9 Supporting Organizations And Volunteers

9.1 The National Archives Council 2020

The National Archives Council is set up in line with Article 14 of the National Archives Act (2005), which stipulates that:

(1) There shall be a National Archives Council, appointed by the Minister, which shall be composed as follows:

a. a Chairperson; b. the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage ex officio or his representative; c. the Chairperson of Heritage Malta ex officio or his representative; d. the National Librarian ex officio or his representative; e. the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister ex officio or his representative; f. a person to represent the non-governmental archives or records centres; g. three other persons chosen from amongst persons known to be users of and familiar with archives, records management and information professions, or working in nongovernmental organisations dedicated to information and archives, one of whom shall be appointed by the Minister responsible for Gozo.

9 SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS AND VOLUNTEERS

In line with the National Archives Act, during the year under review, the Council continued to fulfil the functions assigned to it by the Archives Act, mainly:

a. to promote the National Archives and other record keeping entities; b. to ensure and facilitate the collaboration between the different stakeholders with direct or indirect responsibility for the protection and management of the archives sector; c. to advise the Minister on the management of archives in Malta; d. to draw the attention of the Minister or of any organisation or person responsible for archives to any urgent action that may be considered necessary for the better management of archives and records; e. to advise the Minister on any matter arising from the provisions of this Act and on any other matter referred to it by the Minister.

Council Members

The first Council meeting of 2020 was held under the Chairmanship of Professor William Zammit. However, after the Cabinet reshuffle of January 2020, the new Minister for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, Hon. Dr Josè Herrera took over the political responsibility for the National Archives. He appointed a new Chairperson and the following members for a period of three years, till May 2023, as stipulated by Law.

President Prof. Raymond Mangion

Members Dr Joan Abela Rev. Mgr. Ġwann Azzopardi Dr Steve Borg Maroma Camilleri Mario Coleiro Joyce Dimech Rev. Can. Dr Nicholas Doublet Max Farrugia Judith Frendo Cumbo Joseph Magro Conti Dr Lillian Sciberras.

Secretary Dr Kristina Camilleri Deguara

As in previous years, Dr Charles J. Farrugia, the National Archivist and CEO and the Rev. Mgr. Joseph Bezzina, Assistant National Archivist for Gozo attended the Council meetings and have also supported its work by regularly updating the Council on the working of the Institution.

During 2020, the Council explored possible ways on how to support private archives and private collections, and how to recover same collections. Discussions were held on the best way to market the sector and also to create further synergies between the Church and State archives. During the August session, the publication of the State of Archives Report was also looked into.

The Council met a number of times with the last three sessions being held virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

9.2 Friends of the National Archives

The year under review coincided with the twentieth anniversary from the foundation of the Friends of the National Archives. At that time, discussions took place between the current national archivist and Hella Jean Bartolo on how to set up an NGO that supports the work of the National Archives. Hella had been advocating in favor of records management in Malta, in particular in her post at the Central Bank of Malta. She was also surrounded by a small group of students reading for the Diploma in Library and Information Studies at the University of Malta. Through these discussions it was possible to come up with a Statute that created a good working relation between the two wings in the collaboration – the national archives as the public body entrusted by Government and the volunteers who support the sector. Efforts throughout the twenty years were made not to blur the distinction between the roles of NAM and FNAM. We can say that this worked out successfully to the benefit of the sector.

The Executive Committee of the Friends of the National Archives during this commemorative year consists of Mr Max Farrugia as President, Dr Charles Farrugia as Vice-President, Dr Evelyn Pullicino as Secretary, Ms M’Anne Farrugia as Assistant Secretary, Dr Gerald Bugeja as Treasurer, Ivan Ellul as Membership Secretary, Prof. George Cassar as Education Officer, Marica Camilleri as Public Relations Officer and Dr Nazzareno Azzopardi and Martin Hampton as members. This Executive was elected during the Annual General Meeting held in May 2019 with a tenure up to 2021.

Due to the pandemic, the 2020 Annual General Meeting had to be cancelled and thus the last physical AGM was held on Thursday 16th May 2019. During the past year the FNAM Executive Committee together with the National Archivist and his staff focused maintaining a strong presence, support the needs of the sector and safeguard the continuation of services to the public notwithstanding the disruption of the pandemic. An initiative was also taken to use social media to commemorate the anniversary through the uploading of historical photos from the work of FNAM during the last 20 years. They also issued the ARKIVJU journal in time. As in past years, this journal holds a diversity of academic articles from local and foreign authors.

Another major project during this year was our collaboration with one of the band clubs in Ħaż-Żebbuġ which will eventually result in the publication of a book titled Speciosa Citta` Rohan. The article will discuss the passport applications held at the National Archives of Malta related to Żebbuġin for the period 1921 up to 1938. This collaboration involved a number of meetings held regularly online during the past three months. The Committee has shortlisted several articles for publication and now it is examining them to see if they fit the required standards. It is hoped that this book will see the light of the day during 2021.

During this year FNAM also continued to advertise the vinyl records and CDs Emmanuele Cilia - The Complete Studio Recordings 1931-1932. A special scheme at preferential rates was advertised and was highly successful. During this year also the FNAM wanted to donate a collection of records to the National Archives – we believe that this is the best way one can enrich our national institution. Discussions were held with Oscar Attard and a collection of ephemera and documents related to geneaological research, surnames and historical photos was procured to be presented to the National Archives at the most opportune time.

9 SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS AND VOLUNTEERS

9 SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS AND VOLUNTEERS

During 2020 cadre of volunteers have contributed in a significant manner to our archival curation efforts. Volunteering is much more than unpaid working hours to the institution. Each one of these volunteers has brought to us their skills and commitment while we provided the training required to handle the task assigned.

During last year the following volunteers gave their valuable services to the National Archives: · Alfred Bezzina (cataloguing the Eddie Fenech Adami Collection) · Richard Bird (cataloguing Dispatches Collection) · Michael Borg (cataloguing Education Department files) · Mary Buttigieg (cataloguing the Lorenzo Gatt and Ugo Mifsud papers) · Mark Caruana (cataloguing passport applications) · Francesca del Rio (supporting our Conservation Laboratory staff) · Norbert Gingell (passports digitisation) · Martin Hampton (Memorja and digitisation of CSG Index) · Patrick J Micallef (curating the KOMR data project) · Anthony Mifsud (Tony Terribile Collection, cataloguing CSG) · Nicole Vassallo (supporting our Conservation Laboratory staff)

We are grateful to these volunteers and others who contribute in ad hoc projects or events.

Thank you, your commitment is invaluable!