A first step to save our archives

The Department of Antiquities possesses valuable quantities of historical documents stored in archives dated back from the beginning of the last century and still in use nowadays.

The documents, estimated to be around 100 thousand pieces, includes: photographs, maps and reports, priceless publications mainly concentrated on the Department of Antiquities headquarters at the Castle Assaraya El-Hamra. Unfortunately this important heritage have suffered from severe neglect during the previous regime and continues to suffer to this day due to the current post-revolution crisis. All of these reasons affect the deterioration of the state of archives as they are under the threat of damage and loss. This have encouraged the people in charge to start an attempt to documentate the materials and looking for the necessary support to save this priceless cultural and scientific wealth through the establishment of a modern environment.

The Red Castle houses a notable quantity of documents that require a wide range of interventions: from the Reconditioning, Sanitising, Restoration, Cataloguing, and Digitization to the provision of online and offline Consultation. The castle itself is in need of essential interventions in order to respect the security norms for the conservation of historical documents.

The paper will give an idea about the DOA digitizing processes in both cartographic and photo archives as an important first step to preserve and documented their heritage.