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During the 19th Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (11 December 2024), the project Strengthening and Protecting the Memory of Chilean Resistance through the Digitisation and Preservation of the National Library’s Photographic, Audiovisual, and Sound Archives from the Dictatorship Period was approved. This marks the first time Chile has received this significant international fund.

The Financial Assistance Fund of the 1954 Hague Convention provides financial and technical support to Member States for implementing preventive, emergency, and recovery measures related to cultural property of exceptional value. Its main objective is to safeguard cultural heritage from the effects of armed conflicts, with actions including training, risk management planning, digitisation of cultural assets, and the restoration of damaged sites.

The project proposal, which secured $49,932, was promoted by the UNESCO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago and jointly prepared by the Undersecretariat of Cultural Heritage, the National Library, and the International Affairs and Illicit Trafficking Unit of Chile’s National Cultural Heritage Service.

With this funding, four collections of great significance for understanding Chile’s cultural movement during the dictatorship will be preserved and digitised. These include:

• A collection of colour slides from Salvador Allende’s government, donated by American photographer Michael Mauney.
• The personal archive of visual artist Vicente Ruiz.
• Historical documentaries from the Audiovisual Archive.
• Open-reel tape recordings of Chilean musicians, acquired through the Alerce record label fund.

Once digitised, these materials will be made available on the National Library’s digital platforms. It is important to highlight that these collections are highly susceptible to deterioration and are at great risk of being lost due to technological obsolescence, which particularly affects sound recordings and moving image archives.

The initiative will be carried out over 12 months and includes the following components:

• Enhancement of the National Library’s digitisation infrastructure.
• Development of a Risk Preparedness Plan, which aims to serve as a model for other institutions at both national and regional levels. This includes a series of workshops for professionals from the National Cultural Heritage Service, security forces, and other key stakeholders.
• Preparation of a nomination dossier for the potential inclusion of the National Library of Chile in the International List of Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection.

The project will be implemented in 2025 with financial support from the Financial Assistance Fund of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, administered by UNESCO.