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Aiming to safeguard fragile photographic archives of high heritage value, the UNESCO Regional Office in Santiago formally delivered digitisation equipment to the National Library of Chile in a ceremony held on Monday, 5 May. The event was led by Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Santiago, and Soledad Abarca, Director of the National Library. Also in attendance was Graciela López, Head of the Cultural Heritage Division at the Undersecretariat of Cultural Heritage.

This milestone is part of the project entitled "Strengthening and Protecting the Memory of Chilean Resistance through the Digitisation and Preservation of the National Library’s Photographic, Audiovisual and Sound Archives from the Dictatorship Period." The initiative, promoted by the UNESCO Regional Office and funded by the International Assistance Fund of the 1954 Hague Convention, seeks to protect heritage in contexts of conflict. For the first time, Chile has been granted access to this fund, securing USD 49,932 to enhance the technical preservation of its historical memory.

During the ceremony, Esther Kuisch Laroche emphasised the importance and long-term impact of the project: "Preserving memory is not merely a matter of archiving; it is about human rights, identity, and heritage. This project not only safeguards unique materials but also enables new generations to access a fundamental part of Chile's history from original sources."

The project was developed in collaboration with the Undersecretariat of Cultural Heritage, the National Library, and the International Affairs and Illicit Trafficking Unit of the National Service for Cultural Heritage.

Speaking to the significance of this development, Carolina Pérez Dattari, Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage, highlighted the importance of international cooperation: "The application for international funding reflects a sustained effort from the heritage sector to develop a digital workstream that strengthens our capacities and equipment. This initiative, aligned with our National Strategy for Digital Heritage, exemplifies how different institutions can come together to protect and disseminate key records of our recent history."

The awarded funds will support the conservation and digitisation of four key collections: a series of colour slides from the government of Salvador Allende donated by American photographer Michael Mauney; the personal archive of visual artist Vicente Ruiz, an iconic figure in the counterculture movement; historic documentaries from the National Library’s Audiovisual Archive; and sound recordings of Chilean musicians stored on open-reel tapes from the Alerce record label’s archive.

These collections, currently under threat due to physical degradation and the obsolescence of original formats, will be preserved according to international digitisation standards and made available to the public via the National Library’s digital platforms. This initiative not only protects Chile’s cultural memory but also democratises access to it.

Soledad Abarca, Director of the National Library, remarked: "We are delighted to receive this equipment, which will allow us to enhance the entire digitisation laboratory of the Library, particularly for photographic and audiovisual materials. These are high-tech items that are generally very difficult to obtain in Chile, so this donation is highly significant."

She added: "Furthermore, this comes within the framework of a project that will enable access to highly valuable materials on the dictatorship period, including previously unknown archives such as those of Michael Mauney. It also helps fulfil the National Library’s mission to preserve, provide access to, and foster new knowledge of Chile’s documentary heritage."

The equipment delivered—valued at over 14 million Chilean pesos—included state-of-the-art hardware and software specialised in photographic, audiovisual and sound digitisation. The project also included the hiring of a specialist in the digitisation of photographic archives.

This project reinforces UNESCO’s commitment to the protection of cultural heritage in vulnerable contexts, in line with the principles of the 1954 Hague Convention. The actions foreseen not only strengthen the processes of digitisation and cataloguing of collections that are key to the country’s history and memory, but also bolster the capacity of an institution as vital as the National Library to safeguard and preserve its invaluable heritage in its entirety.