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Preserving visual and oral memories of the Maltese people
Preserving visual and oral memories of the Maltese people
Maltese history buff? If so, this one is definitely made for you. A brand new portal called Memorja collects historical material in oral and audio-visual form and showcases it online for all of us to enjoy.
Memorja, which was developed by the National Archives, allows people to listen to interviews and view documents that set in stone the lives, craft and work of Maltese people across the span of history. The site is split into two main sections: Ilħna, which translates to our voices and Vettrina, which means showcase. The former is a collection of interviews with fisher-people, British expatriates, World War II veterans, medical professionals and many more, who recollected their time on the islands while practicing their craft.
Vettrina, on the other hand, features a number of collections that were acquired by the National Archives over time, through private donations.
How did Memorja come to be?
With this project, the mission of the National Archives of Malta is to record life stories from people and groups who are underrepresented in the historical record.
The roots of Memorja lie in the National Memory project, which was initiated in 2004. It was followed by a collaboration with the Public Memory Archive at the University of Malta. Then established in 2017, the project has morphed into the principle depositor of Maltese national and public memory. It makes use of advanced methods in oral history, ethnography and cutting-edge archival approaches and thus has collected, recorded and preserved individual and shared histories passed on orally, visually and through sound.
The portal is a crucial step in the advancement of oral and audio-visual archives, which will honour the National Archives, as well as the history of Malta, said Jose Herrera, the national heritage, arts and local government minister.
“Our vision will continue on to be strengthened with the building of new National Archives in Ta’ Qali, where the government will be committed to ensuring that these latest works would be protected in both the traditional manner, as well as digitally, orally and audio-visually,” added the minister.
