When she first stepped into the Notarial Archives on St Christopher Street in Valletta, maritime historian Joan Abela was shocked to see centuries-old documents in tatters. Fifteen years on, she has managed to convince several people to invest in heritage thought to be long lost.

The woman whose voluntary work has helped save and conserve innumerable historic documents has warned that heritage needs to be protected from amateurish conservation work.

Joan Abela called for a system of warrants for qualified conservators.

“It is important that we stop the deterioration of documents once we have the necessary funding and qualified professionals, because we are destroying certain details from national documents that we can never recover,” she told this newspaper from the Notarial Archives Resource Council’s office on St Christopher Street.

Dr Abela drew parallels with having an operating theatre but no surgeons.

“Many times, in Malta the operations on books are being done by nurses, not surgeons.

“There are book binders with very limited knowledge about conservation, who are working on national documents,” she explained.

Dr Abela is calling for a warrant, which if issued based on a ‘Grandfather Clause’, should be granted only once the applicant’s portfolio has been inspected by professionals, ensuring that their methods conform to international conservation standards.

“We need to ensure that our collection of historic documents is treated the same way we treat prestigious paintings,” she says passionately.

“These are unique documents, each providing singular insights about history that is unavailable everywhere else. If we lose them, there is no way that we can bring this information back to interpret history.”

A passion for history

Dr Abela has always been passionate about history and was one of the only three students who would skip their break to study for the history matriculation exam.

She eventually sat for history at Advanced level, but in the 1980s job placements were not abundant, so she grabbed the first opportunity she got – a secretary within the public service.

Dr Abela eventually married John and had three children – Sarah, Deborah and Alan. When their eldest was aged four and the youngest aged three months, her husband set up his own business, and she changed jobs, joining him in his venture.

History had to take a backbench, and was limited to organising cultural tours for visiting clients.

But her thirst “to know more” about Malta’s past kept growing and in 2000 she enrolled for a Bachelors degree in history and archaeology, aged 37.

“I didn’t enrol at the University to get a degree, but just to satisfy my thirst for knowledge,” she said.

There she met Francesca Balzan, a legal procurator who had had the same calling as Dr Abela. Together with Dr Abela, she later became one of the prime movers for the council.

Dr Abela’s first contact with the archives on St Christopher Street came after history lecturer Charles Dalli suggested she bases her dissertation on a medieval document.

When I was taken to the second floor I was going to pass out. You get really upset when you see heritage abandoned in such a way

With limited knowledge of Latin, she taught herself palaeography by comparing original medieval documents to transcriptions by Prof. Stanley Fiorini.

She carried out her research at the head office in Mikiel Vassalli Street, but it so happened that she needed to access a 16th-century document by Placido Abela at the archives on St Christopher Street.

Dr Abela was told that it opened only by appointment on Tuesdays when there was enough staff – and it sometimes remained closed for weeks.

A culture shock

“When they took me to the first floor, I had a culture shock. I saw precious volumes dating back to the Great Siege and I couldn’t believe they had been left in that situation,” she recalled.

The documents, most of which had lost their shape, were on wooden shelving or on the floor. Those on the bottom shelves were completely covered with dust, while those at the top even had pieces of stone between the pages.

“When I was taken to the second floor I was going to pass out. There was an incredible amount of loose paper dumped around in no order.

“You get really upset when you see heritage abandoned in such a way.”

Dr Abela decided to create awareness but stay away from the media, as she did not want to sensationalise the issue.

In fact it has taken several attempts for her to concede to an interview with this newspaper as she prefers to speak about the documents rather than herself. Throughout, she listed a number of people who supported the council, launched in 2005, including chief notary Keith German.

The council is made up of volunteers, and it has been calculated that it would take more than 130 years to preserve all the documents if it manages to employ 10 full-time conservators.

She insists that the team is big, and the results are the labour of their love: “Although I’m the one doing the talking, Joan Abela would not do anything on her own and I’m just passing on their message.”

Dr Abela recalls the reaction of scholars soon after the publication of an article in the Times of Malta in 2004, about the “frightful state” state of the archives, an article she had nothing to do with.

Soon after, she found large rubbish bags that someone, unintentionally, had filled with loose papers and medieval documents in a bid to clear up the place.

These contained the oldest known document at the archives so far – dated 1431.

Finding the money

The toughest part was finding sponsorships for the rehabilitation of the place and conservation of the documents, as many times private companies would question why they should invest in something that the State is meant to be taking care of.

The government had allowed the council to be based at the archives, but never provided financial support, and the team had to rely on the private sector.

The current administration has provided an adjacent building on St Paul’s Street so that the archives can expand. Through the Culture Ministry, the council has also secured a €5 million EU fund to invest in the restoration of the building and some of the documents that would need tens of thousands of euros to be conserved.

The dream is to create a centre of excellence and for the archives to serve as a source of inspiration for everyone, not just historians.

Through it all, and despite the desperate situation of thousands of historical documents deteriorating in front of her own eyes, the council did not take any short-term decisions that would have damaged the manuscripts in the long run.

The council only employed professional conservators, including Theresa Zammit Lupi and Lisa Camilleri, once the funds were available when HSBC donated €100,000. When there were no funds, these two provided their services for free.

So far, volunteers supervised by qualified people have sorted more than 7,000 loose documents and booklets, while 5,000 bastardelli ­– or contract drafts – have been wrapped in a protective acid-free cover.

All the dusting, sorting, indexing and cataloguing gave birth to the British Notaries pilot project. This has seen a group of eight volunteers create an online search system for volumes dating between 1800 and 1860.

Meanwhile, another project sees individuals – including Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and Archbishop Charles Scicluna – adopting a document and sponsoring its conservation.

Asked about her favourite volume, Dr Abela said she based her PhD dissertation on the commercial activity in Malta before the Great Siege, on the volumes by Selvagii de Via.

His volumes among others document the first years of the knights in Vittoriosa, and how Maltese landlords kept increasing their rent.

“If I had to marry one of the notaries, I would marry de Via, because his volumes were in such a sorry state that I spent nights dreaming about him.

“I spent days wracking my brains on how to find a sponsor to invest in his volumes. The Alf Mizzi Foundation eventually gave us the largest donation – €50,000 – and nowadays I just take pleasure in knowing how well cared for they are.”

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Dated November 1862, this original drawing of the mother of refrigerators was discovered at the archives carrying a stamp mark of Harrison’s patent.

James Harrison was a Scottish-Australian newspaper printer and politician who pioneered mechanical refrigeration.

The drawing of the ice-making machine comes with full technical specifications and this document was used for preliminary scrutiny of the machine’s installation.

It noted that one Maltese man was paid 30 pounds as a deposit to start work for the foundations of the machine and also documents questions raised by prospective clients about the machine’s specifications, such as its tank, chimney and water consumption.

The document is one of several awaiting conservation.

Benefactors can help preserve thousands of historic documents by adopting centuries-old manuscripts and sponsoring their conservation by donating anything from €100 to €50,000. For more information, email cantilena.mjcl@gov.mt.