In 2014 the Archivio Generale Arcivescovile started a complete census of the diocesan parishes’ archives, following similar works done in other dioceses such as Bergamo, one of the most relevant dioceses in this type of intellectual control. The project is ambitious and challenging, but also necessary, as fifty years have passed since the last attempt failed. The leadership provided by the Sovrintendenza Archivistica (Italy’s government authority over archives) has allowed the creation of a ‘census form’ that is completed during the visit at each archive. In order to accurately describe the actual condition of the archives, this form contains several new fields to capture the consistency and nature of the documentation preserved, the conservation status of the documents, main threats and dangers to conservation, specific interest or historical importance, eventual gaps or dispersions, and finally the potential needs of archival intervention or restoration.
This survey of diocesan parishes’ archives will allow the archive to make the necessary decisions of how to proceed. Currently, the census of the Alta Valle del Reno vicarage is complete, while the census of the Sasso Marconi vicarage and the census of the Setta-Savena-Sambro vicarage are almost complete and in the Bazzano vicarage and the Galliera vicarage the project has just been started. The Galliera vicarage, which was heavily damaged by the 2012 Earthquake, was entrusted to the Sovrintendenza Archivistica, which has brilliantly managed the first phases of intervention. Sometime in 2015 is the anticipated start of the census in the San Lazzaro-Castenaso vicarage.
The results will be available online as soon as the census is complete.
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