Three-day archive working bee

Between 24th and 26th April, Jonathan Cooper (Gosford, NSW), Heather Heldzingen (Melbourne), Sandor Horvath (Adelaide), Franciska Toubale (Melbourne) and Terry Manley (Armidale, NSW) participated in the archive working bee at Esperanto House, Sydney. Alan Turvey (Wyong, NSW) also participated on the 25th.

We started ordering books, scanned about 800 photos and discussed at length how to organize our books, magazines and other things. Some results will hopefully appear soon on our website. Of course, there is much more to do, so if anyone wants and is able to help, please contact us.

Helpers in the archive room

During the afternoon of the 24th, Jonathan led the group, plus several other Esperantists, through a part of the Art Gallery of NSW (where he worked for more than 30 years).

Group at the Art Gallery of NSW

Five aims of the archive

1. To conserve the collection

Esperanto House is the most continuously available place to keep the archive. So…
• Let’s explore how best to keep old rarities in the collection.
• We recommend purchasing suitable containers for conserving and displaying collection objects in safe conditions

2. Make the content available and promote it to the Esperanto community

The Internet would be the most effective means, but this depends on resources both human and technical. So…
• Let’s register the content on the website
• Let’s photograph where appropriate
• Let’s scan rarities
• Let’s lend for research

3. Promote through archive items

• Let’s exhibit rarities, either online or physically (in appropriate containers), for propaganda

4. Add items to the collection

• Let’s look for shortcomings in the collection, especially items about Australia, and ask Esperantists to donate

5. Sift through the collection

• Let’s separate non-rare duplicates: either put them in the library or – if these are superfluous – offer them to clubs or individuals

– Jonathan Cooper and Terry Manley

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