Malta’s Notarial Archives store a treasure trove of information and history about Malta and its people.
Sarah Carabott met up with the women who, led by Joan Abela who became known as Joan of Arc(hives), have made it their mission to save the archives.
Joan Abela
Joan Abela
It all started in 2002, when Joan, then an undergrad student, stepped into the decaying building on St Christopher Street in Valletta. When she inhaled the smell of mould and saw the desperate state of thousands of notarial volumes covered with layers of dust, she knew she had a mission to accomplish.
Maltese Archives. my choice
Miller Distributors Ltd, 2020
Let me first place on record a personal interest: I am reviewing a book to which I have contributed a short preface. Apart from that, I was totally extraneous to anything that went into the architecture of this volume. If this is a conflict of interest, I apologise. Malta is now promoted as the Republic of Institutional Loopholes.
Overlooking a pinhole does not place an unbearable strain on my conscience.
Where do I begin? Dr Farrugia has the overview of all the government archives and is familiar with, I guess, most of the other notable hoards of documents in Malta, whether they rest with private families, in clubs, in convents, in parishes, in businesses, in museums. All these turned into his trawling grounds – to enrich this truly magnificent book.
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