The closure of the Boston College Troubles archive is historical loss

The facility was an attempt to prevent the past returning to haunt our future

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE: Cyclists in the Giro d’Italia go past a mural on the Newtownards Road in Belfast yesterday, a reminder of the past Lord Bew remembers too well: “I was motivated by a sense that the Troubles were over and should never be allowed to happen again.” Photo: David Conachy

Paul Bew

LAST week Boston College announced the final collapse of its archival project which had been designed to store interviews with loyalists and republicans for the use of future scholars who wanted to deepen their historical understanding of the Troubles. Presumably, Boston has now learnt the bitter lesson of that well-known aphorism, 'No good deed goes unpunished"