Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 39. (1986)
Archive Buildings and the Conservation of Archival Material. An Expert Meeting, held in Vienna, Austria October 30 - November 1, 1985 - DUCHEIN, Michel: Introduction
200 Archive Buildings Three main themes were selected by the organizing committee. The first one concerned the important and difficult task of planning a new building for archives. How to evaluate the needs of the archival institution itself and of its potential users; how to establish and maintain co-operation between the architects and the archivists in the planning stage; how to control the cost of the construction. These are some of the many problems which arise in that essential phase of the construction of an archive building. Dr Wolf Buchmann, who played the leading role, on the archivist’s side, in the construction of the new building of the German Federal Archives in Koblenz, was the rapporteur for this first session, and his personal experience was invaluable both for the report itself and the following discussion. The second theme, of special interest at this time when economy is a keyword in archive administration, was “How to adapt existing buildings as archive repositories“. Spain, among other countries, has a wide experience in that field; Miss Cristina Usón, of the National Archives of Spain, explained the achievements and problems encountered by archivists in her country in adapting old convents, churches, schools, hospitals, and the like, as provincial archive repositories. After the discussion, in which several other national experiences, such as those of Brazil, Hungary and Italy, were considered, it was clear that adapting existing buildings is not always cheaper than erecting new ones, and that the technical problems involved in such adaptations are often difficult to solve in a satisfactory manner. The third theme - an especially ambitious one - was “Architectural Design and Technical Equipment for the Physical Protection and Conservation of Documents”. Thanks to its rapporteur, Mr David Thomas, of the British Public Record Office, it was treated with perfect clarity and the leading trends of modem technology in that field were explained with all the authority of an experienced specialist. The discussion, which involved all the participants of the seminar, led to the conclusion that, in view of the restricted economic conditions of all archival institutions nowadays, solutions to the problems of conservation should be sought in energy-saving and money-saving devices rather than in sophisticated technologies, which are generally expensive and big consumers of energy. This is especially true for the climatic control of the atmosphere in the repositories, where it is better to achieve thermal and hygrometric inertia by natural means, rather than by full-time, costly air- conditioning. During the seminar, the experience and skill of the representative of the International Union of Architects, Mr Gérard Benoit, of France, was highly appreciated, and his active participation in the discussion was an exceptionally positive contribution to the meeting. I am glad that the financial help of Unesco and the individual contributions of several countries permitted the participation of an unexpectedly high number of experts and observers — twenty-seven altogether, from eighteen different countries, which made possible an interchange of experiences from virtually all geographic and climatic areas of the world, from China to Brazil and from
