BAHIR DAR UNIVERSITY
FACULITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM: POST GRADUATE/PhD
YEAR: I SEMESTER: I
COURSE: ISSUES IN MEDIEVAL ETHIOPIA (HIST 711)
Report on Gondar Archive Center
BY: WORKU JEGNIE
E-mail: [email protected]
SUBMITTED TO: PROFESSOR TEMESGEN GEBEYEHU
February, 2023
Archives are important to protect nations, communities, and an individual's heart, mind, spirit,
conscience, and memory. It is beyond any shadow doubt that the preservation and utilization of
current documents and historical archives benefits everyone, even those who are unable to hear,
talk, read, or write. Ethiopia is rich in archives. Ethiopian National Archives Liberary Agency,
Debre Markos Archival center and Gondar Archival center are examples of Archival centers in
Ethiopia. This report is focused on Gondar Archival center. The North Gondar Zone
Administration Office in Gondar city has kept the administrative archives of both the Gondar
teqlay gizat and the kifle hager administrative divisions over the years. Despite its
imperativeness, however, the archival center of Gondar is on the verge total disintegration. The
problem facing the Gondar Archival center in the keeping of archives as sources of knowledge of
the history of Ethiopia as sources of cultural heritage of mankind can be divided into different
groups. These are climate related, organization related, building related, equipment related,
materials related and training related problems. My field trip provided written reports
summarizing on the situation of archives. There are many problems in Gondar archival center
including inadequate file classification techniques, inappropriate quality of paper and file covers
used, insufficient security measures, inadequate management and inadequate working tools
ranging from stationery and office supplies to file covers and storage archives, non-existence of
national standards for records-keeping and equipment and poor storage and working conditions.
No trained or certified record managers employed. Even there is no salaried officer who runs the
repositories of the archive. Even the representative one whose name is holds a dual position,
being also zonal co-coordinator. Due to the absences of salaried officer, any one including
students distorted the archival documents. Every government institutions including University of
Gondar granted deaf ear to recover these precious archival documents. Central Gondar Zone
Administrative building, being the oldest, is less well designed so far as protection of archives
against environmental hazards is concerned. The building is not protected archives from
environmental hazards, such as heat, humidity, dust, insects and rodents. There is no modern
archival shelving and boxes that provide a storage capacity for the next five to ten years. There
is no fire detection and alarm system to preserve archives from fire accident. In other words,
there is a total breakdown as far as the equipment is concerned. In most instances, archival files
are out of order and frequently in total disarray.
Storage classes are extremely poor. Files are shelved on opened wooden old cupboards, which
are on the verge of destruction. It was most common for the folders to be piled on top of these
cupboards, always covered by dust and dirt, and often with other objects lying on top of the
folders. In many instances, records in files were greatly damaged due to different reasons. The
storage rooms are generally fully exposed to the external environment because of lack of air
conditioning and the due to open windows. Many records exhibited signs of active mould
infestation. Vermin and insects are attacking the archival documents even us during the trip visit.
File index systems are rudimentary or non-existent. It appears to be not uncommon for lengthy
search periods up to several days to be required, especially to locate files. In almost every storage
area, the floors were littered with shreds of paper which had broken away from the edges of
documents from both current and closed files. File contents were often torn and crumpled,
frequently with large parts of pages missing. In all archive storage classes, archives were strewn
over the floors and under shelving. Here I want to recommend to those concerned officials,
particularly to North Gondar administration office and University of Gondar in giving protection
to those archival documents in order to save them from further damage due to its historical
significance.
Image, Strew over of Archives
