SHPAENA Project  for recovery of the archives of the European news agencies

The three-year project “SHPAENA” (Safeguarding Historical Photographic Archives of European News Agencies) was financed by the European Commission as part of the programme “Culture 2000” for the recovery through digitalization of the historical archives of five European news agencies, with ANSA leader of the project and national leaders agencies (BELGA – Belgium; LUSA – Portugal, MTI – Hungary, PAP – Poland) partners.
The project is a result of the simple observation that the news agencies because of their activity are day after day witnesses of the national and international life (local news, politics, culture, sports, customs and entertainment) and with the years the news of which they were witnesses became history. Those agencies have impressive photo journalistic archives – in some cases from the early decades of the past century, for a total some 35 million photos – which with time are deteriorating because of the chemical processes which relentlessly corrode the photographic emulsion. The preserved material is various: glass plates, prints, slides, negatives, black/white and colour. Material to “rediscover”, because in most cases the images were entirely forgotten. We consider them today as almost never seen. Moreover, the coming of the digital format in photography has made the physical support of the images no more functional to the production processes in the world of publishing, which needs archives available online which can be used according to the most modern ways.
The intervention of digitalization was therefore necessary, the preservation of our visual memory – a priority. Thanks to the European funding, a part of the work is under way, other financing can help bring it further forward, considering the high costs of the digitalization activities and the large dimensions of the archives.

The archives tell of a Europe which, despite having cultural roots strongly rooted on the territory, wants to tighten an increasingly major integration which has the fundamental in a common history. For those who worked in the project, the work experience with professionals from other countries – and the passion which enlivens them – has led for all to the same feeling of having “common roots.” A message which can be part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary from the Treaty of Rome.