Paul Engels

“During my studies I fortunately had the opportunity to do an internship abroad and one thing is certain: I would definitely do it again at the National Archives in Malta! In total I had the possibility to take a look at the different fields of work in an archive for over 3 months.

My main tasks during my internship were the digitisation and the cataloguing of documents to preserve the documents for the future. Furthermore, I have gained insight into the handling, storage and restoration of old documents.

“When research related to the thesis led to a case study in Valletta, an attempt was made to further the study by reconstructing the route to the place where information and documents on the subject could be found.

The National Archives of Malta was the destination to go to. The possibility of an internship at the Archives provided the opportunity to enrich the study experience with an educational component, which in this case lasted three months. Thanks to the constant support of all the staff, it was possible to see and partially carry out some of the many functions that animate the archive: digitisation, cataloguing and the arrangement of documents in both public and private history.

A history made up of people and places, some of which still exist and whose function has changed over time, such as the location of the Archive itself represented by a former hospital. Being able to see up close how the activities are carried out on a daily basis, each with their own specialisation, made it possible to discover how complex and at the same time stimulating the work of an archivist can be and how important it is to preserve and promote the memory of a place and a people. In addition to providing professional enrichment, this experience allowed me to come into contact with experts in the archives and conservation sector who kindly and professionally shared their techniques and experience.”

Eleonora di Mauro PhD student, Dipartimento di Architettura, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Sicily

Our Conservation Laboratory resumed the pre‑pandemic dynamics, while developing its operating methodologies to reflect the new realities of the National Archives’ responsibilities.

During the year 2022 there was a significant increase in damage notifications coupled with requests for conservation and preservation work, more off‑sites inspections and reports, as well as work related to the Notarial Registers Archives’ project. We focused also on the continuous professional development of our team who took part in further training, both locally and abroad. Furthermore, new ventures were undertaken, such as the international internship call for a student studying book and paper conservation and the engagement in the loaning process of items exhibited abroad.

Alice Ferri, assistant conservator, resigned her post in April and a call was issued; in December the replacement process was still ongoing.

During the year 2022, 50 conservation projects were carried out. These involved items from the following collections: ABP, ZM, OPM, MFA 01, MCC, EDU 02, MNA92-04, MISC., CSG, CSG 01, BN, and MEMORJA. These comprised both short term works, long-term projects and various private deposits and donations.

These works include

• the long-term works such as passport applications, the Magna Curia Castellania collection and works on drawings of the Addolorata Cemetery.

• first line of conservation works was performed on the architectural plans before digitisation (15 items). In relation to digitisation works, we also carried out the dismantling and re-sewing of 5 folders related to the Railway and Trams collection.

• the treatment on volume ZM/01/02, a 19th century copy of the 1575 Mons. Dusina Pastoral visit, pertaining to the Gozo Section.

This work included the construction of tailor-made archival boxes, in particular six archival boxes for oversize volumes from the Giuliana Letard-Ciantar collection, condition surveys, cleaning of shelves, volumes and tailor-made wrappers for fragile bindings for the customs, OPM and CA collections, tailormade enclosures for oversized private donations, mount-making and framing and also a tailor-made archival box housing documents for transportation overseas to Naples for the exhibition of Clément Cogitore, Ferdinandea.

Around 250 melinex pockets for the passport photos in the passport applications were manufactured to size. This was carried out by volunteers, supervised by conservators.

New support, book pillows, for volumes and manuscripts were custom-made by Isabelle Camilleri for the Reading Room and for all Sections at NAM.

Damage Notification Forms

National Archives staff submitted 98 damage notification forms from different units, mainly from the Reading Room but also by archival processing personnel, the Courts and Tribunals Archive, the Gozo Archive, the Records Management Unit, MEMORJA, and with regards to records being used in exhibitions and publications.

Forty-eight of these are still pending treatment as they were deemed of lower priority. Compared to previous years, the number of notification forms received has increased by 50% from 2021 and by over 225% when compared to 2019 and 2020. This reflects the increase in archival handling and processing of the collection which brings to light archival material that requires the attention of the Conservation Laboratory.

Following amendments in the Cultural Heritage Act, our Conservation Lab worked with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage to develop a general method statement, in line with the requirements of the Article 56 of this law. An agreement between the two entities was reached and a Standard Operating Procedure was developed.

The methodology consists of an introduction on the collections and the Conservation Laboratory, types of archival materials and deterioration factors, the priority of work and the types of treatments (preventive and interventive conservation). In view of this procedure standard conservation treatment work on our collection will not require regular notifications, thus simplifying the bureaucracy between the two entities.

In conjunction with the Notarial Registers Archive (NRA), a visit to the collection held by Notary Spiteri Maempel was conducted to examine its condition before transferring it, following up with a report.

Other visits and reports include the Times of Malta Photographic Collection, a condition report on a mould outbreak at Identity Malta’s Public Registry in Marsa and an inspection report on a new storage facility at the Lands Authority in Valletta.

Two follow-up meetings were organised with the Salesians in St Philip Neri Oratory Library (Senglea) to see the progression of the project and to discuss good storage for fragile bindings. This long-term collaboration dealing with the Oratorian Library has been progressing steadily.

In September, the conservators were urgently requested to visit the Mdina Cathedral to offer emergency assistance and advice following a rain seepage in the Capitular Aula Magna.

The National Archives’ emergency plan is continuously updated, expanding and refining it further.

The team monitored the yearly maintenance of the fire extinguishers and was assigned with suggesting new fire extinguishers for all Sections and fire safety for the Conservation Laboratory, along with numbering and creating labels for the fire extinguishers to be placed against the walls.

The National Archives has supported the members of the conservation team (including the conservators at the NRA section) to attend continuous professional development lectures and workshops both local and abroad.

These include

• a series of lectures organised by Heritage Malta, dealing with the Cultural Heritage Act, Conservation-Restoration Basics, Re-defining Chemistry Basics for Purposes of Scientific Analysis as well as Basic Health and Safety in conservation of cultural heritage.

• a seminar and workshop about Nano-systems: Research and Applications on Cultural Heritage, held in Lisbon, Portugal.

• participation in Paper in Motion: Restoration, Conservation and Transmediation, held in Denmark.

• training in the use of PVA Borax gels, organised by Cesmar 7, held in Italy.

Training in the handling of archival documents was given to volunteers and interns handling items from the collection via presentations.

In July, the National Archives of Malta joined as an institutional membership with the IIC (International Institute for Conservation), which is a global network for distinguished fellows, members and institutions representing more than 70 countries. The conservators have access to conferences, events, publications, research papers and journals. The annual meeting of the European Heads of Conservation (EHC), for the third consecutive year, did not take place due to the pandemic.

The National Archives conservators invited students studying heritage skills at Level 4 at MCAST and students from the University of Malta studying Preservation studies at Level 5 and 6 to visit the Conservation Laboratory. MCAST students were taught new techniques and tools in relation to box-making and enclosures, and worked on the preservation of some shelves in Hall B at Santu Spirtu, such as condition survey, cleaning of shelves, cleaning of volumes and learnt how to make wrappers for fragile bindings.

Two other students carried out a 20-hour placement in relation to their studies in the Conservation Laboratory; one student studying Systems of Knowledge at Higher Education, and the other student studying Heritage Skills at MCAST. Students observed ongoing work and were assigned minimal cleaning with a soft brush and removal of metal inserts. Another two students doing the Systems of Knowledge placement with other departments at the National Archives carried out one of their sessions at the Conservation Laboratory.

For the first time the Conservation Laboratory issued a call offering an internship to a student enrolled in a graduate paper conservation course to gain experience to work on archival material, under the supervision of warranted conservators. This call generated interest nationally and internationally; three applications were shortlisted.

Ana Sofia, a second year student advancing to third year studying book and paper conservation at City & Guilds in London was selected to intern at the Conservation Laboratory for the duration of four weeks between August and September. The assigned work varied and included documentation, condition assessment and surveys, cleaning of volumes and documents, pH and Fe2 testing on iron gall ink, leaf-casting for the our holdings and treatment on passport applications.

A training programme on the safe handling of records, totalling to nine sessions, was delivered to 37 members of staff at the Identity Malta Public Registry by Simon Dimech and Maria Borg. Col. Mark Mallia, Identity Malta CEO, presented the staff with certificates of training completion during an official ceremony at their Head Office.

With the pandemic measures lifted, the Conservation Laboratory registered an increase in visits and tours, exceeding over 26 visits in the span of a year. These visits ranged from schools, University departments and from other institutions and entities.

The team also contributed to social media by preparing posts to raise awareness, to show the ongoing work, and to highlight important events, in particular the participation in international events such as the online conference of the European Regional hub

Simon Dimech

organised by the International Institute for Conservation (IIC) and the European Day of Conservation organised by the European Confederation of Conservation-Restoration Organisations (E.C.C.O.).

The Conservation Laboratory participated in the National Archives Open Day held on the 6th November, where people had the opportunity to tour the Conservation Laboratory, see ongoing work and learn about the preservation of archival material. In a way to involve young children during this day, a small activity making small pamphlets was organised, and a handout showing each step was made in both Maltese and English.

A request from the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina (MADRE) in Naples, Italy, to display seven archival items from our collection was approved by the Minister. This was a new venture for us to loan items from its collection abroad. The work included the creation of policies and procedures, negotiations with Museum personnel, condition assessment and documentation of archival items, conservation treatment work, design and construction of a custom archival box for storage and transportation, preparations for the display, courier transportation as well as communication with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and Customs Department.

The Conservation team worked hand in hand, giving its support and advice to the NAVI section and its archivist. This included advice on handling, storage and digitisation aspects.

Members of the Malta University Historical Society were briefed on the work of the Records Management Unit during their visit to the National Archives on 12 November 2022.

The Public Services Unit continued to provide our clients with a high level of service. Our focus as a unit is to assist and guide the National Archives’ clients, guiding them to the best possible available sources held in our repositories, always maintaining a courteous and professional approach.

The continuous improvement of the existing catalogues and the creation of new finding aids remained a top priority, as a means to improve our clients’ research experience. We continued to work on the initiative launched two years ago, the cataloguing of the Series 01 within the Chief Secretary to Government collection dealing with the departmental correspondence (CSG 01). Today, this collection has over 80,000 entries in our database, covering the period 1917-1945.

However, perhaps the most important initiative that we undertook was the opening of the Guliana Letard-Ciantar collection. The catalogue of this collection is accessible both online from our website and from our Reading Room. While this collection was only made available in April, it is now one of the most popular collections with our clients. With data about baptisms, marriages and death records pertaining to various parishes in Malta and Gozo, found under one roof, this collection is an ideal tool for anyone involved in genealogical research. In fact, several clients consulted exclusively these records every week.

Our commitment to increase the accessibility to our records resulted in the upload of various material onto our online catalogue. A case in point is the whole series of plans and drawings of the Railway and Tram within the PDM collection. With well over 1,000 images, these records can now be browsed and accessed online.

We also saw a consolidated interest by our clients in initiatives launched the previous years. Both the self-digitisation of records and the pre-ordering of documents remained high in demand, with clients making increasing use of these two services.

The year under review, 2022, was in many ways a return to normality and to the pre-Covid situation, with regards to research and other activities in our Reading Rooms. We experienced a marked increase in both the number of research sessions booked at our Head Office compared to the previous two years as well as in the hours the clients spent researching. While we have not yet reached the 2019 figure of on-site researchers, 2022 figures came very close to the number of researchers visiting in 2018, with the total of research sessions standing at 1,452.

An important aspect that could be observed in our Reading Rooms was the return of foreign researchers, who were absent for the most part of the years 2020 and 2021, due to the restrictions on overseas travel during the pandemic.

Accompanying this increase in research sessions, we also experienced a significant growth in the number of items that have been consulted: over 8,100 items were consulted, the ever-highest number of documents that have been viewed in a single year.

When compared to the 2021 data, this means increase of more than 1,100 documents that have been requested by researchers. Such figures, are to be attributed also to the increase in the allowance of requested documents per day, introduced the previous year, from 10 to 15 items per person. The focus on cataloguing, particularly the CSG fonds, also led to more records being researchable and thus easier to trace, which in turn led to more items being requested.

Rachelle Mizzi

The collection that has been mostly consulted was, as in previous years, the Chief Secretary to Government (CSG). Almost 2,500 items were requested from this fonds, an increase of over 500 items when compared to 2021.

Other popular collections remained the Building Notices (BNO), the Passport Applications (MFA), Police Records (POL) and the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). A new entry in the list of fonds requested by our clients, as already explained was the Guliana Letard-Ciantar (GLC). This collection was requested more than 250 times.

Items requested by fonds ‑2022

The pattern registered during the past years has been an ever-increasing number of e-mails received through our customer care e-mail address from year to year.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2020, this increase has been even more marked. However this year we noticed a slight decline in numbers, 187 e-mails less than the previous year. The total amount of emails received was 1,412.

Melvin Caruana

This is an overview of the number of e-mails received per month during 2022 and a comparison with those received in 2020 and 2022:

Evidently, the lifting of travel restrictions and other preventive measures have led to an increase in on-site visitors.

Upon carefully examining the numbers of monthly requests, one may notice that there was a gradual decrease in e-mails received every month last year except for January and November, which alternatively increased in number from both 2020 and 2021.

The numbers were more or less the same for July and August with around 5 e-mails less than last year and around 10 to 20 less e-mails received during February, March, May, June and December. April, September and October registered the largest decrease in e-mails received, with around 35 to 50 less e-mails than last year.

The requests were mainly centred on the same research topics as previous years, namely:

• Passport applications with regards to genealogical research;

• Plans, drawings and maps for specific areas or locations;

• Birth/baptism, marriage and death records;

• Military service personnel records;

• Malta-related photographic material .

Building applications were also popularly requested.

As already mentioned, this year was crucial with regards to the opening for public access of the Guliana Letard-Ciantar collection, acquired recently by the National Archives of Malta.

In fact, while before we used to direct persons requesting baptism, marriage and death records to

Deborah Vella

the Public Registry or to the respective parish records, we are now informing clients to consult about this collection. Obviously, the Public Registry is still responsible for issuing birth, marriage or death certificates.

National Archives personnel do not carry out genealogical research within the GLC collection on the clients’ behalf. Such research is carried out by the clients themselves on-site or through the ordering of digital copies. E-mail requests to digitise specific volumes or selected pages are taken into consideration by those residing overseas. In fact, one specific client ordered copies from four different volumes within this collection; one of which contained around 200 pages which had to be digitised from beginning to end.

The overall response was very positive as most of the clients who ordered selected pages/volumes for specific towns or villages, found what they were searching for.

When analysing the figures for the combined on-site sessions and online requests, it transpires that once again this year saw the Public Service Unit dealing with a record number of clients’ requests. With 2,864 requests, the year under review, saw an increase of 120 queries over the previous year.

Combined Requests

Besides our core operation of assisting our clients in their research, the Public Services Unit offers other ancillary services. These are mainly focused on the re-production, both in digital format and paper copies, of records as requested by our clients. This service is offered beyond the possibility enjoyed by our clients to use their own digital photographic camera and a self-digitisation scanner.

Of the above figures, it is worth noting the amount of 4,173 digital images for documents that have been requested, which when compared to the 3,025 images requested in 2021, an increase of more than 1,000 images.

Visits

Educational and Cultural visits came back to forefront of our activities during 2022. Throughout this year we hosted 44 visits, almost equalling the figure of visits organized in 2019. The number of persons participating these activities was 377.

Most of these visits were from various educational institutions and 8 of these were specifically targeted, in collaboration with the Education Department to Secondary School students studying history as a main option. In such instances, apart from having a tour of the National Archives, the students could carry out fieldwork on selected primary sources, thus gaining first-hand experience on how to carry out research.

University students, reading for various Degrees and Masters, were another important presence during such visits.

At the beginning of the year, St Paul’s Missionary College organised a career exposure outing at our Head Office. The aim of such an activity was to introduce aspects of the archives to those students interested in choosing history in their post-secondary studies. As a result of this visit, we had one student, who applied to carry out an

Stephanie Schembri

internship during the summer months. A very encouraging outcome indeed!

During 2022, we also had an added incentive for groups to visit the National Archives of Malta, having the opportunity to experience the three exhibitions developed within the European Digital Treasures project. List

This unit was also involved in five media initiatives, both through research and preparation of documents but also, in two instances, when a member of the staff was interviewed. All the four initiatives were broadcast on TV stations. The subjects of these programmes were Passport Applications, Addolorata Cemetery and Smyrna Refugees.

The Courts and Tribunals Archive houses the Court records for the period 1530 up to 1899. These include the records generated by the 18 judicial fora operating during the stay of the Knights of St John (1530 1798), the Courts during the French occupation (1798 1800) and the nine courts that functioned between 1800 and 1889 (British period). This archive is at the Banca Giuratale in Mdina, built in 1726 to house the Università, the civil administrative council of the city.

Following the 2020 and 2021 Covid pandemic restrictions, life returned to normal in 2022. The accessibility for research at the Courts and Tribunals Archive at the Banca Giuratale (Mdina) has remained consistent, with appointments for research on the archive’s premises as well as research assistance via electronic communication. During the 2022, we recorded a significant increase in the number of researchers and the hours spent on research in the premises. 220 researchers visited Mdina Banca Giuratale and spent approximately 568 hours researching, the majority of which occurred during the first half of the year. Close to 320 volumes were consulted.

During 2002, the Malta Study Center, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, started a multi-annual project to digitize the Consolato del Mare and the Tribunal Armamentorum collections. This project will create an important access to Malta’s maritime history.

Apart from the research conducted on-site, there was a high demand for research conducted via phone and electronic communication, uncommon prior to the pandemic restrictions. The First Hall of the Civil Court fonds was the most researched, with a focus on the Judicial Sales and Citations Series, followed by the Officium Commissariorum Domorum fonds.

Twenty-two MA Notarial Studies 5th Year post-graduate students completed 30 hours of hands-on practical experience under the direction of Dr Joan Abela. They compiled content data from the volumes of the Denunzie within the Criminal Court fonds of the pre-Criminal Code of 1854. The catalogue compilation, started in earlier years, is now complete; it records all criminal cases from the Law Court’s inception in 1814 to the end of the nineteenth century. This information is currently being reviewed to be made available for consultation on the National Archives catalogue platform.

Besides the cataloguing process, the contents of the Law Courts Miscellaneous fond were also studied and researched during 2022. In the most recent issue of the journal ‘Arkivju’, Rakele Fiott wrote an article “Miscellaneous Treasures: Stories from National Archives Miscellaneous boxes dating 1746-1785” highlighting interesting information about what one can expect to find in this collection.

In January, the Sunday Times of Malta published an article titled “The women raped and murdered by men in Malta 300 years ago,” in which journalist Sarah Chircop interviewed Vanessa Buhagiar about her discoveries. The article was part of a series called Malta’s Hidden Treasures, which was a collaboration between the National Archives of Malta and the Times of Malta. The project, which is part of the European Digital Treasures programme co-funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe programme, allows readers to gain an understanding of Maltese history and society by utilising our archives.

Buhagiar also presented a paper titled “The legal framework for rape prosecution: A case-study from eighteenth-century Maltese Court proceedings” in November 2022 at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in a seminar on violence against women during the early modern period in which she examined 11 trials of rape accusations identified during the cataloguing process from 1701 to 1709. This topic was later discussed on a local radio show ‘Taħdita-Clio,’ which aired in November, and in which Buhagiar was invited to speak with Dr Emanuel Buttigieg.

The fifth biennial symposium organised by Wirt iż-Żejtun on 8 October 2022, referred to sources from the National Archive. Originally planned for 2020 to commemorate the third centennial of the completion of the parish church of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Żejtun, this symposium was postponed for this year because of the pandemic. Academic Mevrick Spiteri gave a presentation titled “Capo Maestri or Maltese Architects? The roles of Giacomo Bianco (1690-1770) and Giuseppe Bonnici (1706-1779) in 18th century Baroque Malta”, making use of the Officium Commissariorum Domorum fonds. This paper was eventually published by Wirt iż-Żejtun.

“Striking a Chord: Musical Genres in Malta Throughout the Ages” was the National Library of Malta’s Public Lectures Series for 2021-2022, presented entirely in online feature format and eventually also in a publication bearing the same name. This series brought together several local experts in the field and was made available to the public in collaboration with the National Archives of Malta and the Mdina Metropolitan Chapter. In September 2022, Noel D’Anastas gave a presentation titled ‘Wine, Woman, and Song: the Vaudeville Artists and Music Halls in Malta’s Interwar Period,’ which used various sources from the National Archives, including Chief Secretary to Governor and Passport application records.

Mario Camilleri

Several members of the staff appeared as guests on a TVM show called “Għaddi s’Hawn” during the winter months. They discussed their work on a variety of topics, such as the Consolato del Mare records, the importance of Latin in documents, Maltese music archived in the National Archive and other institutions, and the MEMORJA project in relation to the covid pandemic.

The National Archive and its holdings are frequently discussed on Noel D’Anastas’ radio broadcast “Mill-Arkivji”, where guests debate their research, particularly on archival sources in the Maltese Archives. Among those who made reference to the National Archive sources were Dr Charles Xuereb, Dr Noel Buttigieg, Prof. Carmel Cassar, Dr Evelyn Pullicino, Louise and Rakele Fiott, and Vince Peresso.

Images from the Magna Curia Castellania and Consolato del Mare fonds were featured in an online exhibition called “Paper in Motion”, which took place in Prato from 27 January to 27 April 2022.

The National Archive which houses Prof. Charles Camilleri’s musical compositions, was additionally promoted through Camilleri’s music. The Intermezzo from “Il-Wegħda” - the first opera with a Maltese libretto by Charles Camilleri was performed during the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra’s European Tour 2022, presented by the European Foundation for Support of Culture. The 50th anniversary of Charles Camilleri’s album “Għanjiet minn Malta,” the first stereo album released in Malta in August 1972, was commemorated in a lengthy feature article by Noel D’Anastas. Prof. Joe Friggieri, who wrote the lyrics for every song on the album, and singer Maryrose Mallia were both interviewed for the article.

Last March, around 20 students reading for a Master in Notarial Studies under the tutorial of Dr Joan Abela visited the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary Section at Banca Giuratale in Mdina where archivist in charge Noel D’Anastas gave an explanation about the content of the various archival fonds related to the notarial profession and information about the work assignment that they would undertake in Banca Giuratale on the volumes of the Criminal Court Denunciations.

On 5 April, archivists Irene Sestili and Noel D’Anastas gave a lecture to Dr Valeria Vanesio’s undergraduate students about the collection and cataloguing process of the Letrard-Ciantar Collection. On 4 November, a group of undergraduate students from Prof. Simon Mercieca’s course in the history of sexuality visited the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary Section at Banca Giuratale in Mdina, where Samuel Azzopardi provided information about the archive and archival material related to the topic.

Noel D’Anastas

Prof. Joe Friggieri was one of the guests at Banca Giuratale. He expressed his appreciation for the work done to archive and protect Charles Camilleri’s music. Friggieri and Charles Camilleri worked together on a variety of works, including the opera “Il-Fidwa tal-Bdiewa”.

Noel D’Anastas was appointed National Archives’ representative as Country Manager in the Archives Portal Europe project in October. On 23 November, he participated online in the first winter meeting for country managers, followed by another session on 2 December.

The records of the court case Neg. Giuseppe Falea vs Neg. Giuseppe

Ellul ed altri (Proc. App. Civ. 96/1898, Cit. No.1432), held at the Courts and Tribunals Archive, includes this extract from the Registro delle Licenze specito dal Ufficio del Collettore della Rendita Territoriale di Sua Maesta per la fabbriche di case nella campagna. It confirms that on 20 August 1856, the Government authorised Salvatore Camenzuli to occupy a small site of 15 x 15 feet on the coast of Sliema, port of Marsamcetto, precisely in the place indicated to him by the Expert of this Office marked letter A, to build a bath. He had to build also a small pier, in the point marked (a) between the existing bathhouse and the one the one to be built by him, and with the express condition that this concession must be understood and approved by the Government.

The features encountered in the several series of the Consolato del Mare fond range from the more common woodcuts and seals to rarer finds. This is a record with fabric samples still attached to it; the illustration at the top is an engraving.