International Archives Day 2010 poster courtesy of the Archivo Histórico Nacional, Spain.Today is the third International Archives Day. This celebration hasn't gotten much traction in the United States, most likely because of the established nature of American Archives Month, but repositories and archives professional associations throughout the world are using this day to highlight the importance of archives to collective memory and governmental accountability and transparency.
Something very important to American archivists nonetheless happened today: the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives heard testimony from the Archivist of the United States and lots of other people concerning the importance of funding the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and passing legislation creating the Partnership for the American Historical Record (PAHR). I didn't get the chance to watch the hearings and have yet to learn how they went, but I have my fingers crossed. I really want to see PAHR pass this year! (Update, 10 June 2010: colleagues told me earlier today that the hearings, which continued today, focused solely on the NHPRC. PAHR will likely get hearings of its own.)
Here's a sampling of the repositories doing cool stuff for International Archives Day. Enjoy!
- Archivo Histórico Eclesiástico de Bizkaia/Bizkaiko Elizaren Histori Arkibua (Basque Country, Spain)
- Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid, Spain)
- Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art
- British Postal Museum and Archive
- Brunei Darussalam Archives
- Escaldes-Engordany Historic Archive (Andorra)
- National Archives of Andorra
- National Archives of Gozo (Malta)
- National Archives of Japan
- State Records New South Wales
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