TOWARDS DIGITIZATION OF CHURCH ARCHIVAL MATERIALS IN INDIA

Abstract

It is often said that “People must know the past to understand the present and face the future”. This statement more particularly suits to the church archival materials which depict and reflect the church heritage. In this paper an attempt has been made to present an overview of church archival materials in India in general and the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore in particular. It is based on a questionnaire survey. The survey covered various church archives in India. It has been found that in almost all church archives in India the archival materials are not effectively stored and preserved. Therefore, keeping in view, the present state of affairs in the care and maintenance of church archival materials and with the available technology, it is proposed to go in for ‘digitization’ as a means of preservation of church archival materials. In this context, the concept of digitization and its advantages, the hardware and software required for digitization, and the processes have been explained. Further, the type of archival materials to be digitized has been specified. The paper, concluding that in view of the effectiveness of digitization as a means of preservation, urges that in this new millennium the church archives in India should go in for digitization.