Nomination Form International Memory of the World Register
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Nomination form International Memory of the World Register 2014-31 Title of item being proposed Collection of photographs taken during the War Against Paraguay 1866-1908 1.0 Summary (max 200 words) Give a brief description of the documentary heritage being nominated and the reasons for proposing it. This is the “shop window” of your nomination and is best written last! It should contain all the essential points you want to make, so that anyone reading it can understand your case even if they do not read the rest of your nomination. The iconographic collection under the custody of the Sala de Materiales Especiales de la Biblioteca Nacional de Uruguay (Special Materials Room of the BNU), comprises approximately 50,000 documents in various media and formats.. This year we celebrate the 198th anniversary of the foundation of the first Public Library –which later became the Biblioteca Nacional del Uruguay. Thanks to the work carried out by many generations of officers it has been possible to preserve the different collections, including some items form the foundational stage; this allows us to state that the Library has fulfilled its mission of keeping custody and preserving the documentary heritage that forms its archive. The photographs taken during the War Against Paraguay, 1865-1870 add up to a total of approximately 100 photos; this unfortunate historical event is still subject to study and research, consequently, new documentation may appear. These pictures (albumens) were taken in the battlefield by Bate & Co., installed in Montevideo at the time (the glass negatives no longer exist) are currently being postulated for the WDL. They have been consulted and used in our Library since 1947 to date; and have given rise to several publications in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. 2.0 Nominator 2.1 Name of nominator (person or organization) BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DEL URUGUAY – National Library of Uruguay 2.2 Relationship to the nominated documentary heritage Institution responsible for the custody, conservation and dissemination of the documentary heritage produced in the country. 1 2.3 Contact person(s) (to provide information on nomination) B.A. Graciela Gargiulo, Deputy Director. 2.4 Contact details Name María Graciela Gargiulo Brocca Address 18 de julio 1790 CP 11.200 Telephone (598) 2400 00 91 Facsimile (598) 2400 00 91 Email [email protected] 3.0 Identity and description of the documentary heritage 3.1 Name and identification details of the items being nominated If inscribed, the exact title and institution(s) to appear on the certificate should be given. In this part of the form you must describe the document or collection in sufficient detail to make clear precisely what you are nominating. Any collection must be finite (with beginning and end dates) and closed. The “Photographs of the War Against Paraguay that belong to the Biblioteca Nacional” are part of an important collection purchased by the institution following a long administrative process that started in 1947 following the proposal made by the then Director of the Library in 1950; an Executive Resolution finally authorised the procurement. It was purchased, for 20,000 Uruguayan pesos, from Dr. José María Fernández Saldaña -a renowned historian, writer and journalist in the River Plate. It was the first South American war with photographic coverage, and due to this fact was called the “Illustrated War”. This mission was undertaken by the Baté company, established in Uruguay. The National Library counts with one of the most consulted iconographic collections 2 of this historical process, and it contains 95 photographic records from the 1866 - 1908. period In his study Imágenes del Río de la Plata (Images of the River Plate) edited in 1983, Béquer Casaballe states that. “In the photographs taken by Baté one finds the synthesis of this war, in the form of a record devoid of any sort of conditioning or ultimate goals; the possible sympathy of the author towards the allied armies does not translate into the images -which even become the rationale against this chapter of the history of these peoples. The work of the reporters in this war suffered technical constraints which nevertheless serve to highlight the transcendence of this type of documentation. It is thus essential to take into account the hurdles faced during each take, and thus understand the exact import of the work carried out. The glass plates were sensitized with collodion, in very hot and damp weather, immediately before taking the picture, and developed before the collodion dried in a tent that served as dark room. One of the photographs taken by Baté shows his tent- laboratory close to a mangrullo (observation tower) in the Uruguayan camp”. At present, consultations are carried out through the data base, which therefore all o ws universal access, enabling the visualization of collections which may only be used by researchers -specialists who correspondingly have the possibility of finding in these documents the possibility of introducing themselves into History and its sources. Our collection of photographs has been a starting point for historians, sociologists, visual artists, film-makers, both national and international, who have defined them “a testimony of sensibility and life”. 3.4 History/provenance Describe what you know of the history of the collection or document. Your knowledge may not be complete, but give the best description you can. The BNU has an administrative file that gathers all the historical documentation of the Institution. It includes: notes, paper-work , in-house affairs, etc. The different volumes of this archive were consulted, starting in 1947 (when the procurement procedure commenced) until 1955 (when the photographs were initially reproduced on request from two Paraguayan investigators specialized on the subject) in order to confirm there provenance. In December 1950 an Executive Resolution authorized the procurement of the iconographic Collection belonging to Dr. José María Fernández Saldaña, composed by 4,200 items, for a total sum of 20,000 Uruguayan pesos. In fact, these images have been in custody in the Library since 1947 in order to prepare an inventory. At the time, the BNU counted with a sector called the “Museum”, and it was there that these documents have been preserved to date; it only came to be called Special Materials Room in the 1980s. 3 4.0 Legal information 4.1 Owner of the documentary heritage (name and contact details) Name Address BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE URUGUAY. 18 de julio 1790. Postal Code 11.200 Telephone Facsimile Email (598) 2408-50-30 (598) 2400 00 91 subdirecció[email protected] 4.2 Custodian of the documentary heritage (name and contact details if different from the owner) Sala de Materiales Especiales de la BNU (Special Materials Room) . B.A. Adriana de León (Head of the Special Materials Room) 18 de julio 1790. Postal Code 11.200 T. (598) 2409 60 12 int. 236 F (598) 2400 00 91 Email [email protected] 4.3 Legal status Provide details of legal and administrative responsibility for the preservation of the documentary heritage It is the first and main public library in the country which, by law, receives and preserves all the printed material published in the territory of the Republic. It was founded in 1815, and in May 1816 its heritage included 5,000 volumes among which there were donations from Priest Dámaso Antonio Larrañaga, José Manuel Pérez Castellano, José Raimundo Guerra, and others originally from the San Francisco Convent. At present the archive includes close to 900,000 volumes and approximately 22,000 titles of periodicals. It counts with a Newspaper Library, the Sala Uruguay (Uruguay Room), Special Materials’ Room, general rooms, together with the Literary Archive that keeps custody of manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and objects formerly belonging to the most relevant Uruguayan authors. Mission and Vision 1. Recover, preserve and increase the historical and cultural heritage of the Biblioteca Nacional. 2. Substantially improve services qualitatively and extend the target population. 3. Develop an inter-institutional national and international relations policy. 4. Create knowledge, disseminate it and carry out as much outreach work as is feasible at the different levels of research and training. The Special Materials Room is responsible for custody, and grants access to consult iconography in general. Together with the Taller de Conservación (Conservation Workshop), where the restoration, binding and creation of protective devices are carried out for works of testimonial value, they are the two areas in close contact with the postulated heritage, and in turn depend on: the Subdirección Técnica (Technical Deputy Direction) which in turn also depends on the Dirección General (General Direction), that is part of the Unidad Ejecutora (Executive Unit) 015 of the Ministry of Education and Culture 4 4.4 Accessibility Describe how the item(s) / collection may be accessed All access restrictions should be explicitly stated below: Encouraging accessibility is a basic objective of MoW. Accordingly, digitization for access purposes is encouraged and you should comment on whether this has been done or is planned. You should also note if there are legal or cultural factors that restrict access. The new technologies have enabled us to reproduce the photographs belonging to the Special Materials Room of the National Library both for the archive and for consultation. This process will require a huge amount of work and time, bearing in mind the volume we are speaking of. The images referred to our nomination have been processed technically, digitized, and are appropriately preserved. We are proud to show the world the bibliographic and iconographic bases through our on-line catalogue in our website: www.bibna.gub.uy where people may access the images. Our own National Library researchers have collaborated together with external researchers in the description of these photographs –and this has contributed to a better collection.