A future without a past?

Professor Henry Frendo was commissioned by the National Archives to deliver the first annual public lecture on archiving. This he did on November 26, 1999, at the beautiful chapel of Santu Spirtu, the premises housing the National Archives in Hospital Street, Rabat.

The following year Professor Frendo's lecture was published by the National Archives in booklet form. Il-Futur bla Passat? Il-qaghda ta' l-Arkivji f'Pajjizna (A Future without a Past? The situation of archives in our country) is a 20-page booklet containing the lecture and a resumé of comments of nine participants in the public discussion after the lecture. This is a belated review.

Professor Frendo has done some of his research at the National Archives as well as at the archives of other countries. He starts his lecture by declaring that archives enable determining notions of progress, identity and development. In other words archives form the cornerstone of historical research to enhance our cultural heritage.

He points out that it was not before fairly recently that modern historical research in Malta felt the need for the collection and preservation of documents into a national archive. This was and is needed for the intellectual liberty of present and future generations. He holds that it was the Church that through its mission and ecclesiastical organisation in its diverse forms that happenings of the past were preserved in documents in parochial, national and religious spheres that formed the origin of archiving in our islands.

The lecturer acknowledged the fact that the late Rev. Professor Andrew Vella had started the ball rolling by his condemnation of lack of collections of documents that were to be found in many places scattered and abandoned. The enactment on January 30, 1990, of the law that regulates the National Archives was more than welcome. The Public Records Office was established in England 152 years earlier. More than a century earlier Pope Leo XIII opened the Vatican Archives.

Act IV of 1990 constitutes an important beginning on which could be based more precise and up-to-date amendments on the collection and consignment of documents after a period of time. This apart from their conservation and systematic and professional administration.

All this should form part of the regular process of documents that should be earmarked for collection since the very opening of a file. This act refers to all documents of a public nature and obliges the Minister for Education to establish a place or places to serve as the National Archives.

Section 4 contains a list of documents and other information to form part of the National Archives. Apart from printed matter there is specific reference to minutes such as those of the National Assembly as well as all documents of ministers, commissions, authorities or government boards after 30 years from their closure. Also to be included in the list are all government official publications as well as those of the University of studies, corporations and public entities.

The Act also ensures that existing archives are not to be displaced if regulated by a particular law. Provided that the Minister of Education may, with agreement with the minister responsible for this archive, order the transfer of documents that are no longer useful for the public service, and this for purposes of study.

The so called "Curator of National Archives" is duty bound to preserve, restore, catalogue, index documents and all other objects entrusted to him. He is to establish the manner in which the public may use them directly and order reproductions of them.

It is interesting to investigate, argues the lecturer, what is the situation of archives of entities that were, become or will be particularly representative of government or of public interest, such as the Bank of Valletta that incorporates banking history since 1809. One should know under what conditions it is permissible to keep archives reserved after the lapse of 30 years or in case of confidentiality 50 years. Professor Frendo approves the microfilming of documents such as the Archives of the Order of St John and of the mediaeval archives of the Università, and of the Comun Tesoro because of their cosmopolitan dimension and value. Likewise the Archives of the Inquisition are no doubt found to be interesting to other countries.

Professor Frendo approves the enactment of Act X of 1999 that provides for the deposit of notarial Acts in the Archives. According to statistics hundreds of researchers are using both the National Archives and the Biobliotheca. The lecturer hopes that both municipal libraries and archives will be administered by responsible and competent people.

What is highly disappointing is that broadcasting and television stations do not have properly organised archives. It is completely unacceptable that there is a lack of synchronisation between the DOI and PBS. I hope that computerisation will solve the problem of lack of archival material by broadcasting and television stations.

An unforgivable negative action was the transfer of the Hansard Collection from the Bibliotheca to a store at Hal Far. This practice of putting away documents and archival material in inadequate stores in far away and inaccessible places must cease once and for all. The Hansard Collection is now for the most part in the National Archives, except for a considerable number of volumes at the University and Foundation of International Studies.