On Monday January 26, 2010, The Scone
Foundation held their seventh annual Archivist of the
Year Award at the CUNY Graduate Center. This award
recognizes an archivist who has made a contribution to
his or her profession or who has provided support to
scholars conducting research in history and biography.
This year, the honor was awarded for the
first time to two archivists, both from Jerusalem. One
Palestinian archivist, Mr. Khader Salameh of the Al-Aqsa
Library and Muslim Museum and one Israeli archivist, Dr.
Yehoshua Freundlich, the Israeli State Archivist jointly
accepted their award.
Beginning with a presentation promptly at
6 o’clock, Stanley Cohen, founder of The Scone
Foundation, kicked off the evening by explaining why it
is important for archivists to be acknowledged for their
work. “The archivist plays an understated, but
essential role in our society,” stated Mr. Cohen. “The
role of the archivist is, however, much broader than
acting as an essential resource for writers, researchers
or historians and we thought that they should be honored
more directly than a mention in the front or the back of
a book.”
The award recipients were introduced by
Dr. Merav Mack. Dr. Mak is a research fellow at the Van
Leer Jerusalem Institute. Dr. Mak works with Mr. Salameh
and Dr. Freundlich on the Endangered Archives Programme,
which has been digitizing endangered, archives and is
sponsored by the British Library. Dr. Mak described the
kind of work and effort that has gone into the project
and claimed, “Projects like this one had to be a
collaborative effort and Mr. Salameh and Dr. Freundlich
have invested a lot of time in this project.” She
stated, “We have today an exceptional opportunity
because it is possible to have world heritage
preserved.”
Mr. Khader Salameh was the first to speak
and accept his award. One of his ongoing concerns
is the preservation of Palestinian newspapers from 1900
to the present day. He touched on this concern in his
speech, showing select images of the 1,000 Palestinian
documents that are in dire need of preservation. He
believes it is important for these documents to be
available to the public and hopes to be able to publish
the documents on their website for everyone to view.
Mr. Salameh has served as director of the
Islamic Museum and director of the al-Aqsa Mosque
library for over two decades. He has published several
catalogs on Arabic manuscripts, not only at the al-Aqsa
library, but at private foundations as well. Mr. Salameh
has played an important role in the preservation or
archives and has delivered many lectures on the
importance of digitization of archives. Among his
publications is a monograph: “A General Survey of
Christians in Jerusalem through the Shari'ah Court
Registers.”
He was
previously employed in the Hebrew University Library and
worked as a librarian in Saudi Arabia and as a teacher
in Libya.
A PhD candidate in Ottoman History, he holds a Masters
degree from Hebrew University.
Dr. Yehoshua Freundlich was second to
accept and deliver his speech. Dr. Freundlich painted a
picture for the audience of Jerusalem, the place he and
Mr. Salameh call their home. He described Jerusalem as a
diverse community. He stated that even though Jerusalem
is rich with diversity, there are no Palestinian
archives in Israel. “Don’t lose faith,” Dr. Freundlich
said, “We are keeping all the information…and it is
incumbent upon us to pay attention to all communities.”
Dr. Freundlich has served for many years
as the general editor of the series, “Documents on the
Foreign Policy of Israel'; he has also edited studies on
the Jewish Agency and lectured on the relations between
the U.N. and Israel. He joined the Israel State Archives
in 1974 and was appointed State Archivist in 2006. He
was born in Israel and educated at the Hebrew University
with a major in the Modern History of Israel. He also
earned a PhD studying diplomatic history of the Zionist
Organization 1945-1948.
The evening concluded with a post award
conversation with Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor
of Arab Studies at Columbia University and Dr. David N.
Meyers, Director of the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies.
The two discussed “Archives and History” and the
challenges archivists face due to Israeli’s political
state. Dr. Meyers stated, “Archives can be the bridge of
understanding between conflicting parties.” Rashid
Khalidi agreed saying “We need shared narrative in order
for there to be peace. However, we need peace to reach
this narrative and a narrative to reach peace.”
After the program, writers and guests
were invited to join Mr. Cohen and the award winners for
dinner and conversation.
Noted guests included two-time Pulitzer
Prize winner Robert Caro, politician Hamilton
Fish, New York Time’s columnist Roger Cohen,
writer David Kahn, French academic, writer and
historian Annie Cohen-Solal, and American
journalist David Margolick.
The Scone Foundation is a non-profit
organization that provides grants for artist programs,
historical societies, and art schools as well as the
annual Calder Prize, which provides to a sculptor a
residency program at the Calder home and studio in
France.
www.archivist.org