ECCLESIASTICAL DOCUMENTS PRESERVATION PROJECT: DIAGNOSTIC HELD IN THE ARCHIVE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF DOCUMENTATION CENTER OF VITÓRIA / ES

ABSTRACT

A diagnosis of preservation is reported in the Documentation Center of the Archdiocese of Vitória / ES. It analyzes the state of preservation / conservation of the paper collection and the techniques to increase the longevity of the documentary typologies. It was concluded that the actions taken are insufficient to guarantee preservation, and it is necessary to adopt other procedures, techniques and archival methodologies, in order to ensure the integrity and longevity of ecclesiastical records.

KEYWORDS:
Ecclesiastical archives; Document archives ecclesiastical; Preservation guidelines; Diagnostic preservation

RESUMO

Relata-se diagnóstico de preservação no Centro de Documentação da Arquidiocese de Vitória/ES. Analisa o estado de preservação/conservação do acervo em papel e as técnicas para aumentar a longevidade das tipologias documentais. Concluiu-se que as ações realizadas são insuficientes para garantir preservação, havendo necessidade de adotar outros procedimentos, técnicas e metodologias arquivísticas, visando assegurar a integridade e longevidade dos registros eclesiásticos.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE:
Arquivo eclesiástico; Documento arquivístico eclesiástico; Diretrizes de preservação; Diagnóstico de preservação

1 INTRODUCTION

The preservation policy is necessary in any type of file, be it of an administrative, permanent or historical nature. It is relevant that in the documentary archive there are archival procedures aimed at ensuring a longer life span of documents. The research object of this article, the ecclesiastical document, which represents a legacy of testimony and memory, was investigated in the subject of research, namely, the Documentation Center of the Archdiocese of Vitória (CEDAVES), in the state of Espírito Santo (ES)¹. It was intended to present the preservation policy guidelines to ensure the integrity of these documents. Preservation, seen as a preventive management, and the documentary safeguard aim at the physical and aesthetic integrity of the document, through the conservation and restoration procedures that contribute to the perenniality of the documentary collection.

The ecclesiastical documents compose the cultural patrimony of the Catholic Church, an essential element that attests facts pertinent to the juridical, political and economic environment of this institution and that recall the history of the societies where they are inserted. These documents contemplate a variety of items produced by the Church - both in the Curia/Mitra and in the organizations/entities connected to it - independent of the established chronological cut, as presented in the study by Santos (2005) and Tognoli and Ferreira (2017).

According to Tognoli and Ferreira (2017: 7), these documents correspond to the records relating to the activities carried out by the Church, over time, which together form the ecclesiastical archives, considered as a valuable and immense collection, "[...] which records facts and events that go beyond the interest of the Church as an institution that produces documents, and which also permeates the interests of society...". Many information contained in these files are requested by those interested in clarifying pending issues that were not found in the civil registry offices.

In the period between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Church was the place of trust to ensure the integrity of the document, so we chose as the main subject of the article the documental preservation and conservation of CEDAVES. The choice of a religious archive to carry out this study arose from the understanding of the importance of ecclesiastical cultural assets, as evidenced by documents of historical and cultural value. It is understood the importance of presenting studies on the subject, because the actions in preservation, usually, do not constitute common practices in archival environments.

The CEDAVES collection consists of documents on different media such as CD, DVD, VHS tapes and others. There are also documents in formats of rare books, registry books, baptisms, marriages and deaths, also in circulars, ordinances and handwritten or typed letters sent or received by the bishops of the Archdiocese.

According to Beck (2006, p. 1), these documents are at constant risk. Therefore,

The adverse climatic conditions, the fragility of archival materials and the lack of definition of policies to safeguard the collections make the archives situation worrying. Not only papers on acid and brittle paper, but also a diversity of photographs, films, records and magnetic records are in danger. Preservation should first concentrate efforts to minimize the deterioration rate of these materials, already condemned by their internal constituents at a very short time.

Documentary research was carried out in the permanent archives of the Archdiocese of Vitória, and in parallel the semi-structured interview with the person in charge of the archive was applied. The physical conditions of the collection were raised under the custody of CEDAVES, analyzing and proposing preservation actions. Archival preservation, the core of the investigations carried out, can be considered as a set of procedures and strategies of a political and administrative nature, aimed at contributing directly or indirectly to the maintenance of patrimony and memory, so that future generations have access to information contained in the documents.

The documentary typologies and the supports where the information was recorded, as well as the storage conditions were diagnosed to propose methods of preservation and conservation with the goal of keeping the archive in the appropriate conditions of access. Periodic monitoring of the conservation status of documentary typologies; the development of lectures (and programs) of preventive conservation and restoration; the set of multidisciplinary teams working for preservation; the development, promotion and dissemination of technical knowledge of the areas of competence involved; and the promotion of exchanges of professionals and related institutions open a range for CEDAVES to be an environment of reference to the heritage legacy of these documents.

Thus, it is a general goal to describe preservation interventions that were carried out at CEDAVES between 2005 and 2013² to ensure the use and access of ecclesiastical information.

The specific objectives are: to present some details about the Archdiocese of Vitória and CEDAVES; demonstrate the importance of the archival document for the legacy of the Catholic Church in order to guarantee collective memory and citizenship; identify the techniques used for the preservation of the collection under the custody of CEDAVES; and, finally, to diagnose the current conditions in which the CEDAVES collection is found.

This article is structured in five main parts: 1 - the introduction, which presents the research theme, explaining the justification, methodology and objectives; 2 - the history of the Documentation Center; 3 - the ecclesiastical archival document and its relations with CEDAVES, being highlighted in this item, the documentary typologies of CEDAVES; the contribution of the ecclesiastical document to memory and citizenship; and techniques of preservation of the collection; 4 - the conclusions and 5 - the references that supported the accomplishment of this research. Contextualizing the preservation techniques that have been applied in documentary items, the analysis in particular of each item that will be approached will serve as a future source of studies for students, researchers and the public interested in knowing more about the archival documentary heritage at the heart of the religious institutions.

2 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ESPÍRITO SANTO AND THE DOCUMENTATION CENTER - CEDAVES

Until 1895, the Catholic Church in the State of Espírito Santo was hierarchically linked to the Diocese of Niterói of the State of Rio de Janeiro. The creation of the first Diocese took place on November 15, 1895, through the Bull "Holy Domino Nostro", promulgated by Pope Leo XIII, under the name of the Diocese of the Holy Spirit, encompassing the extension of the State itself.

In 1958, Pope John XXIII erected the Archdiocese of Vitória creating the Ecclesiastical Province of Espírito Santo formed by the Archdiocese of Vitória, Diocese of Cachoeiro de Itapemirim and Diocese of São Mateus.

The Archdiocese of Vitória covers 15 municipalities in the State of Espírito Santo: Afonso Cláudio, Alfredo Chaves, Anchieta, Brejetuba, Cariacica, Domingos Martins, Fundão, Guarapari, Marechal Floriano, Santa Leopoldina, Santa Maria de Jetibá, Serra, Viana, Vila Velha and Vitória. It is structured as follows:

• Metropolitan Curia (Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the dioceses): having as regent Dom Luiz Mancilha Vilela; is responsible for the sectors of files, secretariat of the archbishopric, vicar general, chancellor, secretary and receptionist.

• Arquidiocesana Mitra: is responsible for the administrative management, Episcopal Vicar for economic affairs, department procurement, treasury department, personnel department, accounting department, marketing/communication department and CEDAVES.

The Documentation Center of the Archdiocese of Vitória was established in 2005. Previously there was a place called the Historical Archive, where the old documents of the Metropolitan Curia were kept. The site did not have a research tool, did not provide criteria for mediation and access and depended on the good will of the person in charge of the collection who did not have archival knowledge for the function. The conditions of the collection were rather precarious, infested by moths and termites compromising the physical integrity of the documents. Those responsible for the archive have developed a project to raise funds to build a documentation center.

For the realization of this project, an area attached to the São Francisco Convent³ was vacated and a documentation center with a library was created to attend both the external and the internal public. The intent was to provide access and protect the valuable documentation contained on the site. Some documents were separated according to the criteria of the bishops and public access was allowed. The purpose of the documentation center is to collect, process, treat, store and disseminate information. According to Valfré (2004, page 8), the creation of the documentation center had the following specific goals:

• to carry out detailed work to classify the various items of the collection in order to efficiently ensure the administration, maintenance and destination of accounting, administrative, tax and historical files, as well as books, VHS tapes, DVDs, photos, booklets and others;

• prepare a schedule of documentary temporality, which would meet the needs of the archive;

• make the archive available to the authorized officials, priests and lay people of the Archdiocese of Vitória;

• make the collection of library available to employees, priests, seminarians, and the community in general;

• to guide the parish priests and secretaries to organize and preserve the archives, following a pre-established line for the whole Archdiocese;

• provide documentation and information center users a pleasant place to read, study and research.

The public that attends the site is composed of: researchers, students and people interested in knowing about their ancestors in order to achieve dual citizenship. Many researchers are informed about the history of the Church, the immigrants, the black Capixabas through documents of baptism of the brotherhoods, and finally, of the religious history of Espírito Santo.

The relationship between the archive and the institution is very close and extremely trustworthy. The archbishop chooses which documents can be accessed. They keep a secret file of documents concerning the bishops, and only after 50 years of the death of said bishops, the documents are archived. The baptism and record book is available in the collection after 70 years. Its information is of great importance to those interested in achieving citizenship, retirement, adoption, among others.

3 THE ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH CEDAVES

At the heart of Archival, the document can be understood as registered information, independent of form or support. It is produced or received during the activities of an institution or person, with organicity, which has enough constitutive elements to serve as proof of these activities (RONDINELLI, 2007). The archival document contributes to history as a source of research as stated by Barbatho and Aguiar (2013, p. 1), mentioning that "History is an area traditionally 'user' of archival documents, and its researchers are habitual visitors of archives and of memory institutions".

The genesis of the archival document occurred when mankind realized the need to register their thinking, their culture, their social and political style. We are aware that, since antiquity, man has been concerned about the organization of knowledge. This is proven by the existence of ancient libraries and archives, dating back to ancient Middle Eastern civilizations.

The classical archives were found in the regions of Ebla and Ugarit, and their collections are composed of clay tablets in cuneiform script and a relative quantity of papyri with economic and legal information, seats on administration of the palace, mythological poems, among others. The archives, during this period, presented a systemic organization separating the documents by theme, giving us an idea of how the custody of their collections worked. The document, from the beginning of history, began to have importance in the social scene because of the proof factor attributed to it. Le Goff states that "The Latin term documentum, derived from docere, 'teach', has evolved into the meaning of 'proof' and is widely used in the legislative vocabulary [...]”.

As for the ecclesiastical document, the Catholic Church holds important documentary sets, many of them deteriorated by time, and because they are mostly handwritten documents, require the researcher's knowledge in paleography and ecclesiastical language in order to have a better understanding of the transmitted message by the author of the text. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the Diplomatic was used along with the Palaeography to attest to the veracity of the information contained in the ancient documents of Santa Sé.

One can consider the ecclesiastical document as one of the most important cultural assets, among the vast archival documentary patrimony under the tutelage of the Church. The ecclesiastical document is the proof of the presence of the Church in the midst of the peoples, granting to this institution conditions for knowing oneself and making oneself known through the secular registers deposited in the archival funds (SANTOS, 2005). Thus,

The documentation kept in the archives of the Catholic Church is an immense and precious heritage. It is enough to consider the great number of archives that were formed after the presence and the activity of the bishops in the episcopal cities. Episcopal archives and parish archives should be mentioned among the oldest. These, in spite of the alternating historical vicissitudes, were in many cases increased with new documents concerning the modification of the institutional organization of the Church and the development of its pastoral and missionary action (VATICANO, 1997, p. 5).

Culturally, the Church has always had under its domain the documents generated in the civil, social and political sphere, when it accumulated functions of State. The informational value of the collection is well known. Prior to Decree 119-A of January 7, 1890, documentary production in Brazil was directly linked to the patronage regime.

[...] the documentary funds guarded in the dioceses created before the extinction of the patronage became an important complement to the sources of archival information of civil origin as these were not only expressions of the evangelizing mission in Brazil but also of the deep relations of favors between the civil and religious powers (SANTOS, 2007, p. 28).

The document allows the information to be perpetuated, since it is the combination of the support with the recorded information. The knowledge is transmitted by means of varied supports, being able to be: textual (manuscripts, typed or printed); iconographic images that use non-textual images such as signs and colors (maps, plans, drawings, photographs, slides, transparencies, microforms); that allow you to record and play any sound (discs, magnetic tapes, CDs and DVDs); audiovisuals, which combine moving image and sound (films, videotapes); and computer electronics (punch cards, magnetic tapes, diskettes and CDROMs).

The collection of the Archdiocese of Vitória is one of the strong elements of the Capixaba culture, in the conception of place, in which the Espirito Santo population can find expressive information of historical, social, religious, political and educational value. The documentary volume is praiseworthy from the point of view of citizenship and the cultural heritage left by the peoples who arrived here and the clerical society of the past centuries.

This was evident during the research carried out in loco, because,

Regarding the specific contents, the archives preserve the sources of the historical development of the ecclesial community and those related to the liturgical and sacramental, educational and assistance activity that clergymen, laity and members of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life accomplished for centuries, and continue to do so today. Not infrequently, the archives keep the documents on the institution of the works sponsored by them and those inherent in the juridical relations between the various communities, institutes and persons (VATICANO, 1997, p. 4).

CEDAVES is an essential tool to publicize the actions carried out by the Church in favor of the Espírito Santo society. The documentary collection covers a range of documentary typologies that are fundamental in the search for information in various social aspects that are not found in other archives.

3.1 The documentary typologies of CEDAVES

Documentary typology is the reflection of the administrative activities in public or private scope. Originally, documentary typologies had the legal purpose of proof, changing from the 14th century due to the new look of the administration on the documentary function of each typology, so other typologies were added to the archives, not only contracts and wills, but also the financial documents, the circular letters, among others.

According to the Brazilian Dictionary of Archival Terminology (2005, page 163), documentary typology is:

Division of documentary species [which] gathers documents by their common characteristics with respect to the diplomatic formula, content nature or registration technique. [...] documentary typologies, precatory letters, royal letters, patents, decrees without number, decrees-laws, legislative decrees, daguerreotypes, lithographs, serigraphs, woodcuts.

The documentary typology has close links with Diplomatics and Archives in documentary management in terms of classification, description and preservation, punctuating the declaration of complicity between the two areas. One can cite the considerations of Duranti and Macneil (1996), when they report that both the Archivology and the Diplomatic [...] "has in the archival document its main focus, since the Diplomatics looks at the archival documents as individual entities while the Archivology sees them as aggregations "(DURANTI; MACNEIL, 1996, p.46).

The documentary set of CEDAVES tells the trajectory of religious, faithful, blacks, Indians and immigrants, as well as the political, social and cultural construction of the Capixaba society through the documentary typologies mentioned below:

• Handwritten and typewritten documents: these are documents made by the bishops themselves handwritten or typed, letters, circulars, communiqués, ordinances; and total 10,182 documents. These documents are indexed in the "correspondence of the Bishops of the Espírito Santo", referring to the period from 1895 to 2006. 255 administrative handwritten books of the Metropolitan Curia (registry, provisions) are already digitized;

• Notary books: These are historical books of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where acts of bishops, brotherhoods, baptisms, marriages, deaths, accounting records, and the political situation of the State's past, such as Italian immigration, slaves and Indians, among others, are recorded. There are 935 copies (registry of baptism, marriage and death) digitized;

• Periodicals: Archdiocese's Journal since 1999 and the "Walk" Bulletin, since 1981. They are bound and used as a source of research to subsidize the publication of the booklet on Eucharistic celebrations entitled "Sunday". They correspond to 286 periodicals (newspapers, magazines, informative articles published by the Archdiocese, referring to the period from 1950 to 2016);

• Audio-visual documents: VHS tapes and cassettes containing speeches, event records, documentaries, etc., and catalogs on the history of the Church on slides;

• Maps and projects: architectural projects of the churches built in the State of Espírito Santo, accompanied by maps of the locality where they were built.

• Iconographic collection with photographs of various moments, political and social of the State that recalls the culture of the state of Espírito Santo: approximately twelve thousand copies, 6,000 of which are already digitized.

According to the studies by Valfré (2004, p. 5),

The Metropolitan Curia and other instances of the Archdiocese such as Mitra, the Pastoral Secretariat and the Archbishopric produce daily various types of documents, such as accounting, personnel, tax, as well as booklets, reports, books, posters, leaflets, folders, photos, episcopal documents, baptism register books, marriages and chrism, decrees, among others. Likewise, in its dependencies, objects of historical importance and estimation are stored for the Church of Victory. [...] The historical archive of the Metropolitan Curia, contains precious information for the history and culture of the Capixaba, considering the vast information on Italian immigration.

In general, the CEDAVES archive is composed of administrative and administrative books, correspondence, circulars, provisions and also manuscripts made by the bishops. The documentation center also accommodates bibliographical collections, periodicals that serve as a source to support the publication of the eucharistic celebration brochure, audiovisual documents, maps, projects and the iconographic collection that has photos of various moments of the Church's activity in the community.

3.2 The contribution of the ecclesiastical document to memory and citizenship

Memory is a research object of information professionals (archivists, librarians, historians, among others) because of the need to preserve it and disseminate it to generate knowledge that will be transformed into social and cultural benefits. "Memory is a glorious and admirable gift of nature, through which we revoke past things, embrace the present, and contemplate the future, thanks to its resemblance to the past" (LE GOFF, 2012, 433).

According to Santos (2005: 89), "since John Paul II, the Church began to adopt a policy of opening up its archives, using its assets, including the arts, libraries, archives and the media to transmit the Christian culture to the world.”. Santos (2007, p. 27) afirms:

In recent decades and for various reasons, interest in ecclesiastical archives has grown enormously. Among them is the emergence of the New History, which gave great importance to serial archival documents that would allow us to construct, from the analysis of the data extracted from the books of baptisms, marriages or deaths, an original, less biographical and more concerned story in portraying faceless figures of society. In addition, the opening of some documentary funds of the Vatican Secret Archives, [...] and to deal with the cultural assets of the Church, allowed access to previously unknown records.

According to Couto (2013), in the context of the Secret Archives of the Vatican, the word secretum has the meaning of a secret and secretary, translated into Latin for Arcivum Secretum Vaticanum. Therefore, it can be translated as Trust Files, which are used to remedy doubts regarding Church-related matters. There is a secret note in the information (sigils of simple documents), but they do not have a forbidden area, as the "conspirators" say, with details that would change the history of Christianity and humanity.

The Secret Archives of the Vatican have restrictions, but they can be consulted as well. CEDAVES has this same characteristic for sigils and ostensivity. In it, the consultants seek information that relates to their previous life in various social aspects, such as a copy of the baptism certificate, marriage, documents mentioning the living of whites, blacks and Indians, proof of retirement when requested, proof of membership in case of adoption. It is also worth noting that the majority of the public that attends CEDAVES is a descendant of the various immigrants who have contributed here in the State, predominantly the Italians tops the list of those interested in finding out about their ancestors; with the information, it is possible to recreate the genealogical tree of each immigrant. "The importance in this is to tell the story of a people who created the identity of the society of Espírito Santo. There are people and researchers who seek documents of slaves, slave marriages, Indian documents [...]” (VALFRÉ, 2004, p. 10).

The legacy of the Catholic Church for memory and citizenship is that the Church is a secular institution that is inserted in the daily life of various nationalities, having an important participation in the Brazilian scenario and contributing to the development of society in the social, educational, political, and economic aspects. In Espírito Santo, this institution acted in several historical moments of the population, guarding the documents produced by society, including in the dictatorial period. According to Arns (1985, p. 147),

The political transformation experienced by Brazil in the early 1960s, and especially in 1964, coincided with changes that the Catholic Church began to experience [...] in a sense of greater commitment to the marginalized sectors of the population and their longings for justice.

Some documents that record the memory of Espírito Santo are guarded in CEDAVES and due to the fragility of the supports they need special attention regarding preservation. The performed diagnosis promoted some conservative and preservative interventions that were concretized in the collection to minimize the action of the deteriorating agents that weaken these documents. Following is the report of the actions taken.

3.3 The preservation techniques of the ecclesiastical archives

In 2011, the in loco research was developed, of the physical situation of the documents. With the collaboration of the manager of CEDAVES, it was found that the applicable techniques in the archive are few, due to the limited resources made available by the Mitra administration.

Only the iconographic collection was sanitized and treated. The photos were stored with a non-alkaline base in a polyester foil wrapper, grouped in the appropriate steel cabinet and described according to the International Standard of Archival Description (ISAD-G), later available in the CEDAVES.

The next items to be treated will be the books, contemplated in another preservation/conservation extension project to be developed by the Department of Archives of UFES. After being sanitized, the books will be treated with anoxia (a technique that uses the absence of oxygen) to eliminate pests that compromise the physical structure of the supports. They will then be stored in appropriate boxes. The archival preservation techniques that will be used were learned in the course given by Ingrid Beck, in São Paulo.

In general terms, the stages of the archival preservation process used for the treatment of the iconographic collection of said documentation center were as follows:

• 1) Survey of the physical condition of the iconographic collection;

• 2) Selection of photos to receive the appropriate treatment to preserve the support;

• 3) Hygiene: cleaning of photos made with rubber powder and brush (ox ear hair). The pictorial layers were only hygienised with a brush;

• 4) The photos were stored in packaging made of alkaline paper and polyester film, then placed in steel cabinet drawers;

• 5) The photos will later be digitized and made available for access.

The techniques used to limit the process of documentary deterioration were as follows:

• a) Preservation: proactive procedure, whose objective is to propose care related to combat and deterioration of documents. It comprises a global policy from the administrative and financial aspects, to the scientific investigations on the constitution of the materials and the simplest sanitation measures. The actions pertaining to this subject were: training and preparation of manuals.

• b) Conservation: defined as a set of specific and preventive measures necessary to maintain the physical existence of documents. The following hygiene actions were carried out: removal of dirt in documents and boxes and disposal of waste or objects affixed to documents, such as markers, clips, staples, among others;

• c) Restoration: includes measures to repair damaged documents. As restorative measures, mention is made of: bonding loose sheets and covers, confection and insertion of hard covers, reinforcement of covers with adhesives, seams, among others.

Regarding pest control and other biological agents, Ogden et al. (2001, p.12) point out that:

Effective implementation of a pest control program requires routine monitoring of insect activities. Routine monitoring with traps provides information on the types and numbers of insects, their entry points, where they are sheltering, and what they are surviving on.

According to Beck (2006: 43), "preventive conservation is the attempt to anticipate loss; preventive conservation takes on managerial character, permeating document management and collection management”.

Because of the importance of CEDAVES as the owner of a collection, whose information refers not only to European immigrants who arrived in Espírito Santo at the beginning of the 19th century, but also to every society in the state of Espírito Santo, and that people are looking for information about their genealogical tree , the origin of their family, to define their offspring and obtain dual nationality, it is relevant that the documentary items where this information is contained have correct treatment to meet the demands, and when requested can be accessed quickly and safely.

The documents kept in CEDAVES are of ecclesiastical and societal interests, contributing to memory and testimony, a legacy of the Catholic Church for citizenship through administrative documents relating to the Catholic Church and civil documents.

Therefore, through the diagnosis carried out in CEDAVES, it was verified the importance that the preservation actions provide in guaranteeing a longer life span of the documents, thus facilitating the safeguarding, access and use of the different documentary typologies in the collection.

It is also evidenced that, even though there are intervening actions, in order to guarantee documentary preservation, these are not enough to guarantee excellence in the preservation process. It is necessary to adopt other procedures, techniques and archival methodologies, especially as regards documentary preservation, in order to ensure the integrity and longevity of ecclesiastical records.

4 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The research carried out at CEDAVES brought clarity to the understanding of the documentary richness contained in the collection belonging to the Archdiocese of Vitória, whose importance led us to discuss the need for a preservation policy according to the peculiarities of the archive.

The Catholic Church preserves in its domain a vast historical, artistic and cultural patrimony that cannot be lost by the action of the time. The importance of the complete preservation of the patrimonial set up by the Church must be considered, and CEDAVES had at its core the concern of preserving the ecclesial documentary sets existing in Espírito Santo, which are historical bearers of the societies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Before the implantation of CEDAVES in 2005, the documents were kept in a room with no criterion to preserve them. The documentation center, together with cultural partners, financed the preservation and conservation projects of the iconographic collections and the cartorial books. Although manuscript books have been contemplated in the project and have had hygienic procedures with anoxia, deteriorating agents such as termites, moths, and drills continue to act on books.

Regarding the preservation guidelines, it was necessary to institute the following actions: 1 - the creation of a policy of preservation through environmental control and hygiene of the collection, 2 - that the space contains PVC blinds and, 3 - if the physical environment is periodically cleaned.

After the research and the interview with the manager of CEDAVES, it was noticed the evolution of the process of treatment of the collections kept by the documentation center from 2005 to 2013, however, some norms and methods that contribute to maintain the adequate levels for conservation and preservation are still not satisfactory, since some documentary items have not yet received archival care and items already contemplated suffer from the recurrence of infestations. Still discussing the preservation of the ecclesiastical collections guarded by the institution, it is necessary to have a documental management policy integrated at all levels in accordance with the archival precepts, to ensure that documentary heritage can be a reference in the area of citizenship and social memory in the context of religious institutions.

Given this situation, it is recommended that the Documentation Center of the preservation policy elect the following principles and actions:

• Installation of fire detection and signaling systems; automatic sprinkler system; automatic fire doors; installation of walls and fire doors;

• Plan the control of the environment (temperature of 21ºC and relative air humidity (RH) of at least 30% and at most 50% for 24 hours a day);

• Do not use chemicals to clean the environment and the archives;

• To add and continue the preservation tasks that are being developed.

It was possible to verify that few studies have been done on the preservation of the ecclesiastical collection. By means of searches made in specialized websites and dissertations and theses, there was little material to theoretically support this study. This caused difficulties, because, no academic work was done to make a parameter between CEDAVES and other ecclesiastical documentation centers.

In view of this, it was found that there is a need for many interventions in the preservation of ecclesiastical collections, because the subject is still approached in a narrow way by managers and researchers. It is considered that this study will impel new research on this theme that is little explored, and that has much to contribute to the knowledge of the present and future generations, about the events/explanations experienced by the past generations.

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• OGDEN, Sherelyn; PRICE, Olco Lois; PREUSSER, Frank; VALENTI, Nieves. Emergências Com Pragas em Arquivos e Bibliotecas. 2ª ed. Rio de Janeiro: Projeto Conservação preventiva em Bibliotecas e Arquivos, 2001.
• RONDINELLI, Rosely Curi. Gerenciamento arquivístico de documentos eletrônicos. 4 ed. Rio de Janeiro. FGV, 2007.
• SANTOS, Cristian José Oliveira. Bibliotecas no Brasil: um olhar histórico. Revista Brasileira de Biblioteconomia e Documentação, Nova Série, São Paulo, v. 3, n. 1, p. 27-28, jan./jun. 2007. Disponível em: www.brapci.ufpr.br/download.php?dd0=18549. Acesso em: 5 abr. 2015.
• SANTOS, Cristian José Oliveira. Os arquivos das primeiras prelazias e dioceses brasileiras no contexto da legislação e práticas arquivísticas da Igreja Católica. 2005. 239f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Ciência da Informação) - Faculdade de Economia, Administração, Contabilidade e Ciência da Informação e Documentação, Universidade de Brasília, 2005. Disponível em: http://bd.camara.gov.br/bd/handle/bdcamara/2228?show=full Acesso em: 10 abr. 2015.
  » http://bd.camara.gov.br/bd/handle/bdcamara/2228?show=full
• TOGNOLI, Natália Bolfarini; FERREIRA, Elane Rodrigues da Silva. Os arquivos eclesiásticos e a arquivística brasileira: uma análise dos artigos publicados nos periódicos arquivísticos brasileiros. Revista Ágora, Florianópolis, v. 27, n. 54, p. 7-28, 2017. Disponível em: http://www.brapci.inf.br/index.php/article/view/0000023429/ 44190dcb112ea1ab5e54290bbddef507 Acesso em: 04 dez. 2018.
  » http://www.brapci.inf.br/index.php/article/view/0000023429/ 44190dcb112ea1ab5e54290bbddef507
• VALFRÉ, Giovanna Márcia e LOPES, Sérgio Murilo. Projeto: Centro de Documentação e Informação da Arquidiocese de Vitória. Vitória, 2004.
• VATICANO. Carta Circular A Função Pastoral dos Arquivos Eclesiásticos. (do original em italiano La Funzione Pastorale Degli Archivi Ecclesiastici). Cidade do Vaticano, 2 fev. 1997. Disponível em: http://www.ft.lisboa.ucp.pt/resources/Documentos/CEHR/ Gru/arquiv/CartaCircular.pdf Acesso em: 3 abr. 2015.
  » http://www.ft.lisboa.ucp.pt/resources/Documentos/CEHR/ Gru/arquiv/CartaCircular.pdf

• 1
  CEDAVES received this denomination due to the characteristic of the collection that has archival, bibliographical and museological documents constituting archives and collections, as well as having unique and multiple documents produced by several generating sources that are the 15 municipalities that cover the Archdiocese.
• 2
  Extension project developed along with the Course of Archivology, Federal University of Espírito Santo.
• 3
  Inaugurated in the 16th century, the São Francisco Convent is the second oldest Franciscan monument in Brazil. The Frontispiece was dropped on May 3, 1984.

• JITA:

  JH. Digital preservation.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  22 Mar 2024
• Date of issue
  2019

History

• Received
  13 July 2018
• Accepted
  13 Nov 2018
• Published
  18 Dec 2018