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The Memory of the World Registers and Their Potential

  • Roslyn RussellEmail author
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Heritage Studies book series (HEST)

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Memory of the World Programme (MoW) registers at international, regional and national levels; the assessment criteria and process for register inscription; and perceived problems of geographical and cultural imbalance in the registers and mechanisms for addressing this, such as joint nominations. It emphasises the potential of national registers for promoting preservation of and access to documentary heritage in individual countries; appraises the value of a register of lost and missing heritage; and describes the potential of the MoW registers for research and education.

Keywords

Registers World significance Nomination Assessment Criteria 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following for information conveyed by email: Rujaya Abhakorn, Chair, MOWCAP Register Sub-committee; Dagnija Baltina, Latvian National Commission for UNESCO; Lourdes Blanco, Advisor to MOWLAC; Jan Bos, Chair, Register Sub-committee; Jiwon Chang, Korean National Commission for UNESCO; Vitor Fonseca, Advisor to MOWLAC; Nada Itani, former IAC and RSC member; Tiva Kamran, UNESCO Cluster Office, Tehran; Elizabeth Watson, Chair, Barbados National MoW Committee and Advisor to MOWCAP; Rosa Maria Zamora, Chair, National MoW Committee for Mexico and Advisor to MOWLAC; and Hongmin Wang, National MoW Committee for China.

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Copyright information

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Committee, Register Sub-Committee and Sub-Committee on Education and Research, UNESCO Memory of the World ProgrammeCanberraAustralia

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