Good and bad news from the Archives nationales, Paris

In my post for 18 March I mentioned that the records for the United Nations International Refugee Organisation (IRO) have been transferred to the French national archives, the Archives nationales in Paris (see The UNHCR Archives and Records Section responds). The Archives nationales in Paris has confirmed that there are records, however, the news is a mixed blessing as neither the records or the finding aids are available online.

This is the text of the reply from the Archives nationales, Paris - Service de la Recherche a écrit :

Dear Mr. N ... ,
In response to your e-mail of April 12th, I inform you that the Archives nationales-site de Paris [does] keep in AJ 43 (O.I.R.) records concerning camps for refugees in Italy (Bari and Bagnoli).
-AJ/43/140 : in particular, a study by J. Barth, historian, about Bagnoli's camp, and refugees in Trieste and Veneto region ;
-AJ/43/1036 : in particular, people arrested by [the] Italian police displaced to the transit camp in Bari, January 1948 ;
-AJ/43/1040 : competitive sport in Bagnoli's camp, September 1950.

Unfortunately, neither the finding aid for AJ 43, nor the records are available on line.

Yours sincerely.
Thierry Pin

In French the IRO is known as the Organisation Internationale pour les Rėfugiės (OIR).

So, in fact, to make any headway on this path I will have to go to Paris in person! I can't say I am much surprised. And I am uncertain from Mr. Pin's reply that they have the records I need. The question is not going, that's easy, but the issue is to make the visit worthwhile from the point of view of research - if I forget something later it's not as if I can just drop in casually again the week after I come home. In conclusion, Constant Reader, I am quickly finding out that there is only so much one can do through the Internet from the other side of the world.

Photographs of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst in the National Archives of Australia (Part 2)

A continuation of my earlier post of the camp and its residents in 1950 and 1951. In the first post you will find the images I have labeled as 1-6. A brief discussion is found in the first post.

Image 7: Portrait in progress, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/33; barcode: 7427682)

Image 8: Paintings & art work (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/25; barcode: 7427674)

Image 9: Crèche storytelling with Aboriginal mural, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/27; barcode: 7427676)

Image 10: Ukraine woman displays clothing at New Australian's Handicrafts exhibition at Bathurst - CU1247-5, 1950 (NAA A8139, Volume 8, CU1247-5; barcode: 8286606)

Image 11: New Australians stage Tosca at Bathurst migrant centre - CU1250-1, 1950 (NAA A8139, Volume 8, CU1250-1; barcode: 8286616)

Image 12: Bathurst Camp Post Office, 1951 (NAA C4076, C4076/1, HN6013 part B; Barcode: 3037290)

Image 13: Bathurst Camp Post Office, 1951 (NAA C4076, C4076/1, HN6013 part A; barcode: 3037289)

For details of NAA series A12111 (see, part 1 of this post). The originals photographs for images 10 and 11 are from NAA series A8139, Photograph albums of prints in 'L' series and 'CU' series [produced by the Australian News and Information Bureau, Canberra]. The originals for images 12 and 13 are in NAA series C4076, Photographic negatives, single number series with HN (Historical, New South Wales) prefix [produced by the Postmaster-General's Department, State Administration, New South Wales].

Images: © Commonwealth of Australia, 1950 and 1951.

Photographs of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst in the National Archives of Australia (Part 1)

Constant Reader, I am attempting, as I have said several times, to locate evidence of my dad through the trail of records; to that end I have been interrogating the records database at the National Archives of Australia (NAA). I am looking for any and all records of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst and I have found a series of photographs (part of NAA series A8139, A12111 & C4076) of the camp and its residents from 1950 and 1951.

The photographs, which are quite formal, were most likely taken for publicity purposes and give some indication of the spartan nature of the place (the site and all the buildings were ex-Army and so were light on creature comforts) and of the life there for the "New Australians" as they were often called at the time. Its also useful to remember that a person's stay here was always intended to be short - long enough to learn basic Australian English, some basic skills, and to acclimatise to the new country and its people.

Image 1: Children at gate, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/26; barcode: 7427675).

Image 2: Family room, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/29; barcode: 7427678).

Image 3: English class, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/34; barcode: 7427683)

Image 4: Carpenters at work, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/32; barcode: 7427681)

Image 5: Children at play in front of Centre, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/31; barcode: 7427680)

Image 6: Family walk, accommodation in back, 1951 (NAA A12111, 1/1951/22/30; barcode: 7427679)

These image and associated information are viewable through the NAA database,see the link at the top of this post. The image captions are taken from the NAA record for the photograph. The originals are part of NAA series A12111, Immigration Photographic Archive 1946 - Today.

Images: © Commonwealth of Australia, 1950 and 1951.

The UNHCR Archives and Records Section responds

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has responded to my latest email regarding the location, and access to the records of United Nations International Refugee Organisation (IRO). In the latest attempt I directed my inquiry to the Archives section of the UNHCR, rather than to the organisation in general, and the Archives section replied within 12 hours! The answer:

Dear Peter N ...,

The records of the International Refugee Organization (IRO) were placed in the Archives Nationales de France in Paris when the agency closed in 1951 (Fonds AJ 43). More information may be found by addressing a request to the Archives Nationales, 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 75141 Paris, FRANCE http://www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/chan/

Kind regards

Montserrat Canela,

Senior Archivist

UNHCR Records and Archives Section

94, rue de Montbrilland

1202 Geneva, Switzerland"

The answer shows that logic does not always apply when dealing with organisations, I had the thought that my previous emails would be sent on to the appropriate officer in UNHCR; I was wrong. My general inquiries to the UNHCR resulted in no replies, whereas, my question sent specifically to their archives people merited an answer; fit your question to a particular part of the target organisation and you are more likely to get an answer! The other piece of logic that did not work was the idea that the UNHCR would inherit and retain the files of its predecessor organisation, the IRO.

Now for a short (Internet) trip to Paris.