WORLD CONFERENCE ON RECORDS AND GENEALOGICAL SEMINAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 19, 2006
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 5, 1969
• Content Type: PAPER

Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
WORLD CONFERENCE
ON RECORDS
AND GENEALOGICAL SEMINAR
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A.
5-8 August 1969
UNESCO'S ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF ARCHIVES
By
Dr. Alfred Wagner
"Record Protection in
an Uncertain World"
GENERAL ASSEMBLIES
corveIcHrU) APvprrovedn oorcRel aseo006c09R25 : CIA-RDP7 3 0040 pR000100r140001-8
 Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
UNESCO'S ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF ARCHIVES
By
Dr. Alfred Wagner
For a better understanding of the role of ARCHIVES among UNESCO'S activities, I
should like, first, to outline the structure and the competence of the Organization as a whole.
The UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL
ORGANIZATION - one of the Specialized Agencies, foreseen in the Charter of the United
Nations - was founded in 1945/46 as an international organization for world-wide co-operative
activity in its area. The range of its responsibilities covers the spectrum from Education (in the
broad sense of the word) through Culture (in its narrow meaning) and Science to the field of
Communication (which includes Archives). The organization of the Secretariat which has its
Headquarters in Paris is based on these four Programme Sectors, each of them consisting of
several Departments which are divided into Divisions. If necessary, these are subdivided once
again into Sections of various sizes.
The Legislative rests with the Organization's "parliament", the General Conference of the
Member States which is summoned biennially in autumn to deliberate and pass the programme
of action and the budget for the following biennium, all delegations having equal votes;
furthermore, it is up to the General Conference to elect the Executive Board and the
Director-General.
The Executive of UNESCO is represented by the Executive Board and the
Director-General. The Board is a committee of 30 Member States which meets at least twice
annually; the Director-General, who is elected to a term of six years, acts as the Chief of the
Executive.
The expenses of the Organization's programme are distributed among the Member States
according to a scale established by the United Nations: two-thirds of the budget are covered by
the 6 economically strongest members: USA, USSR, the Federal Republic of Germany, United
Kingdom, France and Canada, while 50 of the 125 members pay a minimum contribution of
0.04%.
In 1958, the Headquarters of the Organization in Paris moved into a modern building
built for the purpose; at present it has a staff of 1,500 composed of some 600 professionals,
plus 900 office and technical staff. In addition, about 2,100 people work in Unesco's field
offices and projects all over the world, 1,600 being professionals, and 500 in the other
categories. While in 1946 Unesco with 20 Member States had about 600 employees, in 1969
Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
 Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
the staff of the Secretariat with 125 member States numbers 3,600.
Two fundamental principles determine UNESCO'S work: the encouragement of
intellectual co-operation among the nations and world-wide activity in the service of cultural
development. Both are governed by the high moral claim that forms the 'raison d 'etre' of the
United Nations (Art. I of the Constitution of UNESCO, 16.11.1945):
"... to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations
through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for
the rule of the law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are
affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or
religion by the Charter of the United Nations".
Let us see which funds UNESCO has at its disposal, and how they are distributed among
its various fields of action.
For the biennium 1967/68 the regular budget of the Organization amounted to 60
million dollars. As this amount was doubled by funds from extra-budgetary sources, a total
programme of 120 million dollars could be financed. The main part of these supplementary
funds are derived from the United Nations Development Programme in New York; this is a
fund for development aid, financed by the pledges of the more highly-developed members of
the United Nations, from which allotments are granted to developing countries which may
choose technical assistance projects within a broad range of programmes offered by the United
Nations and its Specialized Agencies. UNESCO'S Sectors and other Units participated in the
entire budget as follows: Education and Science 30% each; Cultural, Human and Social
Sciences - 8%; Administrative and other central services - 21%; Communication - 11%, i.e. 11
million dollars. No wonder, that within this Sector the Department of Documentation,
Libraries and Archives does not have the richest programme, as it is grouped with other
departments such as 'International exchange of information', 'Means of mass communication'
and 'Statistics' which take more important positions and are still gaining ground in our mass
era. It goes without saying that Archives hold only the third place after Libraries and
Documentation.
In accordance with the two basic principles of UNESCO'S activity, the Department of
Documentation, Libraries and Archives is divided into two programme divisions and an
internal Library Service: The first programme division deals with research and international
collaboration; in co-operation with the international professional associations - i.e. in the field
of Archives with the International Council on Archives with the International Council on
Archives - it has to lay the intellectual foundation on which Division H, being responsible for
assistance projects, can establish its practical work in the service of development. Thus,
Division I, in three Sections, organizes, finances and promotes studies, reports and manuals, as
well as the exchange of experiences through colloquiums and conferences; furthermore, it
Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
 Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
organizes an international committee of experts which advises the Director-General on
problems in these fields. By this means it provides the spiritual arsenal on the basis of which
Division II elaborates and executes its development projects. During 1967/68 and 1969/70,
within the Archives Section of Division I, the following subjects have been and are being dealt
with in studies and manuals, seminars and working parties, undertaken and organized either
directly under contract with the author or with the International Council on Archives, or
financed by the Council itself by means of UNESCO'S regular subvention: Archival training in
developing countries, possibilities of a regional training centre in East Africa, mechanization of
archives services, archival legislation, liberalization of access to archives, microfilming as a
means of publication, function of modern archives and records management in developing
countries, restoration and preservation of archival sources. For 1969/70, contracts to the value
of $5,500 have been concluded with the Council which, during this period also benefits from a
UNESCO subvention of $15,000, voted by the General Conference. Thus, this Division's
budget for activities in the field of Archives for 1969/70 totals about $22,000.
At the Member States' requests, and on its own initiative Division II, the Development
Division, elaborates and carries out the assistance projects. As far as Archives are concerned,
our objectives are to prepare and execute projects according to the following scheme:
a short term consultant and planning mission (1-3 months) of an expert whose report,
with concrete recommendations, serves as a basis for the actual programme of assistance;
several fellowships for the training abroad of qualified professional staff, one of them for
the designated Director of the Archives;
a long term mission (1-2 years) of an expert who is responsible for setting up and starting
the Archives, at the same time introducing his local counterpart to his duties;
the establishment of training facilities in the area on the national or regional level;
special missions of restorers or reprography experts for setting up those technical services
and training personnel on the spot;
a supply of the required technical equipment (in co-ordination with the other activities).
Of course, any suitable modification in the composition of such a programme is possible, and
the assistance may be adjusted according to the actual needs. However, as a rule material and
equipment are granted, only when appropriately combined with other aid. Moreover, a full
project generally requires a considerable amount of participation from the interested country
which has to finance programme items itself, such as the construction of archives buildings
which would exceed the limits of a possible UNESCO contribution.
Within its three Sections Division II has received, under UNESCO'S Participation
Programme, 83 requests for aid from Member States durinq 1969/70: 28 from Africa, 15 from
Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
 Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
Latin America, 18 from Asia, 11 from the Arab States (which UNESCO considers as a
developing area of its own), and 11 from Europe; 16 of the requests were related to Archives,
24 to Documentation and Special Libraries, 43 to National, Public and School Libraries. The
total of all projects requested which on the average amounted to $11,000, was $920,000; that
is seven times the amount available in the regular budget of the Participation Programme,
$122,000, from which actually only 34 of the 83 requests can be met with the following
breakdown: Archives - 17% ($20,600), Documentation Centres and Special Libraries - 36%,
the other Libraries - 47%. Africa is represented with 27%, Latin America with 24%, Asia with
23%, the Arab States with 16% and Europe with 10%. On its own initiative, UNESCO has
foreseen in this biennium a so-called Pilot Project on the development of an archives service.
This project which is to be launched with an UNESCO contribution of $25,000 in an African
state, comprises the establishment of a modern archives and records management system that
shall serve as a model to other African countries. From the four Member States which have
applied for it, one has to be selected which does not yet possess an independent archives
service, but offers - in its economic, social and cultural stage of development - the required
favourable conditions for setting up an archives administration, for the building up of which
the country itself has to contribute generously. Projected for six years, in 1969/70 it shall be
started with a planning mission and a fellowship for the future Director of the Archives; in
1970 a 1-2 years mission is scheduled to begin during which an expert will implement the first
stage of the project with his local counterpart. Furthermore, the programme of the Archives
Section includes the activity of UNESCO 'S Mobile Microfilm Unit; with an expert travelling
from country to country, it films archival holdings which have been selected by the competent
national authorities for their historical value or because of their endangered state of
preservation. During 1969/70, on the basis of nine requests, the Unit will visit six states, each
for four months on the average: two Asian, two Arab and two African ones. Its budget is
$43,000. Thus, the total volume of the Archives Programme for 1969/70 amounts to about
$110,000.
An important increase of the Department's meagre ordinary programme may be expected
from the extraordinary funds of the United Nations Development Programme. This would
serve to finance part of the numerous comprehensive long term development projects for
which, in the ordinary budget, only a short term planning mission could be accommodated
(follow-up and implementation of planning missions). On this basis, the Department might be
able, by 1972, to establish and build up in the first stage archives administrations in several
states of Africa, Asia and the Arab area, if the countries concerned would decide, following
UNESCO'S suggestions, to give a sufficiently high priority, at the charge of their UNDP
contingent, to the development of archives services. This would increase the Archives budget
of the two programme divisions by almost three times.
Within the sphere of UNESCO-supported and UNESCO co-ordinated activites in he field
of Archives, a wide-range and long term assistance programme has to be mentioned which the
International Council on Archives, in close-co-operation with UNESCO and with financial
support from American foundations, is preparing for the African Continent. Moreover,
Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
 Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8
UNSECO has been supporting the council's efforts to stimulate and reinforce archival action in
developing areas by the creation of regional branches in which the interested countries may
join for co-operation; such branches of the Council have been or are being established in South
East Asia, East and Central Africa and the Arab region.
After all, UNESCO'S position, its mission as the international institution for the
promotion of Culture on a global level on such a feeble financial ground may appear rather
problematic. Are 60 million dollars per year sufficient to execute such an ambitious
programme? And with regard to us: is it possible, in view of the numerous non and
under-developed archives administrations throughout the world, to undertake efficient aid in
setting and building up Archives with about $60,000 annually? To both questions the answer
of course is 'no'. However, such questioning is based on a wrong UNESCO image: it is not the
Organization's role to bear the assistance programmes within its responsibility entirely or even
to a large extent on its own.
On the other hand, UNESCO displays its most fruitful and permanent efficiency - which,
of course, is not to be measured - on its own small basis indirectly: by looking for ideas worth
being realized and recommending studies serving the development activity - by taking action,
initiated or supported by others, under its aegis and integrating it in or co-ordinating it with its
programme. Thus, UNESCO is capable - by virtue of the high prestige it enjoys all over the
world - of acting efficiently as the great animator, stimulator and co-ordinator in its area; in
doing so, it meets the requirements of its role in the moral and spiritual sphere.
This concept may consequently be applied to the branch of Archives where it produces
positive results. Last, but not least, this is due to the fact that the International Council on
Archives has its Headquarters in Paris and that the management of UNESCO'S activity in the
field of Archives rests with one person who is a colleague of the profession. Taking into
account the spirit of collegial unity and cordial understanding which penetrates the small
international family of archivists, this favourable situation - by which even the obstacles of
administrative bureaucracy can be neutralized to a large extent - is of an inestimable value for
the work towards the common aim.
Approved For Release 2006/09/25 : CIA-RDP73-00402R000100140001-8