In 1966, the collieries of the Somerset Coalfield were declared unprofitable and closed. The closure resulted in the loss of nearly four-hundred jobs and left a void in the community that had been built around the mining industry. The Radstock museum of the Somerset Coalfield created a Video Archive which took the form of a compilation of memories from the elderly Somerset mining community. Following its success, Tim Bateman makes a case for academic videos as a medium for presenting history. Bateman reimagines the potential for video history outside the parameters of television and film entertainment.