NCW delves deeper into national archives

The visit to the National Archives of Malta organised by the Education and Culture Committee proved to be a most interesting experience for members and friends as it made them aware of our great historical heritage and how a deeper knowledge of old documents could be obtained through thousands of old documents housed at the old Santo Spirito Hospital in Rabat.

Charles J. Farrugia, head of the National Archives, first gave the group a short history of the restored building, erected by the Franciscan Friars. They were then shown how documents were first preserved, cleaned and sorted. The group was also taken round the various halls where thousands of old documents are neatly stacked for easy reference.

After visiting the lovely old chapel they were also introduced to members of the Friends of the Archives Association, whose president, Hella Jean Bartolo, was NCW's first librarian and who in the early Seventies helped set up NCW's reference library.

At present, the National Archives are in dire need of more financial and specialised human resources so that the work can be carried out more efficiently. The reforms envisaged in the new legislation need to be implemented without delay as more records are waiting in Government departments to be transferred to the National Archives. (See page 48).