For the citizen to have an idea clear picture of the present or what the future might be, he must build a true picture of the past. Therefore, preserving the memory of a country where “events of national interest” occur. Almost every day, it becomes a necessary job that requires many hours to be put into.
The General Archive of the Nation (AGN) is working hard to recover, preserve and facilitate the consultation of historical, film, radio, literary and media documents of the Republic. ;Dominican Republic.
The entity
The three-level building where the treasures of the history of the Dominican people are kept, is a reliable, rigorous and efficient source where everything is tillage.
There, an atmosphere of knowledge reigns and users can maintain concentration on the topics they investigate. In addition to the speed and attention of the staff.
Many consider it as an avant-garde of the times, one of those avant-garde that knows how to transform dust into treasure.
Currently it offers the service It is available to the customer online, because hundreds of documents, maps and plans can be consulted through its platform, without the need to go to the site, although, if necessary, the user can do so. You must only comply with and respect the protocol of the entity.
When users arrive at the AGN, they must go through the reception to register and leave their belongings, then go to the Service Room, where they register in the visitors’ book to be assisted.
According to Teany Villalona, in charge of the User Service Division, they have the option of accessing the physical or digital room to make their query. In both spaces, they are provided with protective materials such as gloves and a hat so that they can handle documents, newspapers, photographs, plans, and view audiovisuals.
The oldest document in existence in the entity dates from 1600 and the oldest map corresponds to 1516. Birth, marriage and death certificates are also preserved from 1807 to 1950.
Through the User Service area, it is possible to interconnect with all the others, such as the newspaper library, library and film library. It is the face of the archive and its organization is efficient and unusual.
Restoration room
This department is the heart of the AGN. Here, technicians restore documents in neglected condition for their longevity. During a visit made by a journalist from this newspaper, it was possible to observe how the staff restored an edition of the newspaper Listín Diario from the year 1890.
“It is a brittle document, torn and taped. Once entered the area, an initial photo is taken, to have proof of how it arrived. Afterwards, it is dry-cleaned to remove impurities, in addition to a chemical analysis to determine the composition of the page and the font of the document. Then, a wash is carried out depending on the printing ink to determine if it is soluble or not. Once all these steps have been exhausted, it is laminated and reintegrated”, he explained. Frank Beriguete about the process they carried out in the pages of the Listín.
He detailed that if the document that is being When working, some fragment is missing, it is not altered: “We work in accordance with the archiving law, which tells us that documents cannot be altered if they are missing,” he assured.
Film unit
The Film Unit is one of the most innovative areas of the AGN, and its heritage currently has 3,960 duly preserved films.
Aqui The restoration and cleaning of the works that arrive in a very deteriorated state is carried out. Depending on their level of degradation, they are treated in a special way until they fully recover.
“The films that have arrived in the area were not in their best conditions, that is, they were not kept at the right temperature. Most of them have been in a process of very advanced deterioration,” Vielka Roa.
Many of the tapes preserved are from the State Radio and Television Corporation (CERTV), and previously belonged to the holdings of the Dominican Cinematheque.
The manager explained that “the cinematheque was created in the 1980s and must have custody of all these productions, but with the closure and instability processes, they were all grouped in one room, until they were transferred to the AGN”.
Other works have come from the filmmaker Rene Fortunato, who did a great job of rescuing . In addition to some donations from collectors who kept them in his homes.
Newspaper library
It houses publications since 1821 together with the first newspapers that existed in the country such as the Constitutional Telegraph and El Duende. It also maintains a space for magazines.
The first was “The Dominican Fortnightly Magazine” of 1860. The magazine “Fémina” tried for the first time issues of feminism. In addition to the Banilejas pages and other headlines,” Elizabeth Duarte, in charge of the newspaper library.
In the magazine area, some 4,000 titles are kept. As for the newspapers, there are almost 500 different titles, and more than 20,000 copies.
Newspapers with national circulation arrive at the institution every day. as and are bound fortnightly. Those that are in digital version are downloaded from the newspaper platforms and then placed on the AGN platform.
In addition to the collections that are in the institution, the staff requests donations of old copies that are absent from the newspaper library. “We are working to identify publications from other regions such as San Pedro, San Francisco de Macorís, and La Romana. After an analysis we compare them with our inventory and so on. we can know which of those are not needed” Duarte.
Soon they will visit Higüey, the city where the the newspaper “El Cometa”, to contact its director and receive the documents published in that medium. The most consulted newspapers in the newspaper library belong to the first years of the 20th century. Depending on their physical states, the user may handle them alone, otherwise a reference staff will provide you with photocopies.
“ 19th and early 20th century press available. Some 50 posted titles can be consulted, in addition to the daily press”, he pointed out.
Digitization
The documents that arrive at the archive must go through the digitization unit to be scanned and placed on the platform. There are different types of scanners to work with books, maps and plans. They have more than 25 million digitized images. And in one day, depending on the type of documentation, around 1,000 or 1,500 images are scanned.
Showroom
In this place the original scale model of the AGN 1953 is shown, as well as such as its history, functions, vision and mission, photos of the archivist, in addition to the oldest journalistic publications.
The original photograph of patricio Juan also appears Pablo Duarte, and an overview of colonial history, not to mention the first Dominican constitution.
Library
There are all AGN publications together with the institutional bulletins and works published in collaboration with other authors as well. as laws and decrees of the State from the year 1844 to the present. There are also more than 15,000 titles, most of them by Dominican authors from different eras, many of them belonging to private libraries received as donations.
Experience of the users
Marino Mendoza was in the User Service room reading a document that only the archive could keep: “ I came to the archive a week ago, I am looking for some information on the right hand of Gregorio Luperón, and I have found more than what I was looking for”, he commented. As reported, the objective of his investigation is to help a friend from Puerto Plata who is writing a book.
On the other hand, Delfín Valdez said that going to that place did him good by getting the required information.
Valdez was in the digital area in front of his monitor where there was a document that he read carefully. He was looking for data from the year 1972.
who usually consults newspapers in order to expand the contents of their columns.
The historian
“My experience has been extraordinarily good,” the historian María Filomena González Canalda. Filomena was consulting documents from 1849. And despite their state of restoration, they were visible and manageable.
“I have no words, as a historian I am grateful to have an organized archive, with a trained staff. that assists one in whatever they may need”, he expressed.
María Filomena visits the archive from other times, and confesses that now it has more facilities.
“Before they denied access to the documents, you could not spend more than at 12 noon because they told you that you had to leave, the AGN at that time was in chaos and was not at the service of the people”, he assured.
With the renewal of the n, had the opportunity to do a master’s degree in archival science. Her work and research practices were carried out by her. in that same place.
EDITORIAL
María Filomena The publication process prioritizes books on national and Antillean history, although literary works and cultural research related to the Dominican people are also eventually disseminated.
Those who aspire to publish a work must submit the manuscript of the book for evaluation. If approved, the AGN is in charge of the layout, editing and style correction.