PRESERVATION
Destruction and deterioration
large portion of the voc
's archives have disappeared forever over the centuries
as a result of bad circumstances for preservation (climate,
mould, vermin), acts of war (the French occupation of the
Netherlands, the annexation of voc
establishments by England), or a simple lack of interest
because the informative value of these archives was not recognized
in the 19th century. For example, in 1821 10,000 volumes and
in 1832 50,000 volumes of voc
archival material were destroyed to save storage costs.
What still remains of the voc
archives (about four kilometres of paper) is currently
kept in the National Archives of Indonesia (Jakarta), the
Tamil Nadu Archives (Chennai, previously Madras, in India),
the National Archives of Sri Lanka (Colombo), the Cape Town
Archives Repository (South Africa), and the Dutch National
Archives of the Netherlands (The Hague). voc
documents are also to be found in the United Kingdom
in the India Office (London) and in the National Library of
France (Paris, mainly maps and drawings). But even the survival
of the remaining archives is seriously threatened by a lack
of resources for providing proper storage conditions, and
by wear and tear resulting from the frequent consultation
of the documents.
Example of damage by moisture
and mould forming in voc
archives in Jakarta (click to enlarge image) |
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Physical preservation
rior
to making the archives accessible and available, objects that
cannot be handled without being damaged in such a way that
information is lost, must be physically attended to. For example,
there are pages that are torn or stuck together. Estimates
of the scale of the activities are based on the results of
the UPAA analysis during
the fact-finding mission. Every individual voc
object must also have a unique number, name, and indication
of period before it can be identified.
- In Jakarta
the latter is not the case. As a solution, in Jakarta each
individual object will have to be numbered and placed in
boxes. Simultaniously with the numbering and assessment
of damages, the characteristics (title, year, etc.) of the
objects can be noted. These descriptions are needed for
an update of the finding aid, which is about 120 years old.
Many voc
objects cannot be handled because of their poor
physical state. Handling causes damage or leads to a loss
of text. The activities concerning the improvement of the
preservation and the accessibility of the voc
archives in Jakarta are not part of the TANAP programme,
but will be carried out within the framework of the current
cooperation of ANRI and ARA concerning the XVII-XX century
archives.
- In Chennai
the voc
archives are in an extremely poor condition. Because
of the small size (64 meter), the whole record group will
be preserved and put onto microfilm.
- In Colombo
nearly two-thirds of the voc
objects are in a poor state of repair. Only the
voc
objects that are needed for other products will receive
physical treatment. This concerns about 10 per cent of the
total.
- In Cape
Town the required physical treatment can be restricted
to approximately one per cent of all the archival materials.
- In The
Hague the archives are still in a relatively good
condition. Here too, physical treatment can also be restricted
to approximately one per cent of the materials.
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