MARIGOT--Four agents from the Territorial Archives of St. Martin are to start professional immersion training courses on archiving at different districts in France and in Martinique.
Jean-Marc Hon, archives agent, in charge of archives processing and preventive conservation, will be welcomed at the Archives Départementales de la Côte-d'Or (Dijon). Audrey Claxton, in charge of educational workshops, will do her internship at the Gironde Departmental Archives (Bordeaux) and Eugène Carty, an archive agent in the collection and processing section, will join the team at the Creuse Departmental Archives (Guéret) in June.
In October, Estelle Bruchlen, archivist, assistant to the Director, will leave for the Departmental Archives of Martinique (Fort-de-France).
These professional immersion courses demonstrate the support of certain communities for the reconstruction of St. Martin. Through professional exchanges built during these training courses and the provision of accommodation by the reception structures, the expertise put at the disposal of St. Martin will permit the agents to benefit from the knowledge to reconstruct the Territorial Archives of St. Martin.
Hurricane Irma caused severe damage to the Territorial Archives and the Media Library in Concordia and its public reception areas. The Territorial Archives opened to the public on December 8, 2014. Because of the hurricanes, the traditional functioning of the Territorial Archives has been considerably modified.
The archives needed for the reconstruction of the territory have been relocated to a temporary building in St. Maarten. To date, the temporary premises are no longer able to accommodate the public. Solutions are currently under study. In order to take advantage of this complex study period and to continue educating the agents of Territorial Archives on the profession of archiving, it was decided to send four agents on the training courses in other public archive services.
President of the Collectivité Daniel Gibbs thanked the local authorities and public archive services in France for their support and reception of the four agents. It is thanks to the involvement of the departmental councils of the Côte-d'Or, Creuse, Gironde and the unique community of Martinique that these internships were made possible.
The President also thanked Stéphanie Dargaud, Director of Territorial Archives and Heritage, who initiated this project, as well as Paul Dollin, Director of Human Resources, and the Directors of the Archives Départementales d'Accueil.
