New Age of Partnership (TANAP, 2000-2005), the Nationaal Archief teamed
up with archival services in five countries and universities in fifteen.28 The
TANAP project aimed at preserving VOC archives, improving their accessibility,
teaching historians the required skills for using these documents, and exchanging
knowledge about archival management. International cooperation activities
of the Nationaal Archief were not only motivated by VOC and colonial records
though. The Baltic Connections Project, for instance, was a partnership between
archival institutions in nine countries around the Baltic Sea. This project
primarily focused on assembling descriptions of records concerning the maritime
relations between the countries around the Baltic Sea (1450-1800).29 In these
international efforts, archives or a range of research topics and their relevance
for a number of countries formed the basis. In that sense, the MCH Program
should not be very different, although the CCHP provides the framework for
cooperation. Hence, object, mission, partners, criteria for projects and financial
structure are explicitly stipulated, and, not unimportantly, archives as common
cultural heritage, not archives as information, provide the foundation for
collaboration.
Earlier I described the line of thought of the CCHP which could be brought back
to: I think that yours is also mine therefore I have a say in it. This, however, only
works when the partner acknowledges that claim. That in practice this is not easy
to accomplish I will illustrate while discussing two MCH Program activities. The
first is a multilateral activity in which all priority countries took place; the second
is a bilateral project between India and the Netherlands.
Simple Present
Maybe Mutual
In June 2009, the Nationaal Archief organised the MCH conference
'Connecting Archives' (The Hague). Its goal was to strengthen relations with
the MCH partners, to generate commitment for the MCH program and to
jointly seek a direction for archival cooperation within the framework of the
CCHP. Invitees consisted of directors of the national archival institutions
plus directors of archival services in possession of Dutch records, like the
Westkaapse Argiefbewaarplek (Western Cape Archives and Records Service) in
Capetown, South Africa, and the Tamil Nadu Archives in Chennai, India. One
of the results of this conference was a document called 'Connecting Archives.
Recommendations of the Mutual Cultural Heritage Archives Conference'. In the
following paragraph I will look closely at this text. The aim is to establish what
the cooperating partners agreed on regarding claims of mutuality.
These recommendations start with: 'We share a past. A distant and a more recent
past. There are visible and invisible reminders of this past. A great deal of these
is to be found in archives. By maintaining, managing, using and highlighting
this heritage, we can foster a critical reflection on our mutual past and current
COLONIAL LEGACY IN SOUTH EAST ASIA -
THE DUTCH ARCHIVES
28 These were archival services in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The uni
versities were located in China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Myanmar, the Netherlands, the Philippines,
Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. See: http://www.
tanap.net/content/about/heritage.cfm (accessed March 4, 2012).
29 These countries were: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland
and Sweden. See: http://www.balticconnections.net/ (accessed March 4, 2012).
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