Model for a system of description of the historical Archives of the European Capital towns – D.A.C.E European project and Summit 1998- 2000
The D.A.C.E. was born following meetings held between the directors of the Historical Archives of the cities of Paris, Brussels, Madrid and Rome, at the headquarters of the Capitoline Historical Archives and the Direction des Services d’Archives in Paris, between 1997 and 1998.
During these meetings, the decision was made to start forms of collaboration between the archival institutes of the capital cities of European countries, aimed at creating a common descriptive standard of the documentary material to be defined in a European Summit.
Approved and funded by the European Commission, as part of the Community Raphael program, the project involved the Capitoline Historical Archives as leader and, in the role of co-financiers, the Direction des Services d’Archives of Paris and the Archives de Ville of Brussels.
The historical processes of each European capital have left important traces in the documentation preserved in the archives of the capital towns. The Archival Institutes of the capital cities are the repositories of information that can be processed directly on original and unique historical documentation. The possibility of consulting such a vast and widespread heritage throughout the territory of the Union can become a valid integration tool.
The knowledge of one’s origins and the origins of the other is the main way to overcome the barriers between peoples who have been actors, over the centuries, of a common history also made up of bloody conflicts but who wish to achieve peaceful integration.
The D.A.C.E. created, and then approved during the European Summit “Model for a system of description of the historical Archives of the European Capital towns (DACE)”, a definition of the conceptual architecture and a standard of archival description, aimed at the realization of a future common telematic platform for remote consultation of information relating to historical-documentary material preserved by the individual archival institutes located in the territory of the capital cities of the European Union, “the first step for the establishment of a telematic network that virtually unites the historical archives of European capitals ”and a consequent Virtual Guide of the historical documentation preserved in the archives of the capital cities.
Promoters: Archivio Storico Capitolino di Roma – Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles – Direction des Services d’Archives de Paris.
Realization and coordination: Associazione Giovanni Secco Suardo – Archivio Storico Capitolino
Donors and Participant Institutions: Unione Europea DG X – Comune di Roma, Assessorato per le politiche culturali, Archivio Storico Capitolino – Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles – Direction des Services d’Archives de Paris – Associazione Giovanni Secco Suardo (Italia) – Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles (Belgio) – Københavns Statsarkiv (Danimarca) – Kaupunginarkisto (Finlandia) – Direction des Services d’Archives de Paris (Francia) – Landesarchiv Berlin (Germania) – Corporation of London Records Office (Gran Bretagna) – Dublin City Archives (Irlanda) – Borgarskjalasafn Reykjavikur (Islanda) – Archivio Storico Capitolino Roma (Italia) – Ville de Luxembourg Archives Municipal (Lussemburgo) – Oslo Byarkiv (Norvegia) – Gemeentearchief Amsterdam (Olanda) – Archivo General de la Villa de Madrid (Spagna) – Stockholms Statsarkiv (Svezia).
Scientific Committee: Bjorn Bering (Oslo Byarkiv) – Svanhildur Bogadottir (Borgarskjalasafn Reykjavikur) – Jan E. A. Boomgaard (Gemeentearchief Amsterdam) – Carmen Cayetano (Archivio General de la Villa de Madrid) – Mary Clark (Dublin City Archives) – Michael Cook (Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies) – Klaus Dettmer (Landesarchiv Berlin) – Francois Gasnault (Direction des Services d’Archives de Paris) – Henrik D. Gautier (Statsarkiv København) – Rolf Hagstedt (Stockholms Statsarkiv) – Eric Ketelaar (University of Amsterdam) – Elio Lodolini (Università “La Sapienza” di Roma) – Juhani Lomu (Kaupunginarkisto) – Jean-Marie Palayret (Archives Historiques des Communautès Europèennes, Firenze) – Paola Pavan (Archivio Storico Capitolino) – Wilhelmina Pieterse (International Council on Archives/Section of Municipal Archives) – James R. Sewell (Corporation of London Records Office) – Arlette Smolar-Meynart (Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles) – Therese Symon (Archives de la Ville de Bruxelles) – Stefano Vitali (Membro International Council on Archives/ Committee on Descriptive Standards)