The second open meeting of IN2PAST’s Working Group (WG) on Public Policies for Archives follows on from the first public session of this WG, ‘Towards a radiography of archives in Portugal – I’, held on May 12 in Lisbon. ‘Towards a radiography of archives in Portugal – II’ brings together researchers/academics, professionals from the field, decision-makers and representatives of civil society, in the Multimedia Room of the National Library of Portugal, on June 16, from 10am to 5pm.

Participants include the Municipal Archive of Sines, the Municipal Archive of Ponte de Lima, the Union of Portuguese ‘Misericórdias’, the Archive of the Life Sciences Department of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra, as well as researchers from IN2PAST and other institutions, and the deputy director-general of the Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries (DGLAB, in the Portuguese acronym), Jorge Janeiro.

The Working Group on Public Policies for Archives (GTPPA, in the Portuguese acronym), created within the scope of the Associate Laboratory, aims to debate archive public policies in Portugal, contributing to the safeguarding of archival and cultural heritage, and the preservation of memory.

It is considered that investment in archive public policies is essential not only to guarantee the safeguarding of archival and cultural heritage, but also to ensure citizens’ rights, democratic transparency and the continuity of memory preservation.

In addition to a solid legislative basis, these public policies must be equipped with adequate human and financial resources, based on programme objectives that have been carefully outlined on the basis of prior scientific analysis. In this way, the process of building coherent and articulated archival policies must be established in dialogue between the competent authorities, professionals in the sector, universities and civil society.

The GTPPA thus aims to organise and foster a qualified public debate that contributes to the definition and implementation of public policies on archives, reflecting and intervening on two fronts:

• analysing the practices of safeguarding, processing and studying public, private and civil society archives, and discussing the potential and problems inherent in these practices;

• reflecting on the risks of memory loss resulting from not preserving or incorporating documentary funds or collections into existing or future archives.

The goal of this second open working meeting is to outline a general overview of archives in Portugal, analysing the specificities that characterise different types of archives in terms of their missions, purposes and types of media.

Without pretending to be exhaustive, the aim is to assess the challenges and difficulties that various archives face (common to Portuguese archives in general or specific to certain institutions), as well as to explore the solutions that have been found and the contributions that particular experiences can make to a more comprehensive reflection on archival public policies in Portugal.

The GTPPA is coordinated by IHC – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST researchers Joana Dias Pereira, Maria Lurdes Rosa and Rita Sampaio da Nóvoa and includes members from the various IN2PAST research units.

Download the programme in PDF (in PT). The meeting will be held in Portuguese.