Resumo de Written Word Endangered - Teotonio R. de Souza

Teotonio R. de Souza, ?Written Word Endangered?Goa Today, Panjim, April 1987It was only after the Liberation of Goa in 1961 that the State archives underwent a major expansion to he made into a full-fledged Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museum. The credit for this expansion goes to Dr. V. T. Gune. He had to face many handicaps, and was much maligned by the political opponents in Goa. What could interest us in the context of salvaging our heritage is the serious accusation that was levelled against Dr Gune of having burnt several truck-loads of records pertaining to judicial cases against the freedom-fighters. This matter came up for debate in the Legislative Assembly more than once, and an inquiry committee was appointed to study the case. The accusation does not seem to have stuck, and Dr Gune continued the expansion work of the directorate, including plans for a new building for the Archives. As a result of this expansion large-scale centralisation of records is underway. New facilities of preservation and reprography are available. The number of personnel in the directorate has multiplied ten times. But unfortunately, bureaucratic formalism has also grown, and the department seems to be run more for its own sake than to serve the scholars or the general public. It is also unfortunate that in a department that handles a very large proportion of records in Portuguese, the linguistic competence of the staff in this respect is extremely low. Good-will is often no substitute to sufficient training and dedication to the job. I may sound overcritical and pessimistic, hut with boundless enthusiasm and dedication, the present director, Dr. P. P. Shirodkar has been able to sustain the great interest the Goa Historical Archives have evoked since the liberation. The ills of his directorate seem to share in the general malaise that has infected the entire administration and many other areas of life in recent times.An important factor that has given an added impetus to historical consciousness is the education explosion that has taken place since liberation. However, it is unfortunate that postgraduate studies in History have contributed very little to the formation of scholarship worthy of notice. A very limited infrastructure was maintained by the Bombay University at the Centre for Post-Graduate Instruction and Research in Panjim till the establishment of the Goa University in 1986. In the meantime, historical studies in Goa experienced a significant push with the series it Indo-Portuguese History Seminars (ISIPH) initiated by Fr John Correia-Afonso in 1978 and with the establishment of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research in 1979.The ISIPH seminars brought an international dimension and served as a Good cultural platform for restoration of normal relations with Portugal. The Xavier Centre of Historical Research has been able to rise to high research standards in a very short time and is now a recognized institute of the Goa University for post-graduate research in History. The Centre is an example of what can be achieved by vision and motivation, in spite of many other limitations. The XCHR houses today one of the hest and most efficiently-run li braries specialized in History, This appears in many words in the recently approved M. Phil. dissertation of Archana Kakodkar of the Goa University. It is a dissertation of a researcher in Library' Science, and an opinion that can he taken seriously. What is important about the XCHR-Suessen Historical Research Library is the fact that it has brought together about 11 private family collections of hooks and manuscripts. It now houses over 12,000 volumes, nearly 250,000 manuscripts, and over 100 different types of old and new journals. Hence, given many limitations and handicaps, this has been a major contribution towards salvaging our historical heritage by a non-governmental agency. It is hoped that this will inspire more private efforts to comlement and supplement what the Government should and can do. Being painfully aware of the state of records in the public and private repositories, I find it difficult to rest calm and quiet. It becomes all the more difficult for me, because I know better than many that with some dedication and effort much can he salvaged. Funds will always remain a problem, but negligence, ignorance and mismanagement are often the more serious problems to contend with. In 1977 I took a summer off to make a sample survey of the parish records. With few exceptions, most parishes have very little left that has been preserved with any degree of care or seriousness. All that they were serious about were the keys and who should keep them. Under lock and key, pests had unrestricted access to documents. After my survey, I had made an appeal to scholars on the occasion of the laying of the foundation-stone for the Xavier Centre of Historical Research in December 1978. «The Voiceless in Goan Historiography» -- was my case for the source-value in the Church records in Goa (Vide Indo-Portuguese History: Sourcesand Problems. Ed. J. Correia-Afonso, Bornhay, 1988, pp.114-131). I take this opportunity to renew my appeal. I am aware that there is much good-will in the responsible Church quarters, but this good-will has not yet met with sufficient motivation for action. An old latin adage used to assure us that the written word endures (scripta manent). I don't think it carries the same assurance today, unless we ensure that it does.

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