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[padg] Archival Solidarity-story from East Timor
Title: Archival Solidarity-story from East
Timor
The Archival Solidarity
project of the ICA Section of Records Management and Archival
Professional Associations (SPA/AS) encourages sharing of information
about archival assistance, cooperation and international outreach
projects - archivists supporting archivists to promote archival
development.
Here is one story of a project involving East Timor and Australian
archives and archivists:
The island nation of East Timor (Timor-Leste) became independent in
1999. In the following months, a national archives was
established and a truth commission was appointed. Archivists
from Australia supported both institutions. As the closest archives to
East Timor, the Archives of the Northern Territory provided an initial
assessment and recommendations for assistance. The National Archives
of Australia supplied about 8,000 archives boxes and some furniture to
the National Archives and Records Service of East Timor. The archivist
of Queensland Rail, Delene Cuddihy, took a leave of absence from her
post and moved to Timor for two years to serve as archives advisor to
the truth commission. She arranged for several librarians and
archivists from Australia to work in the truth commission archives and
library for periods of up to three months. The New South Wales and the
Queensland Branches of the Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) both
provided funds for archival development during this time. These
actions of archival solidarity were important assistance to the new
archives. Further acts of solidarity are ongoing; in 2006 the ASA
arranged for the recently appointed truth commission archivist to
attend the ASA annual conference and to undertake professional
development in Australia.
We invite individuals,
organizations and institutions to share their stories. Write
to:
Nancy Marrelli -
Nancy.Marrelli@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Chair, Archival
Solidarity Committee
Director of Archives
Concordia University
Montréal, Québec
Canada
Archival Solidarity
is a project of the International Council on Archives (ICA) that aims
to co-ordinate efforts in the international archives community to
carry out foreign assistance projects to develop tools and expertise
for developing communities and communities in transition. Visit
our web site:
http://archives3.concordia.ca/Solidarity/default.html