The practices and challenges of evaluating, selecting, incorporating, processing, and digitising archival materials will be discussed at the 3rd Open Meeting of IN2PAST’s Working Group on Public Policies for Archives (GTPPA, in the Portuguese acronym for Grupo de Trabalho em Políticas Públicas de Arquivo), which will reconvene on 3 October 2025, in the Multimedia Auditorium 0.29 of the Institute of Education at the University of Minho in Braga.
This third open meeting promoted by the GTPPA aims to discuss the current state of Portuguese archiving public policies in relation to the issues above, and to imagine possible futures in the era of digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI). It follows on from the first two public sessions (‘Towards a radiography of archives in Portugal – Part I and Part II’), held in the first half of this year, at the National Library of Portugal (Lisbon), bringing together researchers/academics, professionals from the sector, decision-makers and representatives of civil society.
In addition to researchers from different IN2PAST research centres, representatives from the District Archives of Porto and Guarda, EAD – Empresa de Arquivo e Documentação (Archive and Documentation Company), the Department of Culture and Tourism and the Municipal Archive Division of Braga, the Archive of the São João Local Health Unit/ Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, the Cupertino de Miranda Foundation, the Municipal Historical Archive of Porto, and the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto will take part in the meeting.
Download the programme in PDF (in PT). The meeting will be held in Portuguese.
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 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.
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:
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.