Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)

2. Session /Séance. Regional (trans-border) Cooperation / Coopération régionale (transfrontaliere) - Sturm, Joachim: Perspectives for trans-border regional Cooperation: The Case of the Upper Rhine Zone / L’entente Rhénane d’archivistes municipaux (Erasm) (english 123 - français 134)

2. Session/Séance: Sturm, Trans-border Cooperation: Upper Rhine Zone

well-informed archivist will discover less costly materials or techniques, which are equally effective, if not a great deal more so for the same investment.

Visits to archive buildings during meetings of ERASM clearly demonstrate at what point close international cooperation can lead to the opening of minds and to a growing responsiveness to architectural peculiarities. From the venerable archives of the IS“1 century, carefully preserved from the vicissitudes of post-modern architecture, going by way of slightfully rebuilt railway stations, looking across frontiers leads to an understanding that there is no one single way of constructing or adapting a building but that outward-appearance can take a multitude of forms, paying respect to existing local architecture as well as to the prevailing style of a country’s public buildings. The discovery of a particular architectural style or method of construction of multipurpose archives, despite the recognition of common standards in thinking about and converting a building reflect the differences in taste and artistic perceptions between one country and another. Such visits are thus an ideal way to widen the professional horizons of archivists, which only international cooperation by ERASM can provide. That a municipal archivist, who is a member of the association gains knowledge from them is undeniable. He will understand that compliance with common international rules will not greatly prejudice local characteristics. Uniformity of technical procedures is in no way a threat to individuality. This is a lesson which archivists in the Upper Rhine region can give the builders of the European Community to think about.

The experience gained from international cooperation within ERASM besides the intellectual reasons already mentioned is also a gain in knowledge of other techniques. Having encounted the way of doing things in a neighbouring country, the archivist quickly realises that technical resources from writing paper to shelving come within an administrative and technical scene set up long ago to which in some ways he is the powerless heir. Faced with the usual materials and technical resources, he realises that archival thinking generally lums to the same materials and suppliers. This is a case of an administrative cast of mind shaped by an industrial structure, which by dint of long exhortation, ends up taking possession of the mind and controlling it.

To realise at what point the regional archives in one country can become subject to an entrenched business network, it would suffice to go to regional or national exhibitions or trade fairs at which firms with whom municipal archives have dealings exhibit their wares.

States themselves have erected additional barriers in order to preserve their historical heritage. Thus, the German law on the temporary export of cultural property gives rise to such heavy administrative charges, for example, that the savings that could be made by having repair work done by a firm on the other side of the frontier are cancelled out by these surcharges. For this reason and equally to make it easier for documents to be sent abroad for exhibitions, ERASM is trying at its meetings, to make other countries aware of the problem.

131