Abstract
In a reflection on the open spirit and strength of the Memory of the World (MoW) Programme as an expert-led enterprise, the author anchors his thoughts in the founding principles of UNESCO. These include a belief in equal opportunities, the free exchange of ideas and the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth, all of them reliant on the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind. Reaching across the boundaries of culture, place and language, the Programme has successfully developed global networks in the field of documentary heritage, exemplified by the stature of its registers. But their standing is now being tested by political pressures which may veto the expert judgements on which they rest and compromise their credibility. While solutions to these pressures are not yet clear, the dangers of suppressing the knowledge of significant documentary heritage are obvious enough.
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Notes
- 1.
Preamble to the UNESCO Constitution, as adopted on 16 November 1945 and amended at subsequent General Conferences.
- 2.
In their chapters in this book, Roslyn Russell opens up the question of documenting lost and missing heritage, while Titia and Bram van der Werf discuss the discarding of government documents before they are ever considered for preservation.
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UNESCO. (1991). First report of the Legal Committee, and Resolution 19.3 on articles V and VII of the Constitution. In Records of the General Conference, 15 October–7 November 1991. The change was adopted on the initiative of Japan.
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Edmondson, R. (2020). Back to the Future: A Reflection on Fundamentals. 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_21
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