Conference seeks to unleash potential of old photo archives at Vietnamese institute
Hanoi (VNA) – The Institute of Social Sciences Information (ISSI) under the Vietnam Academy of Social
Sciences (VASS) on November 25
held an international scientific conference to seek ways to unlock potential of
the photo archives of the French School of the Far East (EFEO) at ISSI.
ISSI Deputy Director Assoc. Prof., Dr. Le Hai Dang said the big collection of EFEO photos archived at ISSI has become a valuable heritage for researchers
in studying national culture and provided evidence for the restoration of
cultural and historic relics damaged by wars or natural disasters.
The social science library operated by ISSI has been preserving
a large number of original photos and documents handed over by the EFEO since
1957. They include a collection of 60,000 photographs, one of the rarest and
most valuable photo archives in Orientalism in Southeast Asia. However, the
archives have not been used to the fullest extent.
Speaking at the event, Isabelle Poujol from the EFEO in
Paris shared how technology has been used to preserve and keep
records of more than 200,000 old photographs stored for decades at the EFEO headquarters.
These photos are of great interest to the scientific
community; in some cases, they are even the only historic evidence, she said.
The EFEO in Paris has been digitalizing them in order to not only archive them
better but also offer researchers easier access to such a big collection,
according to Poujol.
Dr. Nguyen Huu Tam, a former staff from the VASS’s Institute
of History, said to protect and promote the values of the photo archives at
ISSI , first and foremost, librarians must be provided with comprehensive knowledge
on archiving photos and main content of the archived photos.
During the event, attendees discussed social science and
humanities issues through the EFEO photo archives and how to preserve and make
use of the photo collection.
The French School was established in Vietnam in 1900 in Sai
Gon (HCM City today). It was closed in 1959 and re-opened in Hanoi in 1993. It
mainly focuses on history, archaeology and philology, as well as the study of
modern Asian societies./.