Promoting Archives and Research: A Study in International Cooperation

The establishment of the International Council on Archives (ICA) in 1950 made it possible for Unesco to undertake, on a global scale, a number of activities to promote greater accessibility and more effective use of archives and development of the archival infrastructure of its member states, particularly in the developing countries. Close cooperation with ICA also enabled Unesco to initiate in 1979 a comprehensive long-term Records and Archives Management Program (RAMP), which further broadened this program to include development of the archival profession itself. This article details the results of Unesco-ICA cooperation, largely through publications, in two significant areas of the overall program, research in archives and archival research.