10 Aug 2010

Dominique Taffin (taffin@cg972.fr) of the Archives départementales de la Martinique shares with us their plans in developing Caribbean Archive content.

Reclaiming Memory: how can Caribbean archives contribute?



Dominique Archives

The rise of historical consciousness



1.1 An overview of Martinique



  • 403 000 inhabitants


  • A French territory since 1635


  • From the colonial status to that of overseas region


  • Citizenship since 1848




1.2 Public history : history as a leisure or as a need?



1.2.1 Searching and teaching history in Martinique from the XIXth c. to present

1.2.2 New practices : Amateurs and general public, genealogy



1.2 Public history : history as a leisure or as a need?



“We were never taught our history” : the “our ancestors, the Gauls” syndrome



  • Teaching Martinican and Caribbean History at school


  • Decolonization, nationalism and identity : the role of history


  • The slavery issue




1.2.5 New practices : Amateurs and general public, Genealogy



  • First clubs : the “béké” club


  • The migrants’ club


  • Local clubs : family history, friends of Archives…




II First responses of Archives to the demand

2.1 Flashback on the history of archives in Martinique



  • 2.2 New directions for outreach since 2000


  • 2.2.1 Knowing more about the audience


  • 2.2.2 The action plan


  • 2.3 Outreach programs in education


  • 2.4 Outreach programs for the general public


  • 2.5 Assessing outcomes




2.1 Flashback on the history of archives in Martinique



  • Established 1949, building in 1973, extended 1998


  • Most old documents kept overseas


  • Educational programs since the beginning


  • But keeping themselves beside the public debate on history and its public usages




2.2 New directions for outreach since 2000



  • 2.2.1 Knowing more about the audience


  • Reading-room users


  • Visitors




2.2.2 The action plan :



  • how to reach new audience and reflect social diversity in the use of archives


  • How to address the urgent claims for memory


  • How to develop trust and make the Archives the Archives of the people : outreach and donors




2.3 Outreach programs in education



  • Meetings with the teachers :


  • The 2007 conference on « teaching history in the Caribbean »


  • Visits and workshops with schoolchildren


  • Publication of educational thematic books


  • Indian immigration


  • Women


  • World War I




2.4 Outreach programs for the general public



  • Exhibitions


  • Free colored people,


  • Catholic church and popular religion…




Dominique Archives 2



2.5 Assessment



  • Success of the education program


  • Improvement of the media image of the Archives


  • Exhibitions


  • What is left to do :


  • Moving from an « elite » audience to a popular audience


  • Developing traveling exhibitions


  • Conferences : targeting public expectations




III New perspectives



  • The Banque numérique des patrimoines martiniquais


  • The Martinican cultural Heritage Portal




3.1 Goals (Purpose and objectives)



  • 3.1.1 External objectives


  • a way to reach our distant public


  • a response to the urging demand for direct access to documents and knowledge : an ATM to history and culture?


  • reaching a younger audience


  • tuning “old world” notion of cultural heritage with a “new world” approach




3.1.2 Internal objectives



  • Revising our notion of Archives : resource +services


  • Refining the skills of the staff in interacting with the public


  • Learning how to work together with people having other skills




3.2 Merging access strategies to cultural heritage



  • 3.2.1 Archives, historical landmarks, artworks, untangible heritage altogether in one portal


  • 3.2.2 Networking and partnership wanted!




3.3 A tentative user-friendly approach



  • Integrating a GIS system


  • Easy search and filtered search


  • Multilevel approach for different audiences: general public, specialists, education


  • Collaborative indexation




As a conclusion

A renewed reflection on our 2002 outreach objectives

network and partnership : a better investigation on the social networks, and now the virtual ones that Facebook etc. have allowed

a deeper impact assessment of our actual audience so as to keep up with priorities of action

An efficient communication

And, above all, keeping from routine!

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