Guardians of the Nation’s Memory: the Fight against Illegal Trafficking of Documentary Heritage Guardianes de la memoria de la nación: El combate al tráfico ilícito de patrimonio documental

Abstract

The illegal traffic of historical documents from Peru has caused irreparable losses to the memory of our State and our society. For civil servants and political authorities, this loss limits the possibilities of learning from the lessons of the past and understanding the changes in the State apparatus and its relations with society. For citizens the damage is more serious, because it attacks the foundations of Peruvian identity. To face this problem, what is today called the Functional Unit of Records and Defense of the Documentary Heritage of the National Archive was formed. This case addresses the experience of the staff of this unit with the purpose of reassessing the work they do and knowing their main achievements and challenges, in an attempt to reflect the importance, but also the problems faced by the public and private archives in our country.