Guardians of memory

Essays in remembrance of Hella Jean Bartolo Winston

Editor: Charles Farrugia Published: National Archives Malta / 2008 Pages: 462pp

Hella Jean Bartolo Winston died at a relatively young age in June 2004. She came to the field of record managers and archivists rather late in her career with the Central Bank of Malta. But in the few years between 1988, when she became involved in the conversion of the bank’s registry into a records management unit, and her early death in 2004 she packed a very active life both in Malta and abroad.

This book is a collection of contributions from people in the archives field both in Malta and abroad on this very specialised subject about which both at that time and even today there was, and still is, very little information.

There are in all 27 contributions in this volume, some by her former colleagues.

The very last article in the book is by Joseph Schirò, the former director of the Malta Centre for Restoration and later with Heritage Malta. There is good restoration and bad, such as the misuse of the Notre Dame Gate between Zabbar and Cottonera which was turned into a woodworking factory and later a disco before saner counsels prevailed. At the same time Fort Ricasoli has been allowed to fall in disrepair while Spinola Palace in St Julian’s has seen its baroque garden around it become a pizzeria, a restaurant and a playground.

The late Michael Ellul writes about some rare architectural books at the National Library of Malta including some first editions of giants like Vitruvius and Palladio.

Joseph Bezzina writes in detail about the major archives in Gozo though he admits that the archives of the mendicant orders have never been scrutinised. Still in Gozo Noel D’Anastas writes about the music archives at the Gozo Cathedral.

The book includes two articles by Hella Jean Bartolo Winston herself, one a guide to selected records on Malta in the National Archives of UK (formerly the Public Record Office) and another detailing a list of 30 files on Malta from the National Archives of UK. This is complemented by an article by the editor of this book, Charles J. Farrugia, listing archival sources for the study of the role of Malta during the Second World War in UK repositories.

In the section dedicated to archivesbased historical research Maroma Camilleri writes about the important archive of the Chancery of the Order of St John (which is mostly at the National Library); Stanley Fiorini writes about a freelance surgeon at Birkirkara in the early 16th century; William Zammit writes about the

Order of St John and its control over reading matter in its last century of permanence in Malta; George E. Camilleri writes about 19th century dentists in Malta; Albert Ganado writes about the origins of the records of the Comitato Generale Maltese and a transcript of a lecture given at the Medical School by Henry Frendo on 1921 in Malta.

The final section includes information about the digitisation project of the archives at the Cathedral Museum carried out by the Benedictines of Minnesota, including the archives of the Inquisition. It is a pity that some microfilms were kept in incorrect temperatures and had to be thrown away. Other arrangements stuttered to a halt.

This case shows how fragile conservation of records can be especially in the hands of departments or governments who are not sensitive to the importance of conserving proper records. This is what Hella Jean Bartolo Winston battled right through her life. May it have been not in vain.