Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme pp 19–29Cite as

Memory of the World: An Introduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Heritage Studies ((HEST))

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to the Memory of the World (MoW) Programme, briefly recounting some marker points in its history. It explains the different types of standard-setting normative instruments which govern the commitments and expectations of its Member States, including the particular instrument applying to MoW. In considering the rationale, philosophy, and character of MoW, it discusses the foundational concepts of documentary heritage and memory institutions. It describes the evolution of MoW’s vision, mission, and objectives, which focus on the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage and the raising of awareness, including the strategy of developing public registers of significant documentary heritage. A concluding discussion on lost and missing heritage puts the current challenges of MoW into historical perspective.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The origins of Memory of the World are documented in detail in (Jordan 2013).

  2. 2.

    The reports of this and all subsequent IAC meetings can be downloaded from the main MoW website at https://en.unesco.org/programme/mow/documents

  3. 3.

    See Edmondson “Reviewing” in this volume. See also Jarvis in this volume.

  4. 4.

    See Jarvis in this volume.

  5. 5.

    As adopted on 16 November 1945 and amended at subsequent General Conferences.

  6. 6.

    For the twentieth anniversary of MoW, UNESCO organized the conference “The Memory of the World in the Digital Age: Digitisation and Preservation,” Vancouver, September 2012. The Vancouver Declaration is the recommendation arising from this event.

  7. 7.

    For a list of projects go to http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/projects/full-list-of-projects, and drill down on selected entries for fuller details.

  8. 8.

    At the time of writing, a sum of 30,000 US dollars is awarded to the recipient. The prize in funded by the Korean City of Cheongju, in honour of the Buljo jikji simche yojeol, the earliest book to be printed with moveable metal type in 1377. It was inscribed on the International MoW Register in 2001.

  9. 9.

    See Russell in this volume.

  10. 10.

    See Edmondson “Reviewing” in this volume.

  11. 11.

    Joie Springer discusses the principles and ethics of the MoW Programme. See Springer in this volume.

  12. 12.

    A dramatic, highly publicized, and now iconic event, it more or less coincided with the birth of MoW, and Mayor made passing reference to it in his address to the first meeting of the IAC in September 1993. See UNESCO (1993a). The conflation, over time, is perhaps understandable, but as Lothar Jordan (2013, p. 7) points out, it is misleading.

  13. 13.

    See Schüller in this volume.

References

  • Baker, N. (2002). Double fold: Libraries and the assault on paper. New York: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, E. H. (1961). What is history? (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deocampo, N. (2006). Lost films of Asia. Manila: Anvil Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmondson, R. (2002). Memory of the World: General guidelines to safeguard documentary heritage, (Doc. No: CII-95/WS-11rev). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmondson, R. (2017). Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage including in digital form: Implementation guidelines. UNESCO Website. https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/2015_mow_recommendation_implementation_guidelines_en.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct 2018.

  • Foster, S., Russell, R., Lyall, J., & Marshall, D. (1995). Memory of the World: General guidelines to safeguard documentary heritage, (CII-95/WS-11). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gekoski, R. (2013). Lost, stolen or shredded: Stories of missing works of art and literature. London: Profile Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, L. (2013). A first sketch of the history of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Its beginnings in 1992. Pfaffendorf: Author’s Edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • MoW Guidelines Review Group. (2017). UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: General guidelines, (Approved text December 2017).https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/mow_draft_guidelines_approved_1217.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct 2018.

  • Phillips, H. (2010). The Great Library of Alexandria? In Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal), 417. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/417. Accessed 21 Oct 2018.

  • Raven, J. (Ed.). (2004). Lost Libraries: The destruction of great book collections since antiquity. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rydell, A. (2017). The book thieves: The Nazi looting of Europe’s libraries and the race to return a literary inheritance. New York: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (1992). Records of the General Conference, 26th session, 15 October – 7 November 1991, Paris, Vol. 1: Resolutions. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (1993a). Address by Mr. Federico Mayor at the opening of the first meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the ‘Memory of the World’ Programme, 12 September, Pultusk (Poland), (DG/93/35).

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (1993b). Final report of the first meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the “Memory of the World” Programme, 12–14 September, Pultusk, Poland.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (2007). Nomination form “The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906)”: Nomination form submitted by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, to the International Memory of the World Register, (Ref, No. 2006-23). http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-8/the-story-of-the-kelly-gang-1906/#c187810. Accessed 13 Oct 2018.

  • UNESCO. (2015). Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage including in digital form, adopted by the General Conference, on 17 November 2015, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (n.d.). Definition of legal terms concerning normative and standard setting instruments. UNESCO website. http://www.unesco.org/education/standards/Definitionslegalterms.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct 2018.

  • van der Hoeven, H., & van Albada, J. (1996). Memory of the World: Lost memory – libraries and archives destroyed in the twentieth century. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOWCAP (Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific), Canberra, Australia

    Ray Edmondson

Authors
  1. Ray Edmondson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ray Edmondson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Audiovisual Archiving Consultant Former Chair and Current Special Advisor, MOWCAP (Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific), Canberra, Australia

    Ray Edmondson PhD

  2. Professor of Modern German Literature and Comparative Literature, UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, Chair Sub-Committee on Education and Research, Paris, France

    Lothar Jordan

  3. Scientific Associate and Lecturer Chair Intercultural Studies, Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg, Cottbus, Germany

    Anca Claudia Prodan PhD

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Edmondson, R. (2020). Memory of the World: An Introduction. In: Edmondson, R., Jordan, L., Prodan, A.C. (eds) The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. Heritage Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18441-4_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18441-4_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-18440-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-18441-4

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation