CRL and LAMP Support Digitization of Brazilian Human Rights Collection

CRL and LAMP (formerly the Latin American Microform Project) are supporting the efforts of the Ministério Público Federal in Brazil to digitize nearly one million pages of the collection Brasil: Nunca Mais, which contains court documents (processos) from Brazil’s Military Supreme Court. These proceedings document the cases of over 7,000 persons arrested, convicted, and/or executed by the Court between 1964 and 1979. Copied in secrecy, the official records document human rights violations by the military government in Brazil during this period.

LAMP received the collection in 1987 from the Brasil: Nunca Mais project director Rev. Jaime Wright, who was seeking a location to deposit the microfilm copy of the records for safekeeping and use. CRL stored the 543-reel set (OCLC# 31811010), created a reel guide to accompany the 12-volume index (OCLC# 47935623) to the case files, and made the collection accessible to member institutions. Only recently has Brazil expressed readiness to receive these records for public access.

With the support of LAMP and CRL, copies of the film are being sent to Brazil for digitization, after which the collection will be openly accessible via a public database.

This initiative expands CRL’s support of human rights documentation and preservation, described in more detail on CRL’s Topic Guide for Human Rights.

James Simon
Center for Research Libraries
simon@crl.edu

Tags: Brazil, CRL, digitization projects, James Simon, LAMP
Category News |

The Little Foxes

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I should either be A) at the interlibrary cooperation meeting OR B) preparing for the Executive Board meeting, but instead I am here in the nerve center of the SALALM 54 conference, juicing up my laptop and blogging. Things have been going quite smoothly so far and I can take absolutely no credit for this. The Berlin local arrangements team runs a tight ship and it seems like they have thought of everything. I think many of us are starting to think they can order up the weather. Today has been much cooler and sunny–perfect weather for sitting in committee meetings!

Following up on Adan’s post, we had a good LAMP meeting in the lovely Bolivar room at the IAI. They graciously held a reception for us afterwards (big incentive to finish the meeting). We had a look at the wonderful exhibit they have prepared !Al pueblo argentino de 2010! Culturas en movimiento en el Rio de la Plata. (sorry can’t make accents on this computer). And some wine and empanadas, along with German sandwiches.

And enjoy a nice photo of our new members orientation. Yes, I can confirm that the Latin Lover was the drink of choice at our reception.

So where do the foxes come into the picture? On the way back to our hotel each night, I’ve been seeing little creatures that I now know are foxes. At first I thought they were jet lag induced hallucinations but I have independent confirmation that they are indeed foxes. I’ve never seen them in an urban setting like this. We are just blocks from Berlin’s Tiergarten, which literally means animal garden. It was laid out in the 18th century as a hunting ground so perhaps this all makes sense. Berlin can be a magical place indeed. . . Back to business

Tags: LAMP, Pamela Graham, SALALM54
Category SALALM Speaks |

Prelude to a LAMP Meeting

July 3, 2009
Roberto Delgadillo (UC Davis) and I enjoyed a Berlin city tour from a low budget and quite entertaining group. The double decker bus had no air conditioning and when we were caught by an unexpected “chubasco” in front of the Branderburg Gate, the lower deck started to leak! But the tour guide and the driver were quite friendly and when the driver heard us speaking in Spanish, he made sure we noticed the Mexican Embassy building, which is quite interesting indeed.

We arrived back at the hotel on time to attend the much dreaded LAMP meeting, which has traditionally been scheduled for the first night of the conference. It did not disappoint this time around, not only did it last the usual three hours!!!! But the proposals were certainly varied and of great interest: from digitizing 20th century women’s journals from Brazil to cataloging Bolivian colonial documents. All of which touched of topics of interest to SALALM but also indicated LAMP’s original mission to preserve rare/unique/brittle materials as it moves into integrating new technologies and now considers digitization projects, all in concert with its original mission to provide access to rich resources in need of long term preservation.

After the meeting ended, our hosts at the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut treated the 36 attendees to a reception at the Institute’s library main floor where we also enjoyed their newly mounted exhibit Al pueblo argentine de 2010! Culturas en movimiento en el Rio de la Plata!

Adan Griego, Stanfoard University Libraries.

Tags: Adán Griego, Berlin, LAMP, SALALM54
Category SALALM Speaks |