International Archives Day 2013 dedicated to archives in need

On of the first pictures of the destroyed city archives of Cologne. Author: F. Domahs, 2009.

Archives are a fantastic resource for us all. They help us grow in knowledge and understanding of past and present. They empower us to investigate the history we need and the stories we care about. Archives are necessary.

But not all archives are well

On March 3 2009, the city archives of Cologne in Germany collapsed and with it thousands of documents belonging to one of the oldest city archives in Europe. Holdings reached back to 1408/09 and the oldest document stored was from 922. A huge part of the archives was buried by the collaps. About 40.000 charters, collection of photo and film as well as some of the iconic medieval documents and a collection of seals were saved.

To rebuild or not to rebuild?

But although part of the collections have been saved, the municipality has recently decided to freeze the build of a new city archives. A decision, which has been critized by both the German Association of Archivists (VdA) as well as ICA, the International Council on Archives.

The archives in Cologne can be supported in different ways, among others this petition.

Let's support all archives in need

But we are almost certain, that there are a lot of archives in the world, which also need attention. Archives threatened by for instance consequences of climate change, lack of appropriate facilities or other negative influences.

#savearchives on June 9th

So, on June 9th support the archives in Cologne - and all other archives in need. Tweet about them, using the hashtag #savearchives, include blogposts, articles and petitions. We will gather links on the weblog of Ask Archivists and summarize.

Hopefully our attention and support can help #savearchives!

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Storify #IAD13 and #savearchives made by Karen du Toit, senior archivist at SABC in South Africa.

Googledoodle for International Archives Day 2013?

 

 

WE REALLY WANT GOOGLE TO PICK UP ON THIS – SO PLEASE HELP US PROMOTE THE IDEA! 

In 2011 and 2012 we celebrated International Archives Day on June 9th by doing a worldwide #AskArchivists / #FollowAnArchive event on Twitter. We would like to do it again – if archives and archivists support the idea. But this year we would like the day to be extra special.

During the past years, Google has used variations on their logo to draw attention to people and causes worth noticing. Among the doodles are little works of art highlighting things as different as New Year, Chaplins Birthday, Opening of the Arcropolis Museum, Singapore Art Festival and National Library Week. But it seems, that there has never been an doodle on archives.

So why should archives deserve a place on the worlds largest search engine? 

1) Archives contain the unique written memories of the world. Our collections are diverse, and contain records on paper, electronic records, sound, pictures and much more. But regardless of form, they are a vital part of our heritage.

2) Archives play a vital part in democracy. Without archives, the world would face immense difficulties in reconstructing our political, economic, social, national, local – or personal – history with a sufficient credibility.

3) Archives are for all. When conducted in accordance with the ICA code of ethics, archives ensure, that our history becomes diverse and open to a variety of interpretations: “Archivists should promote the widest possible access to archival material and provide an impartial service to all users.”

4) Archives provide resource for academic researchers and students, but they are also a fountain knowledge for all, and support livelong, self-directed learning. Whether driven by interest in local history, genealogy or other topics, archives are a place, where thousands of non-scholars gain new knowledge, skills and competences.

5) Google itself is in many ways related to archives, providing access to informations and helping people search and find what they need to grow in knowledge.  

So please Google, help us celebrate the content and mission of archives all over the world on June 9th which is the International Archives Day.

 

HELP GOOGLE WITH IDEAS FOR AN #ARCHIVESDOODLE

We all can help Google with ideas for an archives doodle! What do you think are specific ingredients for an archives doodle? Draw them, make a picture of them or write it down. Tweet your ideas from June 1 untill June 8 with the hashtag #archivesdoodle.

Will International Archives Day on June 9 be celebrated with a Googledoodle? 

Yes! We think archives earn a googledoodle on International Archives Day, June 9!

 

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#archivesdoodles created by archivists 

We got some real cool #archivesdoodles created bij archivists to inspire Google to do a googledoodle on International Archives Day June 9.
In the blogpost you will find two of them: on top an #archivesdoodle made by Charlotte S.H. Jensen (National Archives / National Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark), and at the end of the blogpost an #archivesdoodle made by Thomas Wolf (SIWI Archives, Siegen, Germany).

Thomas made another one, a happy archivist in special designed #achivesdoodle grey working coat :-) :

And a Thomas made also a beautiful picture of all the ingredients of an #archivesdoodle:

We received two excellent #archivesdoodles from Bradley Headland (National Archives, Canberra, Australia). Number one:

and number two:

Charlotte Whitehead (archivist Bredon, Glos., United Kingdom) made a colorfull #archivesdoodle in code:

Lots of thanks to these creative archivists!
Now we wait and see if Google had enough inspiration to create a googledoodle to celebrate International Archives Day on June 9!