Send your comments to us!
21 January 1997
Abstract of the technical report prepared by George MacKenzie
The mission had three main elements: a survey of the condition of the national and regional archive services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, preliminary work on a project to carry out a census of record creating agencies, and the convening of a meeting of the archive directors from throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina to discuss problems and priorities for further action.
Although direct damage to archive material from the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been relatively limited, indirect damage to archive material and to archive services has been considerable: war damaged buildings are no longer able to protect archives from damp; staff losses are preventing archive services from functioning properly; lack of access to spare parts or repair services has led to a chronic shortage of even basic equipment; the breakdown in infrastructure has left many archives without running water, heating systems or full electricity supplies; and 4 years of communication disruption have left archivists isolated from professional colleagues at home and abroad.
The present report and the report prepared by UNESCO in 1995 analyse conditions in the archive services in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They do not, however, cover records not yet transmitted to the archives. Anecdotal evidence suggests that archive material of considerable national and international interest, including records of vital events, land ownership and older historical records from the Austro-Hungarian period, is at risk in the many thousands of record creating agencies. There is also evidence of displacement of such material both from the war and consequent population movements, and from the re-drawing of political boundaries, which may have left archives in a different jurisdiction from the communities which created them. In order to deal with this problem, a project for a census of record creating agencies has been planned, to be carried out by the archive staffs themselves, both in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Republika Srpska. This project will take several months of work and will require outside funding.
A meeting of the archive directors was held in Sarajevo in order to discuss common problems and agree priorities for future action. Although the directors from Republika Srpska (Banja Luka, Doboj and Foca) were unable to attend, the holding of the meeting was the first step towards rebuilding the network of professional contacts for the archive staffs.
In addition to the census project, the report makes recommendations on other priorities for external aid for the archive services, taking account both of the observed conditions, and the needs identified by the archive directors.