This project will aid in establishing a new National Archives of Vanuatu that will provide free use and access of the country's most important historical and cultural records.
Although the Australian government will fund the construction of a National Archives building in the near future, the records remain in jeopardy due to an intense environment, a lack of resources and staff members with little to no archival experience. Currently, the records are being housed in three 40-foot containers and are in dire need of being processed. With just two people to carry the responsibility of preparing the records for access and use, the need of a volunteer to help is crucial.
There will be four main objectives for this project. These include: helping sort through and create inventories of collections; conducting a training workshop for the Assistant Archivist on how to accession, process, and preserve a collection; helping create a database for the processed collection; and supporting archives with archival supplies. Having a volunteer assist on this project will bring awareness to the issues of this archives so that others will feel inspired to help in the future.
Sustainability is the major goal of this project. Teaching staff members how to process and preserve a collection is critical, as they will then be able to apply this knowledge to other and future collections. This will help document the development of Vanuatu's culture, and help keep their government accountable. Additionally, the other objectives will provide access and use to the records for the people of Vanuatu, the Pacific Islands, as well as to researchers all over the world.
This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).
