Students lend a hand at National Archives

First-year history students at the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School were recently presented with individual certificates as testimonial of their useful help at the National Archives. The certificates were issued by the National Archives and presented by Karl Despott, assistant head of School at the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School, after the students "worked" for a week at the National Archives.

The experience was triggered off by a school excursion to the National Archives last year, when their teacher Evelyn Pullicino organised an excursion to the archives. National archivist Charles Farrugia explained how the documents were collected and preserved.

They then spent a few hours researching in the reading room and had the opportunity to consult primary sources which contained information about the Maltese history section of their history syllabus. Later, they visited the Mdina section, where Noel D'Anastas explained the archive collections deposited there.

The students showed great enthusiasm as they were introduced to basic research skills from original documents. They faced the problems which seasoned researchers encounter, such as deciphering manuscripts and also learnt what type of documents are available for the study of the British period in Maltese History.

"They also experienced the sense of discovery which makes such research an exciting exercise," Mr Farrugia said.

This excursion proved to be a great success because it whipped up the students' interest. Such a response encouraged their teacher and Mr Farrugia to organise the "work experience". The youngsters were given the opportunity to further their knowledge of the archives by being invited to spend a whole week helping out at the Mdina section of the Archives. During this week, the students carried out several tasks such as re-boxing, cataloguing and sorting under the supervision of the National Archives staff. Mr D'Anastas and Joseph Amodio acted not only as supervisors but also as tutors, as the students were introduced to new archival skills.

"This unique hands-on experience provided them with vocational training in a supervised work environment. It also underlined the importance of conservation techniques in order to preserve documents for future generations and society's collective memory," Mr Farrugia said.