Institut National de l'Audiovisuel
Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung
International Institute of Social History
Archivio audiovisivo del movimento operaio democratico
Archivio storico della Nuova sinistra "Marco Pezzi"
Centro di documentazione Mauro Rostagno
Sources for the history of '68
With these few lines we mean to give some general information for scholars and whoever else is interested in the study and historical understanding of the events that, concerning 1968, assumed importance in the more complicated matters of the European history of the second half of the century.
FRANCE
For France there is a catalogue of the sources which is the fruit of an important research work that was carried out at the beginning of the '90s and published in 1993 by the publishers Verdier, Mémoires de 68. Guide des sources d'une histoire à faire. The initiative was sponsored by the association "Mémoires de 68" and by the Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine of Nanterre.
Unfortunately it was not possible to establish a collaboration with the authors of the research for this data base; however we chose to reproduce electronically the text of the catalogue in order to render access to the information contained in it easier as this information is of fundamental importance for the study of the French social and student movements between the '60s and '70s.
As well as making the catalogue available to users we can also offer some brief information regarding three places which preserve documentation relative to '68.
As regards paper material numerous private collections have been given to the Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine of Nanterre.
For audio-visual sources, of particular interest is the material preserved in the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (Ina) and the Videotheque de Paris. Ina preserves the programmes of the television channels and of the public radio stations. La Vidéothèque de Paris (now Forum des images) contains about 6000 films which have Paris as their subject or background; for example a search on the data base of the video library with as its object "Mai 68" provided a list 86 films.
GERMANY
For the German movement, as well as the Archiv fur soziale Bewegung of Freiburg which collaborated in our data base project, there is another institute that possesses an important documentary collection: the Hamburger Institut für Sozialforschung. The Hamburg Institute possesses in particular a collection on "Protest, Resistance, and Utopia in the Federal Republic of Germany".
NETHERLANDS
The International Institute of Social History of Amsterdam is also in possession of a considerable documentary collection.
The Amsterdam Institute is one of the important European archives of social history, the history of the workers' movement and that of the anarchical movement; among the numerous archives of people and organizations preserved we would point out, with regard to '68, the following collections: Internationale Situationniste; Paris, Mouvement mai-juin 1968; French Student Movement - Michel Renard; René Vienet; Student Activity at the University of Birmingham; Provo (to this collection others from Provo militants such as Henk Langhout, Jan Kolthek, Gerard Esser should be added); Students for a Democratic Society; Medisch Comité Nederland-Vietnam.
ITALY
For Italy an action similar to that of France is in the course of being implemented, funded by the Central Office for archival patrimonies, which will produce by the end of the year 2000 a Guide to the sources for the season of the movements.
In the meantime we can indicate some of the institutes and documentation centres that are in possession of large documentary collections, other than the two (the Istituto romano per la storia d'Italia dal fascismo alla Resistenza and the Istituto Piero Gobetti of Turin) who participated in the data base project.
Archivio audiovisivo del movimento operaio democratico (Aamod) (Rome)
Centro di documentazione (Pistoia)
Archivio storico della Nuova sinistra "Marco Pezzi" (Bologna)
Centro di documentazione Mauro Rostagno (Trent)
Centro di documentazione (Lucca)
Biblioteca Franco Serantini (Pise)
Istituto Gramsci dell'Emilia Romagna (Bologne)
Fondazione Vera Nocentini (Turin)
La Fondazione Micheletti (Brescia)
SPAIN
For Spain it is possible to give some rapid indications in regard to the following institutions which have documentation relative to 1968 and the '70s.
Archivio Històrico del PCE (Madrid)
Fundaciòn Primero de Mayo
Fundaciòn de estudios libertarios Anselmo Lorenzo
Fundaciòn Pablo Iglesias
and of the European social and youth movements
in the '60s and '70s
The data bases that we offer navigators were created with the collaboration of a small number of the institutes that in Europe preserve documentation on those years; as can be easily understood, to manage to put together all the places that preserve the memory of '68 is a practically impossible task, not only for economic reasons but also and above all due to the complexity and difference in the systems of storing.
Faced with the impossibility of forming an archival data base containing most of the documentation existing in Europe on 1968, we did however decide to provide some information on the situation of the European archives – both in paper and audio-visual - which we know about, offering a rapid description of the documentary collections and, where a site on Internet exists, the electronic address of the centres containing the documentation in which it is possible to obtain further information.
The Archive preserves a considerable quantity of audio-visual and photographic documentation on 1968 and more generally on the social movements of the '60s and '70s in Italy and in the world. As regards 1968 in particular we can indicate self-produced documents from the movements (the "Cinegiornali del Movimento studentesco", the French "Cinetract" and the American "News Reels" ), documentaries made by cinema companies of the party (in particular by the Unitelefilm, linked to the Italian Communist Party), experiments of independent authors (such as Della conoscenza by Alessandra Bocchetti, Seize the time by Antonello Branca, etc.), artistic films with clear references to the experiences of the protests.
This is one of the "historical" places for the preservation of the documentation regarding the events of the social movements in Italy. Founded in 1969 it has a considerable library collection (about 25,000 books), a well-endowed newspaper and periodicals library (about 5,000 headings) and numerous archival materials (flyers, documents, posters) partially arranged and catalogued.
The archive was founded after the death of Marco Pezzi, militant of Avanguardia operaia and later of Democrazia proletaria, starting from the considerable volume of documents collected and preserved by Pezzi during the years of his political militancy. It includes, as well as the Pezzi collection, numerous other personal archives, that of the Parliamentary group of the Parliamentary democracy and the photographical archive of the "Quotidiano dei lavoratori". The collections are in order and may be consulted.
Founded at the end of the '80s, after the death, at the hands of the Mafia, of Rostagno, one of the leaders of the student movement in '68 in Trent and later director of the organization Lotta continua, organizer of a community for the recovery of drug addicts. The centre, which forms part of the Historical Museum in Trent, one of the institutes of the national network of institutes of the resistance, is in possession of numerous collections of persons and organizations which document not only the experience of the student movement of Trent and of the political organizations of the new left in that area, but more generally some aspects of Catholic dissent, of anti-militarism and of environmentalism.
Founded in 1973 it has an outstanding library and magazine and newspaper collection on the social movements of the '60s and '70s, as well as a documentary collection that contains documents which above all regard Lucca and its province.
The Library, as well as its patrimony in books and newspapers and magazines, also possesses important archival collections especially regarding the area of Tuscany..
The Institute, which since 1998 has been established as an ONLUS (Non-profit organization of social utility) forms part of the national network of the Gramsci Institutes, among the most important centres of collection of documentation and historiographical elaboration on the national scene. The Gramsci of the Emilia region has in recent years opened a line of intervention in regard to the social and political movements of the '60s and '70s. It currently contains documentation on the situation of students and workers above all in the area of Emilia.
The Foundation is a member of the network of the historical archives of the CISL trade union organization; the archive contains, as well as material on the CISL of Turin, some particularly interesting personal collections of militants of the Turin student movement.
The Foundation has some personal collections, regarding above all the events of the student movement and of the groups of the new left of the Lombardy area.
The archive of the Spanish Communist Party has above all material relative to the history of the party and documentation on various anti-Francoist organizations.
The Foundation possesses the historical archive of the Comisiones Obreras.
The Foundation possesses documentation on the Spanish anarchist movement.
The Foundation preserves the archives of the Spanish Socialist Party and of its youth Federation.
