Archives are indispensable laboratories for making History. They are “irreplaceable witness to past events, underpinning democracy, the identity of individuals and communities, and human rights”, as defined by the International Council on Archives (ICA). The same organisation, however, warns: they are also fragile and vulnerable. Archives have often been overlooked by the entities that should take care of this heritage.

Historical documents become alive whenever we give them attention, systematizing and interpreting the information they provide. Most of them were saved from destruction by chance. They are scattered and scarce testimonies of a complex past. Museum collections, buildings, landscapes or archaeological remains are also important for the ReSEED Project. In these first two years of extensive research, nevertheless, the work has been centred in the written sources.

Historical archives are very different laboratories from those used by other sciences (Chemistry, Biology, Medicine…), which are almost always planned by their users, the scientists. They are spread over many different places and their internal structuring and governance varies. Additionally, researchers are subject to working conditions and decisions that they do not control.

Researcher Alberto González examining inventories in the Archive of the Kingdom of Valencia, Spain, in November 2020.

There has been considerable effort in recent years, at national and local levels, to digitalise the documentation. The increase in Europeana’s collection mirrors this effort. However, the consultation in person in the archives is still crucial. An important part of the content remains to be digitalised, especially the less consulted collections, which could be relevant to the ReSEED Project.

Researching on archives from various countries and regions, our team is constantly faced with the unpredictability of its management. At times we are transported to situations in which there are no inventories or even a list. In some archives in Spain, photographs of the documents are not allowed or only after a formal process of an authorization request. Informal contacts with employees and colleagues, who attend the same archives, remain essential to answer questions and obtain information.

Researcher Anabela Ramos checking monastery spending books (17th – 18th centuries) in the District Archive of Braga, Portugal, in June 2020.

The indispensable serendipity

Maybe there is no better word to translate the need to visit archives in person: serendipity. That is the chance to find something we did not even know existed. The access to the archives continues to be, almost always, the most fruitful path for the ones making History.

Even if when full archive is online, having the file structure and the relationships between documents properly recorded, there are aspects perceived only by “direct contact”, especially in the case of handwritten sources. This makes it possible to find marks of use such as grease stains or other “unwritten” ones that are difficult to be viewed digitally. These marks allow a better understanding of the contexts of production and use of the documents. Margin notes, wasted ink, document layout, size or degree of preservation are some issues that are difficult, when not impossible, to be scanned and consulted online. This not to mention that in-depth analysis requires high resolution images and the necessary level of quality is rare in the historical documents available online.

Documentation about public granaries (16th- 19th centuries) analysed by researcher Francesco D’Amaro in the Municipal Archive of Murcia, Spain, in July 2020.

The covid factor

Being an Iberian project, the ReSEED research plan was since the beginning designed to streamline the work in archives in Portugal, Spain and other countries. When the pandemic changed the context of work and life of all of us, the virtual supports proved to be essential, allowing us to establish a dynamic virtual team, already common in other areas, but not so much in the field of History. The online collections provided by the archives were key to keep the research going on.

When the first lockdown was over in both countries, each archive reorganised itself differently. In most of them, the “new normal” included a reduction of working hours, limitations in the request of documents (restrictions such as “only three per day”), the need to book a visit many days in advance. There are also external challenges such as the mobility limitations between neighbourhoods and cities, especially in the case of Spain. The researchers are required to adapt to the new rules of the archives in this first phase. They have no say in decisions on the operation of their laboratories.

Researcher Carlos Manuel Faísca, working from home, analysing a church accounting book (19th century) from Portugal, in June 2020.

The project goals and work timeline were firstly conceived considering the previous access conditions to the archives. The “covid factor” was a plot twist. How to continue testing the research hypotheses? How to gather the empirical evidence needed to offer robust historical explanations?

Virtual access, digitalisation or artificial intelligence are transforming the research. Judging by the millions of documents that have yet to be identified, however, rescuing these data from oblivion and evaluating whether they can help to understand the present will take time. Virtual communities have been useful in very different ways, but they cannot replace the informal communities of knowledge and practice built in the archives’ spaces, which sometimes have already crossed several researchers’ generations.

A wealth register (19th century) from the Municipal Historical Archive of Valencia, Spain, in November 2020.

As essential sources to explain our common past, documents must be accessible as much as it is possible in a pandemic context. As researchers, we are committed to finding the best ways – which includes professional and safety concerns – to keep doing our job in these irreplaceable and unpredictable laboratories called historical archives.