafted through built creations or writing in a ‘book and quill’ in Minecraft.

Here are some topics to get you started:

  • A day in your life
  • Favourite things- activities, music, food, people
  • A place that is important to you
  • Your hero

How to take part

  • In Minecraft: Education Edition: Download the Archiverse world file (see Download the Archiverse). Please email us a new copy of your world file, or screenshots of your creations along with your completed Registration form.
  • In all other versions of Minecraft (Java, Bedrock, Mobile etc), please email us screenshots of your built and written creations along with your completed Registration form.
  • If you do not have a copy of Minecraft, keep an eye out for in-person events held at the Treasure House and other venues.

All screenshots sent to us will be permanently archived and made available to researchers. Don’t forget to send us a description of what you have built or written about. Please obtain parental or guardian permission, by completing the below form and emailing it to archives.service@eastriding.gov.uk along with your screenshots:

Download the registration form (.docx 56.3KB)

Download the Archiverse

If you have a copy of Minecraft: Education Edition, you can explore the Archiverse yourself by downloading the world file.

Download the Archiverse (.mcworld 0.1GB)

To import the Archiverse map into your Minecraft: Education Edition game, follow the instructions in the video from 1:00 onwards.

The Archiverse is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) Licence. Please attribute as: “East Riding Blockdown (2022) by East Riding Archives supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, licensed under CC BY 4.0"

Projects

East Riding Blockdown
Travellers and Settlers project

The Archiverse was first launched in January 2022 as an online learning space for collecting and sharing young people’s experiences about the COVID-19 lockdown. Over 120 people aged 5-16 from the East Riding and Hull participated in this project, with their experiences becoming part of the permanent historical record in the East Riding Blockdown digital archive (ERBP).

Visit eastridingblockdown.org (external website)

The East Riding Blockdown is supported by The Audience Agency’s Digitally Democratising Archives project thanks to funding from DCMS and the National Lottery, as part of The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Digital Skills for Heritage initiative.

The ‘Travellers and Settlers’ project aims to celebrate the rich diversity within our East Riding community. Through the capture of oral and written stories, the project explores the lived experience past and present of settlement and resettlement of ethnic minority communities across the East Riding.

One stream of this project is our ‘Digital History-Making and Diversity’ school workshops which are set in the Archiverse world as a fun and collaborative learning environment.

‘Travellers and Settlers’ is a partnership project between the East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Equality and Diversity team, East Riding Museums and East Riding Archives.

Visit Travellers and Settlers project (EastRidingCulture.co.uk)

STREAM is science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, mathematics,

The Archiverse is part of STREAM - the initiative by East Riding Culture and Leisure to make science, technology, reading, engineering, arts and maths more accessible and fun for young people.