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Gozo Archive

Vajrinġa Street, Victoria VCT 1313

Tel: (+356) 2155 88 33

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The National Archives of Malta

Courts and Tribunals Archive

Villegaignon Street, Mdina MDN 1193

Tel: (+356) 2145 9919

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The Malta Study Centre

Hill Museum and Manuscript Library www.hmml.org

The Archives Portal Europe www.archivesportaleurope.eu

A publication of the National Archives of Malta

© The National Archives of Malta

Contributors: The staff of the National Archives, volunteers and members of the Friends of the National Archives

ISSN: 1997-6348

Design: Salesian Press - Sliema

Print ing: Government Printing Press

Cover. Seventy-five years ago, one of Malta’s worst sea tragedies took place. On 30 October 1948, a fishing boat carrying passengers from Malta to Gozo capsized and sank in rough seas off Qala. Twenty-three out of the 27 persons on board drowned. The photo shows the funeral cortege of seven of the victims moving along Palm Street in Victoria, from the Gozo hospital mortuary (then in St Francis Square) to the Cathedral. We are commemorating this event by publishing a paper about this tragedy by former Assistant National Archivist Fr Joseph Bezzina whose uncle was one of the victims.

Another event that took place seventy-five years ago was the signing of the MaltaAustralia Passage Assistance Agreement. This agreement, signed on 5 May 1948, was the first such agreement that Australia had made with any country other than Britain. Along the years it extended the benefit of subsidised travel costs to over 63,000 Maltese persons. Emigration marked and shaped the development of the Maltese society in the latter half of the 20th century. In this report, we are publishing a paper by Maltese-Australian historian Dr Barry York discussing this agreement and its significance.

Once more it is time for us to come back to the public with the annual assessment of our work, that is also presented to Parliament. This is a time for us to present facts and statistics about our operations, but also to celebrate the excellent initiatives taken and hint at what waits in store for the years to come.

During the last two years we reported successes with the project MEMORJA, our oral, sound and visual archive. We also fulfilled successfully all the commitments under the European Digital Treasures (EDT) project. This brought huge satisfaction due to the extensive opportunities for local and international interaction. It also provided the academic community with new publications, an array of archives-linked merchandising and an amazing learning experience for all the staff involved in the design, implementation and dissemination of the project.

2022 was also a crucial year in our preparation for the completion of the Notarial Registers Archive that will operate in Valletta. This project will provide the reading public with a state-of-the-art repository that will facilitate the upkeep of the ever-growing 2 kms of records and research facilities in a safe and pleasant environment. We shall now inaugurate the main components of the project that were managed the Office of the Chief Notary to Government. Yet, this is not a finished project. We shall be investing in the facilities that still need to be developed and forge a formal working relationship with the Notarial Archives Foundation. This collaboration will ensure that the State shoulders its responsibility for this important component of our archival heritage.

There were also matters that did not work out in the way we had hoped. Our greatest disappointment has to do with the new National Archives project at Ta’ Qali. In line with government’s commitment to build a new national archive complex that will also cater for the national audio-visual institute (NAVI) we had dedicated a lot of time and energy to arrive at the best concept and design for the Ta’ Qali archives hub. I thank all those who dedicated thier time and energy, in particular the committee that was entrusted to support us. I also thank the National Archives of France for the technical support they have provided us and are still willing to provide. All these dreams faded away when the Ta’ Qali site was unceremoniously ‘taken over’.

The future of the new national archive building depends on the identification by government of a new site for the project. Until then, we will continue investing in our network of current buildings that with the notarial registers archive will comprise seven repositories. We may keep adding to the repositories but in the long run the system risks collapsing. While we focus our energy on the holdings, their physical and intellectual control, develop new services for our patrons and a robust IT infrastructure, we are aware that this can never be fully achieved through the current fragmented approaches in buildings that do not even offer the basic minimum climatic conditions.

The need of a new national archives is not in any way inspired by a desire for an architectural statement. Obviously, it would be a pity if our country does not invest in a design that makes a clear statement towards culture, openness, and accountability in building its national archives. But independently of this, the new national archives premises, building on the new records management culture instilled in this country, is crucial for our country’s soul, memory, and identity.

We have most public departments and entities collaborating, building retention policies and applying them. The days when truck loads of documents reach the archives in disarray are just memories from the past. The public administration-wide system that we built means that we need 1 km of additional storage space each year. Fragmented space is not only costly but risky and will hamper the process of adequate cataloguing and opening to the public.

The silver lining in this story is that the current government is still committed to deliver on its electoral promise of building a national archive that will cater for the traditional and new media and that it will cater for current and future needs. We will keep insisting for this to happen and prepare all the reporting needed to have a state-of-the art facility.

We are also noticing a new trend where staff members resign from our entity to take employment in archives abroad. This has hit us hard with regards to the IT, audio-visuals and conservation departments. Thus, the National Audio-Visual Institute had a delay of one year in its planned operations due to the replacement procedures. Notwithstanding, we are proud that the name of our institution on the cv of staff members is adding weight to the future prospects of our staff.

The excellent collaboration we have at international level continued to flourish with the Chairmanship of EURBICA and active participation in EAG, EBNA, ICARUS, DLM and the Archives Portal Europe (APE). Another stakeholder we strengthened our collaborated with was the Department of Library, Information and Archive Sciences at the University of Malta. This collaboration helped in the establishment of joint collaborations which will strengthen the sector further.

This could not have happened without the collaborative input of all management, staff and volunteers who have kept the name of the National Archives of Malta in high esteem for another year. They all deserve our thanks and praise.

Dr Charles J. Farrugia National Archivist and CEO