It’s International Archives Day…

Screenshot, (Weegee, [Weegee and the Weegee archive, Hollywood], ca. 1950)

Celebrate Archives!

Did you know that June 9 is International Archives Day? All around the world, professionals in the archival community unite their voices on June 9 to make you understand why it is essential to support archives and the profession.

The ICA believes that the value of archives and archivists should be promoted at the international level. Archives and archivists play an important role in accountability, transparency, democracy, heritage, memory and society.

During the 2004 International Congress in Vienna, 2000 attending participants adopted a resolution requesting that the United Nations (UN) designates a specific day to mark the importance and value of archives.

Screenshot, (Weegee, [Weegee and the Weegee archive, Hollywood], ca. 1950)

International Archives Week

Since the first International Archives Day in 2009, ICA has expanded the event to an entire week. During International Archives Week (IAW), organisations worldwide share their events and participate alongside ICA to promote the value and importance of archives and archivists.

Screenshot, (Bob Parent, [Weegee and Mel Harris working on the the book “Naked Hollywood”], ca. 1953)

Mandate

The objectives of the International Archives Day and International Archives Week, are to:

– raise public awareness of the importance of records and archives;

– raise awareness among senior decision-makers of the benefits of records management for good governance and development;

– improve the public, private and public sectors’ understanding of the necessity of long-term archival preservation and access;

– showcase the unique, extraordinary, and rare documents preserved in archival institutions; and

– advance the image of records and archives to enhance their visibility globally.

ica.org

Screenshot, (Gerald Straw, [Wilma Wilcox working with the Weegee archive], ca. 1975)