Fifth ArchivoyMemoria Conference

THEMATIC SESSIONS

An inaugural speech will outline the general theme of the Conference, which will centre around three main topics:

1. Archiving memory: researchers, collectors, scholars and document production

If the research process per se involves a way of selecting and classifying the information at one’s disposal, it is hardly surprising that the concept of “archiving” occupies a fundamental place in the work and life of scientists. This session will focus on the way in which this function is conceived of; i.e., the many different ways of storing and ordering the data and processes of scientific research, both in the past and at present. Its various documental categories, ranging from the traditional to those enabled by digital technologies, and the social consequences of conserving these “personal archives” and making them available to the public, are fundamental issues for reflection that affect both individual and collective scientific practice and the institutions involved in managing the documental heritage. The first session will seek to provide a theoretical overview of the topic, as well as a critical view of the social responsibility of researchers and knowledge workers in relation to their own primary archives.

2. Archivomania: organisation and management of extraordinary document intakes

The second session will focus on the management of and methodological problems posed by the archives, documents or collections of public or private institutions or individuals, whose intake is of an extraordinary nature; i.e. they are incorporated into institutional centres by means of purchase, donation, bequest, inheritance, deposit, expropriation, restitution, collection or any type of assignment or acquisition that differs from the usual documental transfer. In short, it aims to reveal the conditions that must be established for receiving these documents and the obligations and benefits deriving from their institutional preservation, both for depositors and for receivers, the aspects of document valuation and selection, as well as the necessary measures for guaranteeing the authenticity, protection and accessibility of the documents.

3. Projects in progress

This session will present research projects in progress which, from different disciplines, tackle the problems related to this type of archive for history and research. Special emphasis will be placed on the production of documents deriving from research processes, and their conversion into freely available primary sources for future research. The study of collections containing different document types and formats is of interest due to its methodological value.

 The archives of companies, museums, libraries and associations, as well as the personal archives of ordinary people, will be given priority importance. It would also be particularly interesting to study the documents deriving from scientific, academic, political or artistic research that are admitted to the centres through any of the abovementioned channels.