The Court’s collection is included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program

In November 2021, the BNP began the necessary procedures before the Secretariat of the UNESCO Memory of the World Program, so that the 30,693 glass plates of the Courret Collection are incorporated into its register.

In order to preserve and access the documentary heritage most relevant to the peoples of the world, 30,693 glass plates (negatives) from the Courret Collection (1864-1933), which is preserved and protected by the National Library of Peru (BNP), an entity attached to the Ministry of Culture (Mincul), has just it has been incorporated into the Memory of the World Program of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

This collection originates from the studio “Fotografia Central, E. Courret y Cía”, founded by the photographer Eugène Courret, and includes a valuable photographic heritage for the visual memory of Peru and the world, since its images allow us to reconstruct and visualize the social. scenarios of a specific period and lead to a better understanding of the changes that society experienced at that time.

Similarly, the Curia Collection is a primary source for the study of photography in Peru. The 30,693 glass plates constitute the unique material from which the reproductions (positives) were generated which are still surviving. They exhibit different forms and have importance, value and meaning, since they are the most complete photographic exhibition that exists in the country.

Experts have estimated its value to be inestimable. It is an example of the influence of European culture in Peruvian society inserted in the process of modernization of the global environment through aspects such as manners, music, cinema, migration and so on. In 1986, Franklin Pease, then director of BNP, managed its purchase, which was completed in 1987, when Juan Mejía Baca was in charge of BNP.

This collection originates from the studio “Fotografia Central, E. Courret y Cía”, founded by the photographer Eugène Courret, and includes a valuable photographic heritage for the visual memory of Peru and the world, since its images allow us to reconstruct and visualize the social. scenarios of a specific period and lead to a better understanding of the changes that society experienced at that time.

MUNICIPALITY, I HAVE A PENSION AND VISIBLE

BNP started in November 2021, due procedures before the Secretariat of the UNESCO Memory of the World Program, so that the 30,693 glass plates of the glass collection are incorporated into its register, which will help to protect, appreciate and make visible. relevance, such as public awareness of the importance of these documentary assets, which will contribute to the preservation, monitoring and digitization of the work.

Previously, the BNP, through the Directorate for the Protection of the Collection, according to institutional functions, evaluating these 30,693 glass plates from the Courret Collection, prepared a technical report and proposed that they be declared cultural heritage of the Nation. Mincul’s petition was filed to achieve its declaration in July 2021.

Various images of the Court Collection, as well as some of its history, can be found by entering the following links:
1. PHOTOGRAPHIC EFFECTS IN LIMA (1860-1930).

2. IMMIGRATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY

3. GLASS

Thus, the BNP confirms its role of national stewardship in terms of conservation, registration and identification of the nation’s bibliographic document heritage, and adds effort in its work to protect the Peruvian historical memory.

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