How to prepare an archivist-restorer?

One of the main goals of the republican action «Archives for School», carried out in accordance with the republican action plan for holding the Year of Peace and Creation in 2023, is to highlight topical issues of preserving the heroic heritage and historical truth in various periods of the life of the Belarusian people.

This action also contributes to the work carried out by the state institution «Central Laboratory for the Preservation of Documents of the National Archival Fund of the Republic of Belarus» on the professional orientation of future young professionals and strengthening their own human resources.

So, on March 22 and 23, three meetings were held in the laboratory with 3rd year students of the Faculty of History of BSU, who are educated in the specialty «Historical and Archival Studies» and 2nd year students of the same faculty, but educated in the specialty «History».

During each of the meetings, in the opening speech, the director of the laboratory, V.L. Klyuyko, introduced the students to the areas of the laboratory’s activities and its importance in the preservation of historical heritage. Also, attention was paid to such an issue as the training of archivists-restorers. Indeed, to date, training in this specialty is not carried out in any educational institution in the country and unique specialists become in the workplace through the mentoring of experienced colleagues.

Well, the future historians were convinced of the uniqueness of the profession of an archivist-restorer, having familiarized themselves with all the stages of the technological process of microbiological research, disinfection, restoration, binding, microfilming and digitization of archival documents.

Of particular interest to the students was a visual demonstration of the process of restoration of an archival document with the completion of the destroyed part of the sheet. The students were convinced that the restoration of the original form of an archival document requires a painstaking and scrupulous attitude, great experience and responsibility of unique specialists working in the laboratory.

Many students showed genuine interest in the possibility of attending practical classes in the 4th year of study on the academic discipline «Fundamentals of Microfilming and Restoration of Paper-based Documents» at the laboratory, as well as internships with possible subsequent employment.