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Documentary Heritage

Documentary heritage consists of those testimonies (documents), tangible and intangible, with which each community, culture, country or the whole of humanity perpetuate their memory and knowledge from generation to generation. This kind of heritage has been traditionally linked to archives, museums and libraries, and, consequently, it is still associated with, for example, dockets or old books; but new information and communication technologies (ICT) have revolutionized its identification, protection, transmission and reproduction to include digital archives (although programs like UNESCO Memory of the World Register prioritise tangible documents). Its keywords are: document, meaning and open access.
This heritage has come to encompass the concept of historical memory. This confluence, however, also carries significant disagreements, since cultures forge their memories in the mirrors of their own historical perception (from local to global; consider, for example, the way documentary heritage in Jerusalem can be valued in multiple ways). Hence another weakness of this heritage, not only subjected to the loss of its supporting matter, but also to the appropriation and manipulation of its meaning. This can happen with any heritage asset, but it is more common and sectarian within documentary heritage.

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Britz, J., & Lor, P. (2004). A moral reflection on the digitization of Africa’s documentary heritage. IFLA journal, 30(3), 216-223. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/034003520403000304?casa_token=Q3RXr9UdAEYAAAAA:L_TTkY1WrdwTYay1OLYFqqOo1BKvdLNPksxBzqv0aRYGaIKVpQWLPq1xewaKPz8ZRW9O8kzvams
Edmondson, R., Jordan, L., & Prodan, A. C. (Eds.). (2019). The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Key Aspects and Recent Developments. Basingtoke (United Kingdom): Springer Nature.
Feather, J. (2006). Managing the documentary heritage: issues from the present and future. Preservation management for libraries, archives and museums. In G.E. Gorman, & S.J. Shep (Eds.). Preservation Management for Libraries, Archives and Museums (pp. 1-18). London (United Kingdom): Facet Plublishing. doi:10.29085/9781856049214.002
Icomos (1994). The Nara Document on Authenticity. Nara (Japan): International Council on Monuments and Sites. Retrieved from https://www.icomos.org/charters/nara-e.pdf
Peña, P., & Miguel, J. (2013). El patrimonio cultural, bibliográfico y documental de la humanidad: Revisiones conceptuales, legislativas e informativas para una educación sobre patrimonio. Cuicuilco, 20(58), 31-57. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0185-16592013000300003
Rowlands, M., & De Jong, F. (2016). Reconsidering heritage and memory. In F. de Jong (Ed.). Reclaiming Heritage (pp. 13-29). New York (U.S.A.): Routledge.
Westeel, I. (2009). Le patrimoine passe au numérique. Bulletin des bibliothèques de France, 1, 28-35. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/12446716.pdf

Author: Víctor Fernández Salinas

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The creation of these resources has been co-funded under grant no. 2020-1-RS01-KA203-065407 (funding period 2020-2023; total grant 246.922,00 €). This platform reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.