Save The Archives has one goal - to preserve the entry documents from Greek migrants into countries including Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United States between 1950 - 1975. In an effort to digitise the more than 200,000 entry documents, many resources are needed to make this possible.
Working independently of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Athens, the Save The Archives initiative is working to raise 25,000 euros which will enable the IOM to be able to obtain the necessary resources to facilitate the digitization process of Greek migrant entry documents. Save The Archives organiser, Georgios Stroumboulis, first became aware of the migration documents during a visit to Athens in March 2012.
After meeting with the Head of Office for IOM Athens, Daniel Esdras, and discovering that more than 200,000 documents of Greek migrants in their original paper form needed to be protected from possible deterioration, the initiative to Save The Archives was born.
"Greeks have migrated to every imaginable part of the world - integrating within different communities while maintaining their rich culture and heritage" said Stroumboulis. "Being a first generation Greek-Canadian, the idea of helping ignite a movement that would help preserve the entry archives of my parents, and those archives of thousands of other Greeks around the world, was an inspiring challenge."
The Save The Archives initiative is being launched to coincide with two important anniversaries between Greece/Australia and Greece/Canada this year. 2012 marks the 60th anniversary of the Assisted Migration Agreement (AMA) signed in 1952 between Australia and Greece. Thousands of Greeks migrated to Australia following the conclusion of the (AMA) under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM), later to become the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
This announcement also coincides with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Greece. Upon achieving the financial goal, the funds will be donated to IOM Athens which will undertake the digitization of the paper archives. With strong support coming from the Greek diaspora, specifically from Australia, plans on how the digitized archives will be presented are under way. Following the digitization process, scholars and diplomats from Australia have discussed the creation of an online portal that can make the archives easily accessible by the diaspora.
Those interested in donating to this initiative should visit www.SaveTheArchives.com
Link: http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/help-preserve-greek-migration-history
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