NAM Newsletter 03 (2001)

November 2001 }14kiislralt,

Number 3

ISSN 1605-7058

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Photos from the Passport Applications series held at the National ALrchives Of Malta.

From lefit to right; Hi,Ida Wedekind traveuing to Europe in 1915; Carmela Said with her children Rosina and ALofredo travelling to Sydney in 1925 ; and Reverend Joseph Ascolese travelling to European countries in 1930. (Photos.. National ALrchives Of Malta)

Comtemts Press coverage ............................................................ 2

Service with a smile! .................................................. 8

Editorial......................................................................3

The Friends - one year on ..................................... „„ 9

The Archives of the Order of Malta

The Archives of Political Parties -

by Maroma Camilleri ............................................. 4-5

Summer school in Budapest ............................... 10-11

0utreach activities by Charles Farrugia .............. 6-7

Emigration exhibition ......................................... „„ 12

passport for being sorted and preserved

Old

I)Tess

Coverage 25

By Greta Borg Carbott

THE TIMES,MONnAy, AUGUST 6, 2uni

Archives gui.debook The Friends of the National

. The Friends are also participat-

#,Ct',`c;#:££:#:|tearfenk:,altt.::dtE¥ Egn;dnonthienF=#np,aieyr:Ctivitiesin preservation of documents, "Preserving Archival Records - A P]-eservation Guide to Archival Services".

Among its future initiatives i§

th:rH°j:fatfj:tc#]::1::::t:%ncwo±[tnh. mission of the LJK are currently

beinhgec°Ffig:ie;d.also intend to

*hi:,:1;£aenks:#:'I:;i|nfioclLai*G:?tniF: :Lndbaoia°unn:hc:t8'BrwiT#8rd°i%: nat,ional exhibition on emigration in November.

E3#t::E:rpy°brdyaNP£#ecamti£::of the

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Sena ta' hidma mill-GhaqdaHbieb . ta' I-Arkivji Nazzjonali 1 L-Ghaqda se t}ppartetipa fl-att}vitaj}et

Up to 60,Oon old passport application forms are being sorted out a preserved as pan of a new initiative by the National Archives of Mat The applications, which date from 1880 to the early 1980s, wi]] be l ed in a computer database available on CD. When completed, the da base will be made available to genealogists, researchers and otl interested panies, especially people hftping tQ trace relatives ancestors.

Thi.sprojecti§beingsupportedbytheFriendsofthcNationalArchii of Malta, a voluntary organisation which celebrated its first anniversi yesterday.

Speaking to the press yesterday, archivist and historian Charles F rugia, vice-president of the Friends, explained that the passport ap cation forms provide a valuable picture or life in the past.

Of panicular interest are the photographs which began to be attacl to the I.orms after 1915. These were bigger than today's passport-si2 pictures, were taken in various settings and often in[ludcd fan groups.

The passport appliGatiens CD project is one of a series supported the Friends of the National Archives.

Friends president Hella Jean Batolo said the group recently dom a set ot` foam book rests to the archives' reading room and sponsors preservation guide book.

The group`s activities included setting up information stands dur Book Fair 20cO, establishing contacts with foreign organisatiQns I the Historica.I Manuscripts Commissionq and launching a member.i cflmpaign. Recognising the group's work, President Guido de Ma recentlyextcndedhispatronagetotheFriendsofthcNationaldrchii Among the projects planned by the group and the National Archi is the organisation of a national exhibition on emigration in Novem The group is also setting up an information stand during the Malta I activities to be held in London on 8 September. r`riends secretap Max Far.rugia said the group is currently negol ingagreemenlswithanumberofindividuals,bothlocalandabroad,1 possess documents with a Maltese connection. In some. cases, valu€ research or writings on Malta were taken abroad by foreign expects a their work was completed.

ta' Jum Malta f'Londra

gbcarbott@independ€nt.con

atul I-ewwi.I selia mit-twaqqif tagrilia I-Griaqda Ht]ieb ta' IArkivii Nazzionali wettqet

Anthony Callei a's works on sh

I-iidma qawwiia perm€zz ta' diversi iniz!attivi [avur 1ATkivii Nazzionali.

Ft}st dawn kien liellii]i il-

pr€±entazzioni ta' ta8riliiir. gI-)all-kalnra .tat-qari,

pubblikazzjofli ta' linii ta' gwida dwar il-priseTvazzioni

t.id-dt]kuiti€nti grial hawk li

iitfakkar jum Maltn rein mistenili isir iilarkcfj]]g

ju±aw I-Arklvii kit ukoll

gria]t-ArkiviiNa7.7,i{7nali.

proposti

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progetti

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flimkien mat-Kumtnis5i{)[ii dwar il-Manu5kriLti Stori¢i ta'

wkoll

Londra.

Dan triattt]ar

pubblikata CL} t]'infurIriazzioni dw€`r I-applikaz-

ll-bieran [Iiilm Hella Jean Ba[tolo, il-

sinc€ the late seventies.

In Jurfe 1996 driring an exhibit • Il-Kunsill Lokali Rabiit j[iv±a held at the Dominican]s Priory Rabat he launched his first bo lilt-ghalli€ma ttll~mu±ika fiLlokciluindiviiiwiohralinh{irit- which included a cross-section Tlieta,17 ta' April se jsir "Fjur ir- both his early and the then rec I Rabat" fil-K.lppe]la t€i' S€lntu works.

In September 1§97 Antht Spirtu {l-Arkivji Nflzzjt.nali}, Calleja won third place at the M Triq I-Ispt.1r, ir-Rtibat.

Biennale. `The Dark Side" was Din[iii.ipartimill-FiJstiv{l]ttlt~ title of his exhibition held at Tt.ill li st? jsir f'April. ^pp[iNational Fine Arts Museum ktizzjoiiiii€tniitlgh{ln{iil-Kitnsilt Valletta. in May 1998.

In January last year, fl €Olleci w'tiiit li d-ii{`hl ta' I-ghl]luq hiiLi tof his most recent works was end Tnejn, 2 tilt A ited at the National Arehiv€s Ce Y . fipHP Ill LllE in Rabat. This exhibition enti "Exl]ressious" included works I

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zioniiiet 8riall-pass&i!"Mti li

]'resiLlefit tat-Griaqda L]t7ieb ta' I-Arkivii Nazziontili waLit

saTu !7ei[i I-188u u I-1988.

Mill-1915 I-applikazzi{7iiiiiet

kuilfert.nza ta' I-ahl}ariiiet

griall-pa5saporti

ft.in ingrt.ittiw tli.ttalii dwar

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from R students

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r'[.tmdr€i fit-8 ta' Setti.mhru

80,000 app!ikazziotii grtall» I)as5aporti ii qabel kiL*nu qt:d

ode hat the meantime he held the class for t

iiilj.i`miliii f'Stil`t ,|ifri"i.

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the Bank of Vallctta Sliema. the Malta Financial Seri centre in Mriehel, hotels and nu ous private colleedons both in h

REaliifÂŽrial In March 1971 a conference with the topic `Maltese History: What Future? was organ-

ised by the Department of History of the Royal University of Malta. One of its main `recommendations was; ... that having regard to the state in which

public records are at present to be found, a Public Record Office be, as a matter Of extreme urgency, set up as a separate department with suitable premises and trained staff provided; that in the interim the preservation Of public records should be carefully watched and attended to by all persons responsible.

It took almost 20 years from that conference for the enactment of the National Archives legislation. One must acknowledge that such a step was a milestone in the history of Maltese archives.

However, the momentum which the sector gained in the early 1990s, faded into a status quo which is becoming more evident with yearly financial cuts and cumbersome bureaucratic structures.

Two archives experts were brought to Malta after 1990. These were Micheal Cook and Frank G. Burke. Both made practical recommendations on the way forward for the National Archives. More recommendations were put forward during a seminar organised by the Ministry of Education in June 1999. Another conference was organised by MaLIA a year ago. Again recommendations were

put forward. It is sad that none of those recommendations were implemented so far.

There is agreement amongst the few local archivists that the priority should be given to the formation of a new records and archives legislation.

The draft of this legislation was presented to government earlier this year. It is hoped that this law finds its way to Parliament and not have the same destiny of the various reports commissioned during the last ten years; archived or lost in regis-

tries. The right legislation would provide the neeessary legal structures for the flourishing of the sector. However, this phase has to be followed by the setting up of the necessary structures backed up by adequate financial and human resources.

Lip-service alone would not help in providing good archival practices !

On a positive note, a lot of progress was done when it comes to the activities of the Friends of the National Archives. This voluntary organisation has managed to plan and deliver projects effectively and on time. Amongst these projects one can mention the donation of foam book rests for the reading room, the publication of a preservation guide book and an information stand during Malta Day in London. Well done to all those involved!

Extensive work has also been done by the staff of the National Archives. Contacts with several organisations in the UK were established. The cleaning, sorting and indexing of more than 40,000

passport applications was the main project of this year. The respective catalogue would be published in cd format. This project suffered a severe setback through the decision not to recruit University students during Summer and the death of Joe Borg who had worked at the National Archives for more than 15 years. During the last months Joe was working on the cleaning of these records.

From this page we promise our prayers and condolences to his family.

A look to the future presents us with two scenarios; the first is that of converting our archives into a Euro-Med centre of excellence in archival practice. The second scenario is that of trying to manage our archives in the 21 st century adopting outdated and cumbersome systems. The result of this would be a stagnant institution which would fit

perfectly in the late Professor Andrew Vella's definition of `cemeteries of old, forgotten records'.

The decision is for all of us to make!

Tlm ARCIIIVES oF TILE ORI)ER oF MAIITA AT Tlm NATI0NAlj ljlnRART 0F MAIITA

by Maroma CamillelTi B.Ed(IIons)9 I)ip. Arch.

The documents produced and received by the Chancellery of the Order of St. John since the origins of the Order until the end of its rule in Malta are bound in almost 7000 manuscript volumes. These constitute the Archives of the Order of Malta (A.O.M.) which, after having suffered a series of transfers from one repository to another, finally found an abode at the National Library of Malta only

Libri Conciliorum, Libri Bullarum,

in 1937.

Registri dei Consigli di Stato., IV. Registri dei Capitoli Generali., V. Registri delle Bolle di Cancelleria., VI. Registri del Tesoro., VT1. Bolle Pontificie., VTI1. Volumi delle Suppliche., TX.. Corrispondenzza., X. Costituzioni dell'Ordine., X1.

Ospedale., XTI. Marina., XII±.

Chiesa., XIV. Lingue dell'Ordine., XN.. Tribunali di Nobiltd e Processi di Nobiltd dei Religiosi Gerosolimitani., XN1.. Cabrei , Visite Generali, Visite dei Migliorainei.ti delle Commende dell' Ordine., XNTl..

Miscellanea.

The Chancellery of the Order, where the outgoing documents were produced and incoming ones registered and kept, was under the responsibility of the Conventual Bailiff of the Langue of Castile and Portugal who automatically assumed the office of Grand Chancellor. However the main tasks of the Chancellery were handled by the Vice-Chancellor who was nominated for life by the Grand Chancellor. The Vice-Chancellor was responsible for the day-to-day work of the Chancellery. It was he who received all the acts of the Chancellery and was the depository of all particular acts concerning the State of the Order.

The Knights have preserved their documents ever since the period of their sojourn in the Holy Land.

However, the formal institution of the Order's Archives dates back to the Chapter General held in Rhodes in 1466 during the Grand Magistracy of Raymond Zacosta. It is not known when the Archives of the Order in Malta received their present arrangement but certainly by 1889 they had already had the one they still preserve today. They are divided into 17 large categories classified according to the type of document, e.g.

or general subject, e.g. Oxpcczcz/c, A4lczri.#cz, Cfez.cscz, etc. Most sections

are split up into subsections with the documents registered in chronological order.

According to the Rcpcrfori.o compiled at the end of the nineteenth century and still in use today for lack of a better guide, the 17 sections are entitled:

I. Vo/ztmz.

contenenti scritture originali di data antica., T1. Registri dei Consigli.,Ill.

riedly left Rhodes in 1522, they left mostoftheArchivesbehindandonly took away with them, besides the precious "Arcfe!.vwm", some docu-

ments relating to the Chapters General, the Councils of the Order and Magistral Bulls. During the years 1522-1530 while the Knights wan-

dered between Italy and France without a fixed abode, some more of the documents may have been dispersed.

When they arrived in Malta in 1530, they brought some 115 volumes.

These were placed for safe-keeping at the Borgo c7e/ Cczs/c//a at Vittoriosa which served as the Vice-Chancellor's house. When Valletta was built, they were transferred to the new premises on the right-hand side of the building now known as the "Main Guard" opposite the Grandmaster's Palace. It was during the British period that the archives moved first to a "Record Room" in the Govemor's Palace in 1851, then

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The earliest document in our Archives is a charter dating back to 1107 and concerning the donation of land to the religious of S. Salvator de Monte Tabor by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. The lands were transferred to the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in the thirteenth century.

The earliest document confirming

property in the Holy Land to the

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Hospital is dated 28 September 1110 (A.O.M. 1 no. 3).

Fortunately, a

good majority of the early parchments which have come down to us are intact and absolutely legible, although some carry purple mould stains probably due to contact with water. However the pre-1530 documents are relatively few; one must remember that when the knights hur-

*a

A.O.M. 1 no. 3 - Confiurmation Of

property in the Holy Iland to the Hospital of St. John by King Baldwin I Of Jerusalem, 28 September 1110. This is the earliest document roferring to the Order in the Archives Of Malta.

to the Public Registry in 1890 and finally to the National Library, then the Royal Malta Library, in 1937.

The official Archives of the Order in Malta came to an abrupt halt with the end of the Order's rule in Malta in 1798. A close look at the documents themselves shows the ones dated June 1798 as having been written in a hurry; some of them are incomplete. Before his departure from Malta, Hompesch requested to take the Archives of the Order away with him but his request was not granted.

However the aim of the French was not at all in the interest of posterity.

On 15 July, an order was issued whereby all papers, parchments and documents of the Order, except the documents dealing with titles of ownership, were to be used "poiir c# faire des cartouches ... pourfaire des gczrgoz{sscs", i.e. as cartridges for the artillery! It was thanks to the pres-

A.O.M. 5258 no. 20 - Family tree Of Fra' Claude de Beouclerc vived to become part of the proud heritage of the Maltese nation.

ence of mind and sense of duty of the Uc7!.forc of the Order. Fra' Gaetano Bruno, that the disaster was averted. Bruno did his utmost to

postpone the destruction of the documents. A few weeks after the issue of the order, the Maltese rose against the French and the Archives were fortunately forgotten. By this stroke of luck, the Archives of the Order of St. John from 1107 to 1798 have sur-

The Archives of the Order after the loss of Malta are preserved at the Grand Magistry in Rome, present seat of the Order and it is there that one must turn one's attention in order to examine the official documentation produced in the Order's Chancellery from 1798 to the present day.

Together the Malta and Rome records form one continuous archive

A.O.M. 6041 - Iuustration from the Cabreo Of the Balliwick Of S. Stefano in the Priory Of Barletta,1675

situated in two different locations and under two differentjurisdictions.

Before concluding, I believe it is important to point out that the near 7000 volumes which make up the Archives of the Order in Malta are only the central nucleus of the Order's records and constitute just a small fraction of all the documentation which is scattered in the archives, libraries and private collections all over Europe, having previously belonged to individual Knights and to the Priories, Commanderies and Bailiwicks of the Order. However, for scholars and researchers even those not strictly interested in the Order's central administration the Malta Archives are the main source of information without which it would not be possible to obtain a faithfulpictureoftheworkingsofthe Order with its diverse functions. In this sense, therefore, the Archives are precious not only for their inti.insic archival value but because they are an authentic reflection of the institution which produced them, vividly documenting, despite the many vicissitudes which wrecked its long history, an incredible span of 900

years of uninterrupted existence.

fflHFTrllEÂĽEljffifflTh I AN IMPORTANT DTJTY 0F TIIE NATIONAII ARCHIVES

by Charles Farrugia B.A.{IIons}. M.A. Outreach is the process of incorporating client-centred thinking into archival policies. This means that the archivist uses a number of marketing strategies and publicity events to foster a sense of greater understanding and awareness amongst users. This concept has assumed greater importance in recent years.

tors to the National Archives. The number of visitors this year was augmented due to the Sunday cultural visits organised by the Department of Culture.

The National Archives has embarked on an extensive

programme of outreach. One of the main events of this new policy is the annual public lecture. Last year's annual public lecture delivered by Professor Victor Mallia Milanes attracted almost loo listeners. This is a clear indication that in just two years this annual public lecture has established itself as an important event in the academic calendar of Malta.

Students visit a photographic exhibition - September 2001

The emphasis of this year's outreach activities was on publicity in London. The reasons for this were several.

The main reason was that I had to spend almost seven months living there to follow my University studies there. The second reason was that in preparation for this

The audience present for the National Archives Annual Public Lecture - 19 September 2000 During the last year a meeting was held in London with Professor Caroline BaITon, secretary of the Friends of the PRO. Views were exchanged about the possible ways of cooperation between the Friends of the PRO and the Friends of the National Archives of Malta. It was agreed that an article about the work of the Friends of the National Archives of Malta be published in PROphile, the magazine of the Friends of the PRO. Plans to organised a visit to Malta by members of the Friends of the PRO are under discussion.

The exhibition and lecture centre at the National Archives kept on with its momentum, attracting thousands of visi-

year's main activities all of which concentrate on the topic of emigration, we thought it would be wise to make contacts with the Maltese community in London, and also with the High Commission which creates

documents that are to find their way to our National Archives.

The initial contacts were made with the Maltese Culture Movement, founded in London by Mr Bemard Scerri.

Bemard and his wife Barbara have managed to gather around them a group of enthusiastic Maltese who are organising a lot of activities for the Maltese living in the UK. I was fortunate to attend to some activities, ranging from a gala dinner at Christmas time and some tombola nights after the Sunday mass at St. Boniface church in Aldgate East.

The latest outreach initiatives were the publication of a

preservation guidebook. This together with a set of foam book rests for the main reading room were launched in July 2001. From this page I would like to thank all those, mainly in London, who helped us with the technical advice and the Friends of the National Archives who paid all the expenses involved. The delivery of a donation of books offered to the National Archives by Ann Williams who lives in Greenwich, London, has not reach the archives yet due to prolonged bureaucratic dealings.

Mr Charles Farrugia with the committee and spiritual director Of the Maltese Culture Movement in London on 3 June 2001 The climax of this year's activities organised for the Maltese in London was Malta Day, on 8 September 2001.

Max Farrugia, secretary to the Friends of the National Archives joined me in London and we managed to set up an information stand during a Maltese fair at Westminister Cathedral Hall. We were amazed at the interest shown

by Maltese emigrants, especially when it comes to tracing their ancestors. It is a pity that we do not yet have a web-site were we can interact with these migrants and the general public at large and provide our services on the web. We hope that such a project will find its place at the top of our agenda during the coming year.

Fjur ir-Rabat -concert `5 July 2001

In the absence of such a web-site, we tried to exploit to our best advantage the opportunities offered to us by foreign archive web-sites. The Historical.Manuscripts Commission of the UK is in the process of including our catalogues on its web-site after the first three catalogues were

presented to Ms Kathie Woolf during a meeting with her in London. Information about our archives was also included in the European Archives Network (EAN).

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Preservation guidebook published earlier this year

The concept of service with a smile has become the backbone of most private sector services. The same attempts are being made in the public sector. A lot has been done in this area and improvements are noticeable in various departments. When it comes to the archives sector, our attempts to achieve this new mentality have to be more intensive. Archives are not perceived as the most exciting of all professions. Attempts have to be made to identify members of staff who enjoy working with the public and getjob satisfaction through the promotion of an understanding of archive sources among a broad range of users.

It is a pity that the present recruitment policy adopted in the general service is not the most fitting to pin point creative and innovative individuals. Notwithstanding, the National Archives of Malta has managed to build a small group of staff members who are doing their utmost to give an efficient service to the archives' patrons. The current staff structure is subdivided into three sections; the management and administrative group; the readers services; and the general hands.

The officer in charge of the archives is Charles Farrugia. He has worked at Santo Spirito for the last 13 years and was involved in the transfer of records from the Palace in Valletta in 1989.

Marisa callejajoined the archives staff in 2000, although she has worked with the Libraries and Archives Department for more than 10 years Julie Scicluna is an executive officer in charge of the administrative work. After a number of years at the National Archives Julie has just resigned from work. From this page we would like to thank her for her invaluable contribution.

:.I : ;.,: . :'. I: . :I : (From left) Julie Scicluna, Charles

F arrugia, Marisa Calleja.

The contact with our users is carried out by the reading room staff. This service has been directed by Joe Sapiano, a teacher by profession who joined our staff in 1993.

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joined Mr Sapiano as reading room staff.

Marlene Borg and Alison Borg Hili have strengthened our staff compliment making it possible to provide a more efficient and constant service, especially when it comes to appointments for research at our second repository in Mdina. Apart from this they have enriched our customer care with their

(From left) Marlene Borg, Alisoi. Borg Htli, Joe Sapiano. friendliness and smiles!

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TIIE ARCIIIVES 0F POLITICAL PARTIES AFTER TIIE C0IILAPSE 0F COMRAUNISRA The perspectives of archivists, historians and researchers who met in Budapest This year's archives Summer school held at the Central European University in Budapest dealt with `The Archives of Political Parties after the collapse of Communism'. More than thirty participants met between 16 and 27 July 2001 and shared their experiences about the upkeep of archives of political parties, and the effects if any, that the collapse of communism had on these archival collections. The following is a report by the Maltese participant, Charles Farrugia.

The director of the course was Charles Kecskem6ti, historian and archivist. Kecskem6ti was Chief Executive of the International Council on Archives for more tharL three decades. He was responsible for managing ICA's major projects and its co-operation with Intergovernmental (UNESCO) and International Non-Governmental Organisations (IFLA, FID, ICOM). Although he retired in 1998, he continues to act as honorary Secretary General of the International Committee for the Computerisation of the Komintem Archives.

The main lecturers during the Summer School were Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, Daniel Peschanski, Kirill Anderson, Klaus Odenhage, Ivan Szekely, Zoltan Ripp and John Earl Haynes.

One of the projects discussed by the

participants was the Comintem Archives Project. In 1992, a group of French and German historians contacted the Council of Europe and the International Council on Archives (ICA) proposing that the international action be undertaken to pre-

serve and open to researchers the archives of the Comintem. Located in Moscow, these archives constitute one of the richest sources of information about world history in the inter-war period.

The Summer school also included a number of visits to important archival collections, mainly a visit to Parliament house and another to the County Archives of Miskolc. Visiting the Library and Archives of the Hungarian Parliament proved to be a interesting and stimulating activity. The Library was founded in 1870, and received the right of legal deposit in 1922. The holdings of the Library include over 700,000 mono-

graphs, approximately 60% in foreign languages. The library subscribes to about 1,700 current periodicals, 40% in foreign languages.

The number of documents on microfiche is about 20,000. The archives section is faced with similar chal1enges to those of other archival col1ections, mainly shortage of storage space. The issue of Parliamentary

On 19 July, 2001 Patricia Grimsted

gave a lecture entitled `Russia's Trophy Archives - a new cultural cold war in Europe?' . Grimsted who is a research associate at the Ukranian Research Institute at Harvard University, is the West's leading authority on archives of the former Soviet Union. Displaced foreign cultural treasures (including archives) held in Russia have been one of the dramatic revelations since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia's failure to return them to the countries of their

provenance has become one of the most thorny elements in Russia's foreign relations.

Very enriching were the country re-

Questions and the work involved in gathering the information for their processing was highlighted as one of the most worrying problems.

ports. Most of the participants had to discuss the situation of archives of political parties in their own country. The perspective of archives in ex-Communist countries is quite different from that of the Western world. For example, in the Hungarian law, there are two types of closure periods. For present material the closure period is 30 years. For documents prior to 1989 (ie. the year the collapse of Communism materialised), the period of closure is 15

The visit in Miskolc gave partici-

years. In the words of Ivan Szekely, this is `an attempt by society to com-

pants the real feeling of the day to day management of archives. We heard about the familiar experiences of under-funding, water seeping through roofs and lack of support from the political establishment to improve services and facilities. A lecture by Tamas Kende introduced us to the archival materials deposited in this repository. This was followed by a tour in the storage areas and we had the opportunity to view a selection of records.

pensatefortheclosedaccessofthose times, .

The main distinction which emerged in the country reports is that in most Communist countries, the archives oftheCommunistpaftywerealsothe archives of the state. The line of demarcation between the party and the state was almost non-existent.

This has a great advantagerfrom an archival point of view. Most of the records were kept and found their

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iqcaffiENt`iidEatptpgz±tsin the history oF Mqlfes€ migration One of the most extensive record groups held at the National Archives of Malta is the collection of passport applications. The manner in which this collection of records reached our archives deserves a mention. All started about 11 years ago when an early phone call reached our offices. The person at the other end informed us that a large collection of passport applications were being used for the construction of carnival floats at Fort St Elmo. Immediate intervention from the archives staff

The various requests for photos and information from these records, inspired us to start the indexing process on this record group. However, we soon realised that certain preservation measures had to be taken. The records had to be cleaned, rusty pins removed and photos stuck to the ap-

saved most of the collection.

project, no computer or even typewriter was available. So we decided to commence work in the traditional hand written manner. A group of dedicated University students started the initial listing of records.

The project was maintained year after year. Last year we received the necessary computer hardware and software. We took this opportunity to concentrate all our energies on bringing the project to a concluding phase. Marisa Calleja, Marlene Borg

plications using a reversible method.

Following the sorting, the documents were placed in archival storage boxes, while the lists started to take shape.

During the initial two years of the

The passport applications consist of A3 forms with personal details of the

person making the request. The application is often signed by a prominent person, often a parish priests or a lawyer. From 1915 onwards, the applications are enriched by photos of the persons in question. Often, these are larger than today's passport photos and in some cases include group photos.

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ALpplications in their original state and Alison Borg Hili deserve merit for their efforts to bring this project to the present advanced phase.

In order to explain the relevance of the whole project for historical research, an exhibition on the topic of migration will be held during the month of November. Partnerships with the Friends of the National Archives and the Emigrants Commission have been established. We all hope that we keep up with the .present momentum and hold similar exhibitions annually.

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This year's annual public lecture will also relate to the subject of emigration. Professor Maurice Cauchi, who is to deliver the lecture, is an expert on the subject and has conducted various studies on the socio-economic aspects of emigration. It is hoped that through this co-operation with the Emigrants Commission, we develop better services to all those interested in the study of the Maltese migratory movement.