The Notarial Registers Archive

Overleaf. The Kantilena, the earliest known literary text in Maltese forms part of the Notarial Registers Archive.

New shelving installation at the Notarial Registers Archive, Valletta.

Following the enactment of LXIII of 2021 (Archives Laws (Amendment) Act) the historical original copies of the Notarial Archive became part of the National Archives of Malta; the latter is now entrusted with the guardianship and management of the Notarial Registers Archive.

During 2022, National Archives’ staff was heavily involved in the rehabilitation project of the Notarial Registers Archive building in St Paul and St Christopher Streets in Valletta, co-funded by the European Union. This entailed weekly on-site visits and regular exchanges whereby our conservators monitored the works, liaised on behalf of National Archives and gave advice on the works being carried out to the project leaders.

Before (top) and after (bottom) treatment

Now that this rehabilitation project is reaching its final stages, work on a migration plan of the collection within the building has also commenced. Moreover, we are working on the development of management of this archive, which will be the first National Archives’ building in Valletta.

Vanessa Buhagiar has been entrusted with the drafting and design of the captions for the Notarial Registers Archive’s museum exhibits, which amount to over 50 individual items. For this task each item being exhibited had to be researched and different caption styles and formats had to be tested.

The conservation team was responsible for drawing up the designs and measurements of the book cradles being used in the museum. The team frequently visited the workshop of the supplier to discuss the progress and ensure that the work being carried out was up to standard.

Conservation

Fifteen conservation projects were carried out during the year under review. These involved items that will be displayed in the Notarial Registers Archive Museum, as well as a few volumes from the collection of Notary Giovanni Luca Mamo. The items included notarial deeds, single leaf items and log books from the Maritime Collection.

Conservation treatments mainly consisted of mechanical surface cleaning, paper repairs, consolidation of text, sewing consolidation and replacement where necessary, and consolidation of various aspects of the bindings. Condition reports and before and after photography were also updated accordingly.

The Notarial Registers Archive collection is being disinfested using anoxia treatment. The disinfestation cycle is 40 days long, and when ready, the conservators inspect volumes for any signs of insect activity. Boxes are barcoded according to storage space’s system of identification, to ease the retrieval of documents and overall access to the collection. Storage personnel proceed to seal the boxes in plastic provided by the Office of the Notary to the Government and prepare them on pallets for delivery to the storage facility. Boxes are then transferred to the storage facility, and the next batch is transferred for the

Chanelle Briffa Mifsud

next re-disinfestation process. As of December 2022, nine batches of approximately 250 boxes each, have been disinfested.

Maria Borg and Chanelle Mifsud Briffa were assigned to list and pack notarial volumes stored at the office of Notary Spiteri Maempel. Seven hundred volumes were listed according to date, packed, disinfested and transferred to the storage facility, where they will be stored until the rehabilitation project is finalised.

Scientific analysis was undertaken on a portolan chart reused as a cover for an Index of Notary Giovanni Domenico Spiteri. In December of 2021, Chanelle Mifsud Briffa, Maria Borg, and Simon Dimech, transported the chart to the Heritage Malta Diagnostic Science Laboratories. Matthew Grima and Marie Camilleri used MSI and XRF to identify the pigments. The results helped the conservators determine the types of treatments and materials to be used on the chart. The conservation treatment was finalised in 2022.

In 2022, Vanessa Buhagiar and Chanelle Mifsud Briffa led a multi-disciplinary research project on the sixteenth-century poem Ad Patriam. This record can be found on the last (unnumbered) folio of the second volume of the Cedulae Supplichae et Taxationes series, forming part of the Magna Curia Castellania Fond at the Courts and Tribunals Archive within the National Archives of Malta. The researchers investigated this poem, previously though to be written by Luca d’Armenia in the sixteenth century, from a palaeographical and codicological perspective; the results of their study will be published in the journal Nuovi Annali della Scuola Speciale per Archivisti e Bibliotecari of Sapienza University in Rome.

This year, the National Archives of Malta collaborated with Times of Malta to issue a series of articles on Malta’s ‘hidden treasures’. This formed part of the larger European Digital Treasures project, which was co-funded by the European Union. The topic that was unearthed from the archives in January concerned femicide and the rape of women in eighteenth century Malta. This article was widely circulated in social media and prompted the researcher Vanessa Buhagiar to further her studies. Linked to this, Buhagiar has also written a paper on the legal framework of rape proceedings in eighteenth-century Malta. This was researched and written on the basis of the same primary sources consulted for the Times of Malta feature.

On 25 August 2022 Vanessa Buhagiar was interviewed about Notary Brandanus de Caxario as part of a documentary on the European Digital Treasures exhibition held at the National Archives of Malta. The interview concerned Notary de Caxario’s link to Protestantism and Renaissance humanism, particularly his quote of Erasmus in one of his notarial volumes. This was filmed at the National Library of Malta.

Throughout the month of October, Maria Borg assisted with book handling sessions given to staff from Identity Malta at the National Archives conservation lab. Topics covered included storage conditions, recommended advice, good handling practices and a general overview of different binding styles. Participants also had the chance to have a closer look at some ongoing conservation projects in the Conservation Laboratory. After all sessions were concluded, participants were given a certificate.

Due to the limited access to the collection, the team has been accessing documents at the storage facility to assist notaries and researchers with scans and copies of the requested material.

The conservation team, namely Chanelle Mifsud Briffa and Maria Borg, have also ensured that paperwork, reports, databases and meeting minutes related to the Notarial Registers Archive Museum are drawn up and updated accordingly.