Culture Ministry launches archiving plan in bid to preserve national memory

AMMAN — Minister of Culture Ali Al Ayed Monday launched the National Plan for National Archives and an electronic documentation platform “Watheq”, which aims to collect documents from citizens and create digital copies of them. 

 The Jordanian state, Ayed said, has a rich national archive, which represents an important part of the nation’s memory, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The ministry, on the Kingdom’s centenary, aims to “re-document and consolidate this memory as an important phase in rewriting our history and our narrative that we cherish”, he underlined. 

 The minister urged Jordanians to contribute to the national plan, expressing hope that the platform facilitates the collection of documents of all kinds that citizens own, including pictures, historical documents, audio and visual materials, which represent a key aspect of the national history, pointing out that while some documents may be of personal nature, they could have a great historical value. 

Under the plan, the ministry will continue to introduce a set of sustainable projects and programmes, including launching a national effort for documentation and archiving targeting institutions that played a role in the journey of nation building of Jordan, and creating a narrative of major national events, and the state-building process. 

 He pointed to a project to collect the Jordanian heritage and oral history, which aims to document and preserve the Jordanian culture, filling the missing bits in official documents, blogs and manuscripts. 

 Under the national plan for Jordan’s centenary celebrations, the National Library, the official documentation body, was assigned five documenting and archiving projects, said the library’s Director General, Nidal Ayasrah. 

 The projects, he noted, involve the archival documentation of public institutions, development of society and civil institutions, major events in the history of the state, and the national record of photographs, in addition to the launching and operating the Watheq platform.