A volunteer at the notarial archives has described the situation at the place as a national monument of shame. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has now committed his government to turn the archives into a monument of national pride.
Only time will tell if it lives up to its commitment. But if it does not, the blame will not lie solely on the Government but on the country generally for it would show that it does not really care about its patrimony.
Great strides forward have been made in efforts to preserve the island’s heritage in stone, in art and other forms of past human endeavour but when it comes to documents and books, Malta has yet to wake up from its stupor and seriously take care of its patrimony. This makes up the soul of the country; it has helped in fashioning its identity. How can the island possibly turn its back on its past? This amounts to a cultural crime in our own record of civilisation that ought to be made good for through a complete overhaul in national mentality.
Such new mentality in taking care of the island’s patrimony in all its facets ought to be first nurtured in primary schools and skilfully developed over the years at higher levels of education and, particularly so, at the University of Malta.
Disappointingly, many today are growing up not knowing their roots. They are disinterested even in contemporary history, not knowing, for instance, when Malta gained independence, let alone the significance of other important dates.
This, and more, is reflected in the kind of mentality that has allowed precious depositories of history to fall into such a sad state as that of the notarial archives before work was taken in hand to start rehabilitating it.
Unfortunately, it is not just the notarial archives that require urgent state attention but the national archives in Rabat and the National Library in Valletta as well.
The people working at these places have been doing their bit, and a little more besides, but what would the situation have been like today without volunteers who, out of love to the subject and out of a sense of duty to their country, have been giving a strong helping hand?
What a volunteer, Joan Abela, who is also a member of the Notarial Archives Resources Council, told the Prime Minister and two other Cabinet ministers while showing them around at the notarial archives, strikes more than one chord of shame.
“When we started here a few years ago we had an incredible situation. We were literally walking on documents that date back to the 13th century... The way we treat our history is incredible,” she said.
She is right, as are all those who have been throwing the spotlight on the miserable allocation the State makes for these places in its annual Budget. The commitment Dr Muscat spoke of ought to start translating itself in the Budget.
Associations of volunteers working at the different archives and libraries have been doing a good job finding sponsors for the preservation of documents and digitisation programmes. Also, a lot of good work has been done, thanks mainly to them and to the band of full-time workers.
Dr Muscat has to widen his commitment. The national archives in Rabat, for instance, badly needs to move to a much larger space where it would be able to meet its present and immediate future needs. It is time to start taking good care of our past.