The Lyon Archive is a collaborative project between UO Professor Heidi Kaufman, her students, and members of the Anglo-Jewish Lyon family, which has members living in Jamaica, England, Australia and the U.S. As avid fiction writers, editors, diarists, scholars, philanthropists, and scholars, they have created and gathered a multitude of documents, which are now showcased in the Lyon Archive. These historical artifacts offer the public a glimpse into fragmentary life narratives through maps, movies, sounds, and visual objects. The archive also contains contemporary responses to these artifacts in the form of multimedia projects by students, scholars, and descendants of the Lyon family.

One central thematic focus is to present the cultural diversity of London’s East End during the 19^th century. Yet the project also teaches us about the methodology of archives, how their materials can be interpreted and extend our understanding, as well as the stories the archival silences can tell. As a companion piece to The East End Digital Library and Professor Kaufman’s book Strangers in the Archive, the Lyon Archive illuminates previously neglected aspects of Victorian London life.