About PROJETO RESGATE Memory Center
The “Barão do Rio Branco” Historical Documentation Rescue Project (PROJETO RESGATE) is an international archival cooperation program that aims to identify, catalog, and reproduce handwritten documentation of interest to the national memory of Brazil and Portugal, as well as to that of other countries with a common cultural tradition.
Research in foreign archives began in 1839, due to the incentive of the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute (IHGB). However, PROJETO RESGATE could only be systematized after the Cultural Agreement between Brazil and Portugal (1966), and the Brazil-Portugal Microfilming Protocol (1983). These and other agreements would be enshrined in the Brazil-Portugal Friendship Treaty (2000).
The Brazilian Nacional Library Foundation (FBN) is responsible for curating the documentation compiled abroad and for managing the international technical cooperation agreements linked to PROJETO RESGATE. It carries out its mission, under the supervision of the National Council of Archives (CONARQ), together with the Brazilian section of the Luso-Brazilian Commission for the Safeguarding and Disclosure of the Documentary Heritage (COLUSO).
The recently created PROJETO RESGATE CENTER OF MEMORY, linked to the Center for Cooperation and Dissemination of FBN, has the purpose of storing, preserving, disseminating and promoting the precious documentary heritage compiled by the project.
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Our new site
Previously, it was only possible to consult the rich documentation in the custody of foreign institutions through expensive trips and long researches. The PROJETO RESGATE MEMORY CENTER intends to organize and make this immense collection accessible to researchers and the general public, making an invaluable contribution to the Brazilian memory.
History
PROJETO RESGATE was institutionalized when the 500th anniversary of the arrival of the Portuguese to Brazilian territory was being celebrated. As part of the preparations for the fifth centennial of the Discovery of Brazil, CONARQ stimulated the creation of COLUSO (1996) and the approval of the Luso-Brazilian Microfilming Plan (1997), giving great impulse to the collection of documents, especially in the Ultramarine Historical Archive (AHU), in Portugal. Subsequently, a large part of the microfilmed collection was digitalized and distributed in CD-ROM format by FBN. With Petrobras’ support, part of the material was even temporarily made available online by the Digital Memory Center of the University of Brasília (CMD/UnB) and by other institutions. Currently, the collection can be consulted at the Digital National Library.
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Report on the Rescue Project at the Arquivo Ultramarino (2003)
Partnership with UNESCO
In 1974, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encouraged its member states to reflect on the possibility of document transfer among nations that share a common history.
PROJETO RESGATE has always met this recommendation in an exemplary way.
In order to strengthen, disseminate, and expand the reach of the PROJETO RESGATE, the resources for its maintenance come from an international technical cooperation project with UNESCO (PRODOC 914BRZ3025) since 2015.
Around the World
So far, documents existing in memory institutions in Austria, Sweden, Spain, Holland, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Holy See, and the United States of America have been surveyed and reproduced. The PROJETO RESGATE MEMORY CENTER intends, in the short term, to make this new collection available, offer more up-to-date research tools, and expand the mapping of existing documents in other continents.
Some of the materials indicated in the links on this map refer to similar projects in other countries
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