International Council on Archives (ICA), a non-governmental organisation, promotes and strengthens cooperation among archivists and institutions around the world, to preserve archival records and to ensure their availability and accessibility to the public. It comprises about 1400 members in 199 countries and territories. The ICA collaborates closely with the Council of Europe, UNESCO and many other important NGOs.
Definition of 'Archive': A collection of items which form evidence of the activities of a person or institution is called an archive. A building where historical records are kept – also called ‘archive centres’, ‘record offices’ or ‘repositories’.
Objectives of the Day:
- To increase public awareness of the importance of records and archives;
- To raise awareness among leading decision-makers of the benefits of records management for good governance and development
- To make the general public, private and public sectors fully conscious of the need for long-term archival preservation and access;
- To showcase the unique, extraordinary and rare documents preserved in archival institutions; and
- To enhance the image of records and archives and raise their profile across the globe.
History of International Archives Day: The International Council on Archives was established in Paris during a three-day meeting of archivists from June 9 to 11, 1948. Its purpose was to strengthen relations among archivists of all nations, to promote the use of records, and to advance the documentation of human experience.
The National Archives supported the ICA’s creation because it would provide a much-needed forum for archivists from around the world to discuss common issues. Archivist of the United States Solon Buck addressed the Society of American Archivists (SAA) in October 1946 to promote international cooperation.
In this address, titled “One World,” Buck, then president of the SAA, proposed an international organisation of archivists and outlined the steps needed to make it happen. The National Archives had been active in protecting records during World War II, and Buck was eager to ensure that archives continued to be safe in the postwar world.
The next year, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which had agreed to sponsor such an organisation, sent out over a hundred questionnaires to leading archivists around the world to determine just what kind of international organization was needed. Enclosed with each questionnaire was a copy of Buck’s “One World” address.
Based on the replies, Buck and one of his staff archivists, Oliver Wendell Holmes, began to prepare a draft constitution for the organisation. In spring 1948, UNESCO, which had appropriated a small amount of money for the endeavor, sent out invitations to a meeting in Paris to discuss the organization for an international council on archives.
Under the leadership of its first president, Charles Samaran of France, the Council held the First International Congress on Archives in Paris in August 1950. Three hundred and fifty archivists from 30 countries discussed several issues, including how to handle modern records, preservation of private and business archives, and publications on archives.
At the annual meeting in November 2007, the ICA decided to create “International Archives Day” to promote all archives, regardless of media.
The Importance Of Archives: Archives are witnesses to our history, the memory of nations and societies, and provide evidence of, and explanations for, past actions. They preserve our heritage after memories have faded, so that we are better able to analyse how present actions will affect our future. Without them, there would be no real sense of history, and this aspect is extremely relevant nowadays with the increasing number of media and communication channels.
In this respect, archives are vital concentrators of knowledge and play an essential role in critical thinking and democratic accountability by ensuring that the documentary heritage preserved today will enable future generations to understand their own past. This is the most important legacy archives can provide and one which makes them priceless.
Personal reasons:Historically speaking the establishment of archives from the ancient period to the present day proves that personal needs predominate over other causes because in all public matters, private welfare is aimed at before starting a public organisation or institution. Man is a selfish animal and he calculates for himself the benefit or the loss before entering into a public affair. Accordingly his aim would be more for personal enrichment than the welfare of others.
Official or Administrative reasons: Archives is considered as the knowledge of past administrations .They furnish information pertaining to the day to day administrations of the prior governments and their attendant administrative system .It is a customary practice that before introducing a new policy, the government to understand would refer to the related documents of the previous government to understand how far their policy in question was successful during the previous regime and what could be altered and what could be added in the proposed new policy .
Cultural reasons: Archives are a store house of information concerning all factors of human life. Since it is the emporium of all the activities of mankind from time immemorial to the present, it depicts customs, conventions and usage of people.
Historians and other writers are fully dependent upon the documents and records of the Archives for portraits of the life and activities of their predecessors. For instance, in France during the revolutionary period, the records of national assembly were kept to establish the new order, but the records of ancient regime were considered as public property, and were kept primary for cultural purposes.
National Archives of India – History & Background: The genesis of the National Archives of India may be traced back to 1860 when a Civil Auditor had emphasised the need for an organisation to manage the official records.
After a strong plea was made by Professor GW Forrest of Elphinstone College, Bombay, for transferring all records of the administration of East India Company to a Central Repository, Imperial Records Department (IRD) came into existence. He was known as an Archivist for his work in the Bombay Records Office.
IRD was established on March 11, 1891, and was located in Imperial Secretariat Building at Calcutta. NAI is the nodal agency for the implementation of the Public Records Act, 1993 and Public Record Rules, 1997. The Imperial Records Department shifted from Calcutta to New Delhi in 1911. The present building of the National Archives of India was constructed in 1926 which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens
After India’s independence in 1947, IRD was rechristened as the National Archives of India and the Head of the Organisation was designated as Director of Archives from Keeper of Records. It was after independence that the real growth of the organisation had begun and new roles and responsibilities were handed over to the NAI
Accession of public records, acquisition of private papers/ collections, publication, training, conservation, reprography, digitalisation outreach programmes, expansion of offices had all begun in the archival field of the entire country. In the year 2020, the National Archives of India celebrated its 130th anniversary. To mark the 130th Foundation Day of NAI, an exhibition of “Jallianwala Bagh” was inaugurated, to mark the Jallianwala Bagh massacre centenary.
5 Amazing Archives in world
- Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah
- The National Archive, London, U.K.
- The National Archive, Washington D.C., U.S.
- Library of Congress, Washington D.C., U.S.
- The KGB Archive, Lithuania
