What is now a quarterly event, the archivists of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific (JCAP) met via Zoom on 15 November to bring to a close the year 2022. The first Zoom meeting was held in June.
The recent meeting followed the first onsite face-to-face extended consult of JCAP, during which I, as convenor of the archivists, gave a summary of what transpired in the previous meetings, beginning by highlighting the appreciation the archivists have for the opportunity to meet and develop their own network. The meeting broke the solitary nature of archival work and highlighted the possibility of cooperation within the conference and the Roman archive, Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu. Then, at the consult common concerns of the archivists were presented, namely:
1. Collections and collection management: Questions like what to collect, whether written documents alone or objects, like artworks and memorabilia, were raised. So did the question of de-accessioning and disposing of archival sources or fonds.
2. Challenges of conserving, restoring, and cataloguing archive sources. Many archival material are ancient and fragile but none of the archives have conservation laboratories. Many archive catalogues can be improved to aid in easy searches and to assist researchers.
3. Living in a digital world. How do we adjust to a world where data are digitally born, i.e. the only data is in a soft copy, or digitally migrated, i.e. scanned? The question of public access to digital data was raised.
4. Preparing and training personnel for the Jesuit archives. The conference archives are headed by Jesuits and a good number of them are in their senior years. Some have lay partners. The question then arose how to spot, recruit, and train both Jesuits and lay in the task. The relation between the Jesuit archivist and lay partner was also highlighted. A possible training programme for archivists was proposed but details had not been worked out.
These common concerns were not satisfactorily answered nor did the archivists think they should be resolved immediately so that there will be, in the future, communal policies and actions across the conference.
These concerns are better handled in a face to face meeting. For this reason, JCAP President, Fr Antonio Moreno SJ, asked the archivists if they were available for a face to face meeting. We came up with a plan to call for a meeting during the week of 22 May 2023, to be held in Manila. The duration is still to be determined. The location in Manila is not yet specific, but most likely it will be at the Ateneo de Manila University Campus. The details will be discussed and clarified in the coming months.
Fr René B Javellana SJ is the archivist of the Philippine Jesuit Province and convenor of archivists in the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific. He is associate professor of Fine Arts at the Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Humanities, and a lecturer on Church history at the Loyola School of Theology.