International Directory of National Archives

National Archives of Afghanistan (NAA)

National Archives, G5F9+R4 Kabul, Afghanistan

In 2018, the International Directory of National Archives was published. It includes an entry for the National Archives of Afghanistan (Archive- e Melli/National Archif).

A scan of that entry is attached here as a record of the NAA, which was established in 1973 when the government began a rehabilitation and reconstruction program for Kabul’s historical buildings.

The NAA preserves valuable manuscripts, old books, newspapers, journals, calendars, declarations, seals, stamps, decrees, important historical official documents, deeds, treaties, public subscriptions, public letters of complaint, family trees, historical drawings and photos, calligraphy, paintings and miniatures, handwritten books and other unique and old item.

Interior of the National Archives of Afghanistan

The oldest manuscript in the archives is attributed to Osman and Ali (the third and fourth caliphs of Islam, Imam Hassan, and Imam Hossian, written in Kufic script on deerskins, and illluminated with letters of gold dating back to the second and third centuries.

Many thanks to the assistance provided by Masuma Nazari, chief of the National Archives of Afghanistan.

My best wishes to the people of Afghanistan during this turbulent time in our shared history.

afghanistan-national-archives-2018 Download

MARA graduate

International Directory of National Archives project was ‘a lot of fun,’ says alumna

In this video, MARA alumna Heather Kahn discusses her work as project coordinator on the International Directory of National Archives. Heather assisted Dr. Pat Franks while enrolled in the Master of Archives and Records Administration program at San Jose State University. She graduated in 2017 and now works for the Nevada State Library Archives and Records.

MARA graduate, national archives

And the Results Are In

Back in April I wrote about my experience attempting to track down my family lineage in present day Czechia. Through communication with the National Archives of the Czech Republic and the regional archives in Trebon, I was able to establish my family was rooted in that region. The regional archives took on the task of determining just how far down those roots went.

Drum Roll Please

I now have a genealogical profile for the male line of the Verhota (Vrhota) family all the way back to 1604, when Jakob Cinatl took over the family farm from his father Petr. I am not part of a lost line of Bohemian royals, I come from a long line of laborers and farmers.

It has been fascinating to read through the profile, bringing up questions about my family’s progress through history. For instance, most of the records linking the generations of my family were located in the Roman Catholic Church of Trebon’s records. When did my family stop being Catholic? In the profile, under Religion, the legitimacy of a person’s birth was recorded (parents were married at the time of birth). The man who started this hunt, John Verhota (aka Jan Vrchota, my great, great, great grandfather) is the only person considered legitimate in the eyes of the church. What was my family up to, wink wink?

Statni Oblastni Archiv v Treboni

The Regional Archives of Trebon provided so many interesting and valuable details for each generation of my family: date of birth, baptism, marriage and death; who their godparents were; their occupation; place of burial and sometimes a person’s cause of death. For example, Anna Vrchotova, my 5^th great grandmother, died of breathlessness—what the heck is breathlessness?

Anna Vrchotaova’s death records from Roman Catholic Church in Třeboň, volume 47, for years 1826–1866, page 63. Links to available documents were provided by the Archives, along with a translation of the content.

Their Place in History

This process has also widened my thoughts on history. My ancestors lived during some interesting times. My ancestors were subjects in the kingdom of Bohemia. Jakob Cinatl was coming of age towards the end of the Thirty Year’s War. Eventually this religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants resulted in the Battle of the White Mountain, ending the Bohemian reign and ushering in the Habsburg dynasty, absorbing Bohemia into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Image Courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica

The Bohemian people fought for centuries against their new rulers. When John Verhota was a teenager, a push to create a new Austria-Hungary-Bohemia monarchy failed and by the end of World War I, Bohemia faded into history becoming part of the newly established First Czechoslovak Republic.

This whole experience has taught me so much about my personal and our global history. As you can imagine, I have now added a trip to Trebon to my bucket list. I plan to visit St. Elizabeth’s Church (Kostel Svate Alzbeta) to see where my family was buried; the church is still there west of the town center. Also, I am slowly learning the Czech language. I encourage anyone interested in the family genealogy to use the national archives system. The results may surprise you.

References:

Encyclopedia Britannica (2019, July 24). Bohemia. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/place/Bohemia

Wikipedia (2019, August 13). Lands of the bohemian crown. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lands_of_the_Bohemian_Crown

Edited by Heather Kohles, MLIS graduate

A Visit to a World Heritage Site

Author ~ Faezeh Jahan Shiri ~ MLIS Alumna

The entire historical city of Yazd in Iran is recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO since 2017. I was recently able to visit this amazing city and learn about the history, library and archives, and the beautiful architecture that has lasted for centuries.

Yazd 1

This sacred fire has been burning for 1531 years!

The sacred fire of Zoroastrians in Atashkadeh -Yazd in central Iran is stated to have been burning since about 470 AD. The introduction statement signage by the temple entrance reads: “This flame is from the Pars Karyan sacred fire temple which was brought to Aqda where it was kept for 700 years, then transferred to Ardakan in 1174 where it was kept burning for 300 years until it was moved to Yazd in 1474. The sacred fire was brought to this temple in 1940.”

Yazd 2

Vaziri Library & Archives in the city of Yazd

This library & archives was established in 1955. Researchers and archivists have access to more than 5000 rare manuscripts, 6000 Lithographic (printed on stone) books which was mostly donated by people who cherish arts and believe in preserving cultural heritage for the future generations. Among these treasures are the more than 800 years old Divan-e-Hafiz, Golestaan-e Saadi, and Ibn Sina’s ‘Canon’.

Yazd 3

Edited by Heather Kohles, ICA, In the News, national archives

Digital Collaboration

In an ever-growing globalized environment, to better serve patrons, archives have been teaming up across borders. The Arabian Gulf Digital Archives is the result of one such collaboration, between The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and United Kingdom. The Digital Archives is made up of 250,000 items including documents, maps, photographs and video footage, spanning approximately 200 years of history. This collaboration is significant because, historically, the UAE and UK have had a checkered past. The documents available in the Digital Archives represent “years of intrigue, political strife, war, independence and progress” (Dennehy 2019) between the two nations. What is currently available is the culmination of 2 years of work, however the collaboration is not done. The Digital Archives plans on expanding the digital collection even further.

References

Dennehy, J. (May 2, 2019) Treasure trove of priceless UAE archives now online. Retrieved from: https://www.thenational.ae/uae/heritage/treasure-trove-of-priceless-uae-archives-now-online-1.856500

Peterson, J.E., Crystal, J. (May 26, 2019) United Arab Emirates. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/place/United-Arab-Emirates

Chronicling America: Digitizing the historic papers of our past
Nevada’s journey as part of the Nation’s Newspaper Digitization Project

People at the Center

In every step of our project, we put people at the center of all we do! We know that our papers are used by researchers in order to improve our world.

Our target users are:

Researchers & Scholars
Lifelong Learners & Casual Readers
Genealogists

DESIGN is everything!

The design is guided by our audience. All of the design decisions were made to serve them, to the formats and search design, tools used (such as OCR for full text searching) and of utmost importance: Outreach! Often we go where they are!

The treasure within the pages: our history

Our hope is that people of the state, nation, and world will dig into our papers to fulfill their curiosities, wonders, and all other information needs. We hope that people are delighted, enlightened, educated, surprised, and frightened at the contents within these pages.

The past can teach you a lot about the core of human nature and being a citizen of this world. It is fascinating to see how people lived their day-to-day lives.

Newspapers are often the first draft of history.

In the West, especially in Nevada, the Manifest Destiny and Gold Rush brought many new people to this land. The Natives (our Indigenous Peoples) were already here. Seeing the struggle for lifestyle and survival on both sides is very interesting, and often, heartbreaking.

Regularly there had to be a lot of cooperation with one another. Everyone came from different countries, cultures, and ethnicities and all had to live side-by-side. So more than not, people were respectful for the greater good.

Some other observations?

Prohibition fueled what I like to call ‘PCP whiskey’ [moonshine] as this liquor unregulated it was really quite dangerous. A lighter note on prohibition, one article describes Reno as having more open saloons after prohibition than before!

Women wore long dresses consisting of many layers covering head, neck, arms, and always legs. They also had no rights and fought tirelessly for suffrage!

Jails were make-shift; prisoners broke out a lot! (I get the notion they were not stripped of belongings before being booked either; they often started fires or attacked others with weapons or other items!)

People lost so much from fires then – property damage and lives! Many times the residents put out the fires by forming lines and passing buckets toward the fire.

Mining was (and still is) very dangerous. Many perished working in the mines.

There were many murders but not many forensics science and murder investigations. Sometimes people were identified as “a stranger found dead…” and life appeared to move on.

There were a number of suicides. Life was not easy. Sometimes the suicides were gruesome and brutal (firearms were not always available!)

Entertainment included masquerade balls, traveling circuses, local theatre, and stories in the paper.

People suffered from the ravages of diseases that are preventable today—diphtheria, scarlet fever, smallpox, meningitis… Often young children succumbed to diseases we prevent today!

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To learn more about Nevada Digital Newspaper Project, please visit our website

To search your state paper, or just to browse, visit Chronicling America

View a slideshow of some of the more interesting articles, advertisements and images we have come across

Quick stats from ChronAm!

28 titles from Nevada;

Nevada’s oldest title is from 1863;

205,653 pages available;

Papers from all of our 16 counties of Nevada!