Wartime photo collections donated to National Archives
Four photo collections have been donated to the National Archives of Malta.
The collections comprise three personal wartime and service collections and a series of photos of Malta taken at the turn of the 20th century. The photos taken in the late 1900s originated from a collection held in Melbourne, Australia and were made available to the National Archives via Chevalier Joseph Sammut.
The wartime and service collections are of: Anthony P. Bilocca – Superintendant of Air-raid Precautions at Pawla and Tarxien, 1940 to 1943, F.E. Amato-Gauci – an Army Officer and a Civil Servant, and Salvatore Galea – Commissioner of Police, 1928 to 1939
The four collections comprise 151 digitised photos and documents.
Each CD includes a biography or explanatory note of the collections. The CDs were compiled on the initiative of educational media producer Veronica Galea, who researched, catalogued and digitised the collections for the National Memory Project at the National Archives.
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veronica galea
Apr 22nd 2010, 10:18
Sorry for the delay in replying, but I just came across your comment, Mr Vassallo. The donations are simply that. Conditions do apply as mentioned in my earlier message and the owners retain the rights over their photos. Among other things, this means that the photos are only available for viewing at the National Archives. All the work related to the production of the CDs was done at my own expense. I trust this answers your questions.
veronica galea
Apr 1st 2010, 17:20
In response to the queries written below, I'd like to clarify that the digital copies have been passed on to the National Archives - the originals, or copies as is the case in one instance, are retained by the owners. The aim of the donation is to support the drive by the National Memory Project of the National Archives to preserve Maltese history and also to make it available for viewing; it is the remit of the NA to make collections available to the publc through its research rooms and, or through exhibitions. Items may be donated to the National Archives in various ways. In the case of the four photo collections, the owners retain the rights to their material and the photos are made available for viewing purposes only. As producer of the CDs, I'd like to take this opportunity in writing to thank once more the individuals and families who made their personal photo collections available to the NA.
Joseph Vassallo
Apr 1st 2010, 23:40
Thank you for replying ma'am. So it is really a loan rather than a donation and the owners get your professional expertise for free because I have to understand that the exercise was financed from public funds.
Are any of these photos new to the public domain or are they all available through the archives of institutions such as The Times or the Biblioteca?
John Grima
Apr 1st 2010, 16:23
Great gift! Donated to the right place I would really be interested in seeing these photo collections.
HAPPY EASTER.
John Grima
Ivor Ramsden
Apr 1st 2010, 13:54
Provided that the photos and documents have been properly digitised it doesn't really matter if these are "only" digitised collections. Surely it's a good thing that they are now freely available to people in one form or another rather than being stashed away in somebody's drawer?
Congratulations to all concerned!
Joseph Vassallo
Apr 1st 2010, 14:14
Quite so but the report sets out to indicate the philanthropic donation of wartime memorabilia in the form of "four photo collections" not copies of same. Maybe this should be clarified by the reporter. Otherwise it may be seen as an advertisement for a forthcoming availability of these commercial compact disks (which is not necessarily wrong by the way). There is a difference.
Now.... if the collections themselves have been donated and the national archives can start selling copies to interested parties, it might be a different kettle of fish worthy of making the headlines.
joe vella caruana
Apr 1st 2010, 13:08
And has the general public access to these photos?
Joseph Vassallo
Apr 1st 2010, 11:42
That means that what has been donated is only a digitised copy of the photograph collections, rather than the original collections. Quite different, don't you think? Or have I misunderstood?
charles grech
Apr 1st 2010, 13:50
Can this collection of photo and document collections be made public for a price.