I refer to Frans H. Said's letter Lessons From The Ellis Collection (August 7). I cannot but agree with Mr Said that the Ellis archive forms an intrinsic part of our heritage and history. I am sure that Mr Said would be delighted to know that his suggestion of having the Ellis archive digitised and available for public viewing is one of the projects that the National Archives are currently working on.

The National Archives have been in collaboration with Mr Ian Ellis for a number of years. The Ellis archive has been included in visits by students reading for university courses in archives studies. It is our intention to have the Ellis archive digitised and included in a much larger project the National Archives launched under the name National Memory Project.

The National Memory Project was officially launched by the President of Malta Dr Guido de Marco on March 22, 2004, at the Banca Giuratale in Mdina. It consists of three phases: the Portrait Archive; the National Picture Archive and the Sound and Film Archive.

The Portrait Archive has already acquired the photos depicting distinguished personalities by photographer Tony S. Mangion. These are on permanent exhibition at the Mdina section. The second phase, the Picture Archive, has attracted various private donations and already exceeds 10,000 photos. The technical coordination of this part of the project is conducted by photographer Kevin Casha. The Film and Sound section has been enriched by the film footage of World War II veteran Stanley Fraser. The collection was converted to digital format and professionally restored by film expert Veronica Galea. It is hoped that the first tangible results of the digitisation process which is currently underway with the full support of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Communications will reach the public in the coming months. Extensive holdings such as the film collection of the DOI also feature in the general plan of the National Memory Project.

I again take this opportunity to thank Mr Said for his commitment towards Malta's heritage, in particular the donation of his private papers (which also included photos and a film) to the National Archives. I encourage other citizens in possession of similar material to come forward and contribute towards this national project aimed at safeguarding our collective memory.