EAP764: Preserving the memory of the colonial past in Dogon country. A survey of historical collections of the endangered archives of Bandiagara

Dr Fabrizio Magnani, Sapienza - Università degli Studi di Roma 2014 award - Pilot project £9,004 for 4 months

A survey report was produced, providing details of the scope and outcome of the project followed by the history and management of the archives of the Cercle of Bandiagara. The report includes an assessment of the condition of the collection and the process undertaken for improved storage for the material. There is also a section on the digitisation carried out as part of the pilot project and the equipment specifications. There are three appendixes: computer and software specifications, classification scheme for the Closed Fonds, produced during the French colonial rule in Mali (1897-1960) and the inventory of the entire archive. Further Information Read more about the project or contact the EAP team: endangeredarchives@bl.uk

Endangered Archives Programme

Pilot Project EAP764

Preserving the Memory of the Colonial Past in Dogon

Country. A Survey of the Historical Collection of the

Endangered Archives of Bandiagara

Fabrizio Magnani

December 2014 – April 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For the implementation of this project I benefited from the support of various people. I wish to

thank Professor Laura Faranda who since 2005 has been concerned with the conditions of the

archives of the Cercle of Bandiagara and introduced me in a project of rehabilitation of its historical

and administrative heritage. She provided guidance at different stages of this project, while the

Department of “Storia, Culture, Religioni” of the University of Rome, host institution of the project,

supported me by administering the research grant. I am also very thankful to the Prefecture of

Bandiagara and to all staff involved in this pilot project. I found a willingness and a commitment

almost unexpected, well beyond what had been envisaged in the planning of the project, which

demonstrates the quality of the staff members and their engagement in the preservation of the

Archives of Bandiagara. This study could not have been possible without the support and

participation of each of them.

I want to thank the National Archives of Bandiagara, the Director Aly Ongoïba and Mr. Timothée

Saye, from whom I got valuable information and advice. I hope that this will foster a greater

collaboration for a future Major Project.

Finally, special thanks go to the members of Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) for providing

not only financial support, but also precious advise to orientate and implement this project. It is

largely due to their commitment to the protection of endangered archives that the historical heritage

of Bandiagara can now have an opportunity of patrimonialization and accessibility.

Fabrizio Magnani

4

Scope

This report describes an Endangered Archives Programme pilot project that was undertaken at

Bandiagara between December 2014 and April 2015.

The project sought to survey the integrity and the value of the documentary heritage located in the

archive of the Prefecture of Bandiagara (Mali), in order to preserve a collection of historical and

anthropological relevance about the early decades of French colonialism in the region. This archival

material is related to the wide area of the Cercle, an administrative unit introduced in 1903 by the

French that came to encompass a territory reaching up to Burkina Faso1. The aim of this pilot

project was thus been to identify the most endangered and valuable series of the collection, to

proceed with a trial digitisation of selected material, and to assess the feasibility of a potential

Major Project for the preservation of this historical and administrative heritage of Bandiagara. This

could be of extraordinary value, being the collection the only written source in a region, the Dogon

country, rich in oral traditions. Partially survived to the collapse of previous archival home, the

collection of the Cercle of Bandiagara provides a precious insight into many aspects of local pre-

modern life and traditions, in their delicate interaction with the colonial power.

Project Outcome

This project has been successful in achieving a deeper knowledge of the Archives of the Cercle of

Bandiagara and a more precise definition of its documentary heritage and consistency.

a. Closer relationship with National Archives of Mali (Bamako) established, to prefigure a future

collaboration and the necessary measures for a possible Major Project of preservation and

digitisation of the historical collection of the Cercle of Bandiagara;

b. most of the historical collection identified;

c. most of the endangered material now shelved and better preserved into some acid-free archival

storage boxes;

d. new repositories found (currently inaccessible);

1 The urban commune of Bandiagara, whose foundations date back to the second half of 1700, is 65 km east-southeast

of Mopti and is still the capital of the Dogon country, an area of extraordinary cultural interest, included in the

UNESCO World Heritage list.

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e. digital copies of 4 manuscript volumes of “Judicial Records” [1912-1920], 2 files relating to

“Muslim Affairs” [1929-1957], 2 files relating to Annual Political Reports.

The digital surrogates have been deposited in:

i. the Archive of the Cercle of Bandiagara (Prefecture of Bandiagara);

ii. Sapienza University of Rome (Dipartimento Storia, Culture, Religioni – Laboratorio di

Antropologia delle Immagini e dei Suoni “Diego Carpitella”);

iii. the British Library.

The Archives of the Cercle of Bandiagara:

History and Management

The Prefecture of Bandiagara currently hosts the Archives of the Cercle. Cercles are administrative

and territorial units that make up the different regions of Mali. Established in the colonial era, they

were divided into cantons which gathered different villages under the responsibility of a chief

designated by the French authorities, often referring to the “traditional” frameworks of power, not

without ambiguity and conflicts. The Cercle of Bandiagara, created in 1903, came to encompass a

large territory reaching up to Burkina Faso.

The documentary heritage of the archive has thus been created to document and guide the

administrative activities and has been housed until 1997 in the ancient prefectural palace that was

seat of different officials that succeeded to the command of the Cercle.

An archive box gathers documents of an internal correspondence (dating 1996-1997) in which an

archivist complained about the risks of an archive subjected to repeated thefts of great historical and

social importance, and the difficulties that threatened to undermine the story a whole community. A

document drawn up on October 1, 1997 shows that the collapse of the archives has already occurred

under the weight of winter precipitation. The documents were left unattended under the rubble and

only in 2000 - according to the statement of a general secretary of the prefecture - they were pulled

out and placed temporarily in some repositories, stacked without any criteria in the few available

shelves or directly on the floor.

Here, they were discovered in 2005 by a delegation from the University of Rome and by the

voluntary association ORISS. A rescue project began, with the transfer of records in two adjacent

rooms of the prefecture and a first attempt to quantify and identify the archival material.

6

Previous Studies

A previous project of rehabilitation of the Archives of the Cercle of Bandiagara was undertaken

through a collaboration agreement between the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Department of

“Studi Glottoantropologici e Discipline musicali”) and the voluntary association ORISS

(Interdisciplinary Organization for Development and Health), with a joint effort aimed at the

protection and accessibility of the historical and cultural heritage of the plateau of Bandiagara.

It was born as a corollary of another project aimed to research on the processes of recent literacy of

some dogon villages of Mali. Visiting the Prefecture of the city, a research group coordinated by

Professor Laura Faranda, had realized the preciousness and the irreparable fate of documents piled

in some inaccessible rooms, the possible remains of a colonial archive and a forgotten source of

local history2. Thanks to a small grant from Sapienza University of Rome, it was possible to restore

two rooms of the Prefecture as archival repositories, providing them with shelves and some

equipment required for the conservation, and ensuring a short training for an aspirant archivist, Mr.

Ogotembelou Tembely3. Before its discontinuation in 2011, this project had allowed to reorganize

part of the archival material and to undertake an initial investigation. It was possible to detect the

occurrence of typical documents of colonial administrative system: correspondence (telegrams,

radio messages, letters, confidential), marital status (certificates of birth, death and marriage),

reports about several cantons; judicial records, censuses, circulars, decrees and official newspapers.

Mr. Tembely did a long and hard work of reorganization. On the one hand some storage boxes

followed the naming convention of a previous classification system, on the other most of the

records were scattered and devoid of any classification order.

As for the latter, in the absence of other references, they were initially divided by five-year periods

and then subjected to a more thorough check for type and content of documents4. The documents

2 I myself took part in the first visit of the archives. Besides me, among the professors and scholars who over the years

have been involved in research missions in Mali and in the rehabilitation of the archive of Bandiagara let me remind

you: the professors Laura Faranda (coordinator of the project), M. Luigi Lombardi Satriani, Alberto Sobrero and Mauro

Geraci, and the scholars Dario Altobelli, Lorenzo Coppo, Marco Salustri and Cristiano Tallè, supported and assisted by

the researchers Piero Coppo and Lelia Pisani (members of ORISS).

3 For more details about the launch and the workflows of this project, see L. Faranda, Gli Archivi del Cercle. Tra

memoria coloniale e storia locale, «Voci» (semestrale di Scienze Umane), year V, january-december. About the very

first investigations of the archival material of the Cercle of Bandiagara, see F. Magnani, Custodi del tempo. Archivi,

storie, memorie del Pays Dogon (Mali), L'Harmattan Italia, Torino 2012 and L. Faranda, I funerali dogon di Marcel

Griaule: un dossier inedito negli Archivi del Cercle di Bandiagara (Mali), «Voci. Annuale di Scienze Umane», year IX

(2012), pp. 293-315. 4 Although questionable in terms of archival best practice, the method adopted resulted in two positive effects: in the

first place it permitted the rescue of much material piled on the ground or packed into some cardboard boxes, thus

giving a provisional arrangement; in the second place it allowed the archivist to gain a general knowledge of the archive

and of its content.

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were filed in folders and sorted on the shelves, temporarily assigning to each an identifier

corresponding to a shelf mark reference (e.g. A1-1 corresponds to bay unit A, shelf no. 1, position

no. 1).

As for the set of storage boxes with alphanumeric titling, attempts were made to verify the

correspondence with an inventory prepared by the Opération Lecture Publique of Mali5 that was

found in 2007. This intervention in the archive, dating back to the period between July and

December of 1995, is said to have been made on commission of a French tourist, who had decided

to promote a first reorganization of the archival material after finding out that his father had been

one of the commanders of the Cercle6.

This inventory (probably partial) and the reorganization activity followed the classification scheme

currently used by the National Archives of Bamako (for more details see Appendix 2), although it

remains to conduct a deep examination of consistency and of current location of the material.

Among the approximately 50 linear meters of which consists the archive, the documents classified

in these storage boxes are just over 6. A thorough check remained hard to do. Despite all measures

taken, most of this archival material still remained unexplored and inaccessible, inadequate storage

conditions persisting along with the weakness of a cataloguing system compromised by the collapse

of the old palace of the archive.

The rehabilitation activities, which also had started a trial digitisation of a small sample selection of

the archival material, stopped in 2011 just before the Mali civil war with a new threat of destruction

for the malian archives7.

5 O.L.P., Opération Lecture Publique of Mali, is an important network of libraries and archives, born in 1977 as a result

of a cooperation agreement between France and Mali and based on a decentralized operating model. 6 Besides this archival boxes, the activity of O.L.P remains documented by a substantial number of inventory cards and

by 4 handwritten lists of the inventory. 7 Unfortunately, these copies does not conform to archival standards. They were created only for initial evaluation

purposes.

8

Archive Conditions and Risks

The Archive of the Cercle occupy two rooms of the Prefecture of Bandiagara at the edge of the city,

not far from a seasonal river which in the past caused some flooding in the city. Its collection is not

publicly accessible. Although a visitor may ask the archivist for consulting a record, this request

would be almost completely unmanageable by the staff8. The archive lacks human and financial

wherewithal. Today, Mr. Coulibaly is solely responsible for the archive, without appropriate

professional recognition. Two adjacent rooms of the Prefecture of Bandiagara house the archives.

The first room, which gives access to the archive, measuring 4.5 meters x 3.2 meters, while the

second one measuring 4.0 meters x 3.2 meters. Both rooms are 3.2 meters high. Both are equipped

with fluorescent lamps, ceiling fans, louvred windows.

The electrical system is poor. Brownouts and power surges and spikes sometimes occur. There are

no fire extinguishers, smoke detectors or alarm. There is not even an air-conditioning system and

documents are exposed to dust and harsh environments. During the project, the average temperature

inside the two rooms was between 26 and 31 degrees, in a season of the year which is not the

warmest.

The archive is sometimes visited by rodents but the principal threat comes from termites, whose

activity are widely present on the walls and shelves and faced with the basic measure of occasional

cleaning.

Clearly, these conditions are not conducive to the long-term preservation of historical documents.

Furthermore, the Archive suffers from being too small. The shelves are filled to capacity and as a

result some documents are placed directly on the floor.

All documents stored in the archive have been produced since the colonial period up to the present

day. According to the classification scheme and the guidelines in use at the National Archives of

Bamako, the archival material should be divided in two collections: the “closed fonds” (covering

the period before the independence of Mali in 1960) and open fonds (after that date)- This

separation is not actually maintained and it often happens to find the oldest records along with other

more recent ones.

The first room is fitted with five built-in wooden shelves, divided into four bays. They host some

series and files collected in old archive boxes, some of which comply with a national classification

8 The project contributed to the professional development of local staff. The survey and inventory have helped to

rescue many documents and today the archivist is able to carry out their retrieval.

9

system for the colonial fonds (see above), others gather documents relating to civil status, others

simply collect together loose material. Other boxes and volumes are piled on the floor. Despite the

narrow dimensions of the room, there are also a metal cabinet and two small tables.

Although the damaging of some wooden shelves of the first room has made it necessary to replace

some of its parts, it is mainly in the second repository that a reorganisation process has become of

fundamental importance for carrying out the survey. A door in the first archival room leads into the

second repository where, at the end of the previous intervention led by Sapienza - University of

Rome, 7 bays of built-in wooden shelves occupied two walls of the room, hosting documents

rescued during that project and filed in several folders. Unexpectedly, at the beginning of this pilot

project we found this room in very poor conditions.

Termites had attacked most of the wooden shelves and finally their collapse had partly

compromised the earlier classification, resulting in the inevitable loss or misplacement of the

historical records, already damaged and rendered brittle by the collapse in 1997 of the ancient

palace that hosted them.

The project staff did an extraordinary work to rearrange the room and the archival material. The

shelves of one wall have been completely removed and replaced with new metal ones purchased

thanks to EAP funding, while the rest of the damaged shelves has been properly repaired.

Outside the archival rooms, some documents are crammed into two rooms and even in a no longer

used toilet. These documents, currently inaccessible, are completely devoid of any care and

protection and rather deteriorated (see below).

10

Project Staff

In addition to the principal applicant of the project, the local working group was composed of three

employees of the Prefecture:

• Mr. Drissa Coulibaly. He has the role of “Régisseur” at the Prefecture of Bandiagara. After

attending a small training course at the National Archives of Bamako (Mali), he takes care of the

Archive of the Cercle of Bandiagara and has been involved in all activities of the project:

document retrieval; reorganization and cataloguing of documents (taking into account the

classification scheme used by the National Archives of Mali); creation of digital copies. In

addition, he played an important role managing the permissions required to carry out the project.

His commitment throughout project duration fostered the adoption of sustainable work practices

and it was also necessary to evaluate the appropriate measures for a future Major Project in the

Archives of Bandiagara.

• Mr. Adama Ouologuem, sentry of the Cercle of Bandiagara, had already helped the archivist in

the cataloguing of open fonds (relating to civil status). He was involved in the rescue and

reorganization of archival material. As the team's oldest person, he was also useful in interpreting

some passages of the documents.

• Michel Dolo, public administration intern. He had to offer a little help in the project activities, but

his involvement was extraordinary and of great quality. Thanks to his training in law he has also

been able to offer some helpful advice for the treatment of copyright issues.

11

12

13

Project Implementation

Based on a previous fieldwork research in the Dogon country, this project has been carried out with

the full cooperation of the Prefecture of Bandiagara, even more sensitive to the urgency of

safeguarding ancient fonds, as a result of a new vulnerability induced by the political, social and

religious events recently occurred in Mali. At the beginning of the project, some malian archives

had already been a target of rebels’ attacks, leading to the loss of some historical heritages.

This specific situation and the rebels’ presence in some areas has certainly not facilitated the work

and required adopting special precautions and limiting the movements within the national territory.

Moreover, the almost complete absence of Internet connection at Bandiagara has also made not

easy the necessary email exchange to implement the project.

That said, the following activities have been undertaken and allowed us to achieve the specific

outcomes of the project:

• meetings at the National Archives of Mali (Bamako);

• brief training for the project implementation team;

• replacement of some damaged wooden shelves with new metal shelving;

• extraordinary cleaning of the archive rooms;

• rearrangement of archival material on shelves and accommodation of new identified records;

• survey of the two repositories and check of the consistency of the archival material, through

cross-checking with inventories produced during previous interventions in the archive;

• reconstitution of the original integrity of some disbound volumes, scattered series and files;

• clarification of copyright issues with the Prefect of Bandiagara;

• digitisation activity and production of digital surrogates;

• project closure at Bandiagara and new contacts at National Archives of Mali (Bamako)

More in details:

• before arriving in Bandiagara, a visit to the National Archives of Bamako was organized to

inform the institution about the upcoming launch of the project and to get possible advice, clarify

14

certain legal issues and get future cooperation9. Informal discussions have been initiated with Mr.

Aly Ongoïba, director of the National Archives10

and Mr. Timothée Saye. They were very

interested in the project and its future developments, claiming to be willing to offer their

involvement and training support for a potential Major Project. Due to their willingness I could

gather valuable legislative and statutory texts in the field of archives and of malian classification

procedures.

• To get started at the Prefecture of Bandiagara, a kick off meeting with the Prefect and the project

staff has been held to launch the project and focus on its goals and workflows. A three days

training has been necessary to plan the activities and for orientate the tasks of all staff involved in

the project.

• As it has been said, we found the archive in very poor conditions. Termites had attacked most of

the wooden shelves and damaged many documents, thwarting the previous classification.

Restoring the shelving and making the archive accessible again were priorities needed to start

working. Part of the archive material has been gently dusted and temporarily stored in some boxes

trying to take account of the previous order and transferred to another room waiting to be

rearranged again in the archive. Extraordinary cleaning of the archive rooms was also undertaken

to fully implement the work in such a harsh environment.

• New metal shelving has been purchased to replace the built-in wooden shelves that occupied one

wall of the second repository of the Archive. The other ones have been repaired, thanks to the

intervention of a carpenter of the city.

• A hard work has thus been carried out to reorganize documents on new shelves (including the

metal shelving purchased thanks to EAP funding) and rescue most of the relevant series that we

had already identified for the digital copying. This long and delicate process has been useful not

only to better preserve the archival material, but also to sift through a lot of historical records and

operate a separation between open fonds and closed fonds, allocating to each of them one of the

two archival rooms. This was not always possible, being some records very scattered and mixed.

Anyway, this step has also been an opportunity for all staff to get familiarized with the contents of

records and allowed us to seek to rebuild the integrity of a few volumes, often missing several

pages.

9 The National Archives of Mali have the mission to develop national policy on archives and to ensure the coordination

of its implementation. It is also responsible for promoting the cultural and educational value of the archives and

facilitate access of users and scientific research. (see Article 2 of Order No. 041/P-RM of 27 March 2002 - Republic of

Mali). 10

Mr. Ongoïba is now retired. The current Director of the Archives is Mr. Seydou Diabate.

15

• Furthermore, new documents have been discovered within another room of the Prefecture, piled

on the floor or compressed in some cabinets and even in a no longer used toilet. These rooms

contain loose and miscellaneous documents, some of which dating back to colonial times and in

critical condition. They are largely unattainable because of furniture and other obstacles

obstructing the passage, but few of the relevant records we have been able to identify, have been

transferred in the two repositories of the archive.

• A survey of the two repositories has been undertaken along with a check of the consistency of the

archival material, through cross-checking with inventories produced during previous interventions

in the archive (see above, Previous Studies). Hand-written index cards have been used with some

essential data: Classification Code (O.L.P.), Title/Subject, Start Date, End Date, Shelf-mark,

Document Type, Condition, Notes.

• It was immediately discussed with the Prefect of Bandiagara how to deal with some copyright

issues. According to the national legal framework of archives:

«Les documents conservés par la Direction Nationale des Archives du Mali et les archives des

collectivités territoriales, lorsqu’ils ont trente ans, sont librement communicables, exception faite:

- des documents intéressant la sûreté de l’Etat, la défense nationale ou mettant en cause le vie privée

des citoyens;

- des documents en état de détérioration avancée, en très mauvais état de conservation ou

d’insécurité; des documents fiscaux, domaniaux, commerciaux et politiques concernant les

contentieux non réglés qui intéressent l’Etat, les dommages de guerre, les négociations financières,

monétaires, commerciales avec l’étranger d’une part, les dossiers médicaux, d’état civil, comptes

rendus de jugements, les rapports et fiches de renseignements à caractère nominal mettant en cause

la vie privée d’autre part, dont le délai de communication est porté à soixante (60) ans ou plus

suivant les cas»11

.

Ultimately, the final decision regarding the accessibility and copyright of documents is under the

responsibility of the institutional structure in charge of the archive. In this case it was necessary

an express permission of the Prefecture of Bandiagara. The Prefect was very sensitive to the issue

of preservation of documents, but at the same time he held in high regard the risk of publishing

files that are related to land claims. The Prefect explicitly demanded not to make them public

through the on-line access, although some of these records are historically among the most

interesting and often in serious danger of destruction. In view of this, some of them have been

placed on new metal shelving and stored in acid-free boxes for protection against the rapid

deterioration process. Finally, the Prefect has granted the right to publish online any historical

document except for judicial records directly related to “Land Affairs”, which means that we had

to put greater caution when surveying archival material and producing the digital copies for this

11

See Article 22 of Decree No. 424/P-RM of 09 July 2002 - Republic of Mali).

16

EAP project. Furthermore, we avoided the most recent documents, in which one could find

sensitive data about living or recently deceased individuals.

• Although we had planned to work directly on a digital postgreSQL database, the poor working

conditions and the fact that electricity was not a reliable resource suggested proceeding to a paper

listing of the material. Moreover, there is no computer available in the archive for local research

(a laptop has been used only for backup purposes).

• The most endangered and relevant records, surveyed during the project activities, have been

relocated in some acid free boxes on new metal shelving.

• A digitising test has then been launched following the guidelines for photographing archival

material and the precious feedbacks of the EAP staff, in spite of the lack of internet in

Bandiagara.

• Digital copies of relevant material relating to Judicial Records and Muslim Affairs have been

produced, while a trial digitisation has been carried out on the un-catalogued documents collected

into some boxes or filed in several folders as a basis for a future project of digitisation.

• Finally, in Bamako, a new stay in Bamako has been helpful to inform Mr. Timothée Saye

(National Archives of Mali) on the current condition of the archives of Bandiagara, for an

evaluation of the project activities and for a first cross-comparison of archival material and of its

uniqueness.

The Collection and the survey

Colonized by the French since 1893 under the leadership of Colonel Archinard, in 1903 the city of

Bandiagara became the capital of administrative district, while it was established the Cercle of

Bandiagara. The historical collection of the Cercle thus refers to a wide region and includes a

heterogeneous corpus of administrative records produced during the french colonial rule in Mali12

.

With the end of French colonial rule in Mali, this “closed fonds” (from 1897 up to 1960) is

preserved by the Prefecture of Bandiagara, along with the documents produced in Mali's

independence period (“open fonds”, from 1960 to present day).

12

Almost all the historical collection is in French language. Only a loose page of a letter in Arabic was encountered

during the survey.

17

It is not possible to quantify the exact number of items the archive holds, as its content is only

partly inventoried. The archival material shelved consists of a total of just over 50 linear meters13

,

of which only about 5 refer to the classification scheme for the closed fonds, with an indication of

the series, sub-series and file number (see Appendix 2).

At a rough estimate, about 40% of the material dates back to the colonial period – particularly from

1903 to 1960 with rare records belonging to the last decade of the 1800s – and is concentrated in the

repository no. 2. This estimate takes account the naming conventions shown on storage boxes and

folders, the current inventory and the linear meters occupied. A more precise and detailed

evaluation it is impossible to do at the moment, as the separation between the two fonds is not

always maintained. Things are further complicated by the fact that, by taking a deeper analysis,

some folders can contain items of each of the two periods without even respecting the classification

reference of their storage boxes. This is the result of the stratification of different classification

systems – the colonial one, the post-colonial one, the one imposed by the previous Italian project to

the loose material – which has had to deal with the difficult history of the archive and the harsh

environmental conditions.

More in detail, the whole collection of Cercle of Bandiagara is currently kept on:

- 40 meters of wooden shelves;

- 16 meters of metal shelving;

- 3 boxes of cardboard;

- 1 metal trunk;

- 1 metal cabinet.

Furthermore, other records are scattered in three other rooms of the Prefecture:

a. a room outside the new seat of the Prefecture, where much of the historical collection was

found in 2005. Few documents remain in the room even though they are almost entirely related

to a recent period;

b. new documents have been discovered within another room of the Prefecture and within a no

longer used toilet. These rooms are currently inaccessible. The archival records, piled on the

floor or compressed in some cabinets, are largely unattainable because of furniture and other

obstacles obstructing the passage. It has thus been impossible to conduct any real survey and

13

The repository no.1 houses approximately 25 linear meters of records, while the repository no. 2 contains about 28

meters of archival material.

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quantify the material. Few samples have shown that it contains documents of different types,

dating back to colonial times, in critical condition, mostly loose items. Few of the most relevant

documents we identified, have been transferred in the two repositories of the archive14

.

Almost all documents within the Archive are paper, for the most part in A4 format. They have very

different degrees of deterioration, which can change quickly.

• 6,5 linear meters of “Journal Officiel”, of which 89 volumes relative to the colonial era (1903-

1959);

• 260 archival storage boxes:

• 30 (of which 4 empty) showing an alphanumeric reference to the O.L.P. classification scheme

for the closed fonds.

• 25 boxes that contains 17 series 1W [1955-1981] and 7 series 2W [1957-1991] , for the most

part relating to the open fonds.

• 45 black storage boxes without any title or reference, that will require more detailed

investigation. They contain miscellaneous and very deteriorated material, often in loose

conditions, sometimes classified by referring to an older colonial system of which a partial

schema has been found during this project.

• 80 newer storage boxes with the following titles: “État-civil” (29), “Message RAC” (15),

“Ordre Mission” (8), “Élections” (5), “Éducation” (2), “Bureau Militaire” (19),

“Correspondance” (2). It is a material sometimes miscellaneous, that has not been investigated

during the project.

• 80 smaller and not surveyed storage boxes, of which 16 related to the Civil Status and 64

which gather different records on the basis of five-year periods from 1920 to 1990 (the result

of the first emergency rescue work of the University of Rome).

• 45 registers, for the most part deteriorated and disbound. Also in this case the estimate is

approximate. Their number may increase, as new volumes might been found in the inaccessible

room. Some of these registers were produced by the publisher “Charles lavauzelle editeur

militaire”.

• Over 1,300 folders (about 19 linear meters) of archival material without any official classification

reference and temporarily inventoried with a shelf mark.

14

In the future, a survey could be extended to the documents still crammed into these rooms. The prefecture will strive

to plan its reorganization to allow an investigation of the new historical records.

19

• 4 containers: 3 cardboard boxes containing fragments of documents and a metal trunk that

encloses miscellaneous items (handwritten letters, official acts and correspondence, etc.) of

different dates.

A survey of the collection was undertaken as part of the EAP pilot project. The survey focused only

on historical material dating back to the early decades of the 20th century and fell short of

producing a complete listing of every item in the repositories.

It was not the main goal of the project, the conditions of the archive requiring a rather patient and

not hasty approach. Operating a clear separation between open and closed fonds has been neither

easy nor always appropriate because of the conditions and the specific history of the archive. Many

archive boxes and folders collect (without any apparent criterion) documents of different dates,

either because temporarily gathered after the loss of a previous system of arrangement, or because

they have never been classified following the current official scheme of classification for the closed

fonds. Not a few dossier date back to a period between the period before and after independence

(1960). Moreover, while investigating the content of some boxes there were interesting surprises,

such as the fragment of a handwritten report of 1903, shuffled among recent ballots, which suggests

that the dating shows on some storage boxes is not always reliable. Anyway, the survey sought to

exclude the archival material which, given its character and modern date, didn’t fall within the

scope of the EAP project.

Among the different types of documents, these are the ones that stand out:

• Official Acts (decrees, ordinances, circulars, decisions)

• Correspondence (in-letters, out-letters, minutes, telegrams, confidential letters and files)

• Civil Status records (birth, death and marriage)

• Census Records

• Political Affairs (political reports and files relating to the different cantons of the Cercle,

chieftainship, conflicts)

• Religious Affairs

• Judicial Records (“procès-verbal” and manuscript volumes dedicated to court proceedings and

judgments).

These records have been summarily listed, but their contents have not yet been catalogued (see

Appendix 3 of this report).

20

This archival material provides both, first-class information about the French administration in the

Cercle of Bandiagara, and an insight on many aspects of local pre-modern life and traditions, in

their delicate interaction with the colonial power. They are also of great value in understanding the

current administrative and social repercussions of the colonial period, while such context proceeds

along a literacy process in which history is disputed between reasons of orality and those of writing.

Among the series of great historical and anthropological importance that have been identified and

reorganized in the archival rooms, these are the ones subjected to digitisation, summarized for their

contents and size:

EAP764/1/1 Judicial Records [1912 - 1957]

631 digital copies of 4 manuscript volumes have been produced as part of a series that, thanks to

the survey, came to be composed of 12 volumes, most of them in very poor conditions and

relating to a period that reaches up to 1957. The digitised volumes, sometimes without a cover,

were scattered in separate parts and a lot of work has been done to rebuild their unity. Some

pages are still missing and it was impossible to clearly individuate and digitise many of their

fragments. In these volumes, valuable information both from a historical and anthropological

perspective are often recognizable, especially where the justice system imported on the

European courts model had to deal with local customs and more traditional justice systems.

The volumes of this series, often incomplete and without cover, have been gathered

chronologically in some acid-free boxes and relocated on new shelves to better protect them

against the rapid deterioration process. They have become brittle and yellowish with age, and

many pages are no longer bound. A new reference was created for this series in the course of

this pilot project: EAP764/1 (digital folder: EAP764_JR). According to the national

classification scheme for the closed fonds, this archival material should belong to Series M

("Justice").

EAP764/1/2 Muslim Affairs [1928-1959]

This series includes records on the “Muslim Affairs” (3 files), which constituted a subject of

careful analysis by colonial administrators. This material – partly present in the series E

("Political Affairs") according to national classification scheme for the colonial fonds, and

partly gathered surveying scattered documents – is of particular importance for the history of

Islam in the area of Bandiagara and beyond. It contains reports, confidential correspondence,

telegrams, notes on marabouts, monthly bulletins of information on Islamic propaganda,

21

Hamallism and Tijaniyyah. Some of these records were produced by other institutional bodies

of the colony of French Sudan and may also be accessed as original or copy at the National

Archives of Bamako, but their archival bond and the notes that often accompany the reception

and provision of information, provide us unique and valuable data. 218 digital copies of 2 files

were created, the first dating back to 1928-1943, the second to 1941-1957.

The files have been gathered in an acid-free storage box and relocated on new shelves to better

protect them against the rapid deterioration process. A new reference was created for this series

in the course of this pilot project: EAP764/2 (digital folder: EAP764_AM). This was done

pending the reconstitution of the series E ("Political Affairs”) to which Muslim Affairs should

belong.

EAP764/1/3 Annual Political Reports [1936-1954]

This series includes 2 files relating to Annual Political Reports. The first contains the principles

on drafting and submission of annual political reports. Sent by the Government of French

Sudan to all cercles, these documents define the main issues of interest to monitor and report

annually. The second file contains the annual political reports on the Subdivisions of

Bandiagara, Douentza and Koro. Part of this material was sent to central archives in Bamako,

but documents are often enriched with detailed notes and other original information that tell

many aspects of local life and traditions. The degree of deterioration of the records is various.

Some of them became very brittle, with presence of mould and faded ink.

A new reference was created for this series in the course of this pilot project: EAP764/3 (digital

folder: EAP764_APR). 233 digital surrogates have been produced.

The project generated 1082 digital photographs in RAW format, from which a parallel set of images

were exported in 300dpi uncompressed TIFF format. The TIFF images have been resized from the

original resolution of 5184x3456 pixels to 2500x3750 pixels, in order to reach the size of 28,1mb

for each image file (for a total of 30,46GB generated).

22

Digitisation and Equipment Specifications

Digital copies were produced with a Canon 700D camera (18 megapixel sensor) in combination

with a Canon 35mm/f2 prime lens. Taking into account the sensor’s 1.6x crop factor, this equates to

an actual focal length of 56mm. Another lens of lower quality (canon 18-135mm) has been made

available to the project although it has not been necessary to use it, since the size of the

photographed documents was near to A4 format.

To this end, a tripod (with camera mounted to the central column between the legs and pointing

downwards) and a Kaiser RS2 XA camera stand, with a column height of 76 cm, have been used,

while a custom table, with slate background, has been purpose-built to accommodate documents for

the digitisation activity.

To document the size and dimensions of the material to be digitised we positioned a horizontal ruler

and vertical in each image. Thanks to the feedback of EAP we realized that the positioning of a

second ruler was not really necessary, as the colour checker already contains a small ruler. Anyway

some of the first volumes digitised (relating to “Judicial Records”) have been photographed in this

way.

As for the lighting conditions, the two archival rooms are equipped with fluorescent lighting,

flickering and unsuitable for photographic reproduction activities. To avoid changes of light

conditions during the day we decided to darken the windows and only use two led panels purchased

for the project as light sources, with a fixed daylight colour temperature of 5600k and both with an

angle of about 45° with respect to items to digitise.

This setup has proved perfectly adequate although the closing of the windows and the lack of

ventilation have complicated the work during the day.

According to the requirements of the EAP, an industry-approved colour chart has been included in

each image in order to check the accuracy of colours captured in the photographs. The same colour

checker was used at the beginning of each session of photographs as a target for a neutral white

reference, thus allowing us to set the white balance of the camera.

A wireless shutter release control was always used to remove any possibility of camera shake.

Furthermore, camera has been tethered to an ipad via a Lightning to Mini USB cable, in order to use

it as a field monitor and better evaluate the alignment and the quality of images.

Photographs were taken in cr2 (Canon RAW) format, while jpeg copies were produced at the same

time as lower quality previews. The original RAW files have a resolution of 5184x3456 pixels,

approximately 22-24 MB in size.

23

At the end of each digitisation activity, images were transferred from the camera’s memory card to

a usb hard drive, verified and duplicated on two other hard disk via a folder synchronization

software. More detailed information about software used can be found in Appendix 1.

Conclusion

The listing and digitisation activities undertaken in this project followed as much as possible the

EAP guidelines. Feedbacks from EAP Curator have also been very useful during the project, despite

the lack of internet connection in Bandiagara made communications complicated. As noted earlier,

the work conditions were far from ideal, not only for the poor conditions of the repositories where

the research team worked, but also for the actual political, social and economic situation in Mali.

Anyway this project has been successful in achieving a deeper knowledge of the Archives of the

Cercle of Bandiagara and a more precise definition of its documentary heritage and consistency.

Being currently impossible to find a suitable local home for the archival material, everything

possible has been done to rearrange the records, and better protect them from further deterioration.

As a result, the archival repositories are now accessible again. The survey and inventory have

helped to rescue many documents and today the archivist is able to carry out their retrieval.

The Prefecture of Bandiagara is willing to be involved in a future Major Project and is currently

seeking funding for the building of a new archival home. Also thanks to the launch of this project,

the Prefecture has met the potential interest of GIZ – the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale

Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) that on behalf of the German Government, is conducting activities to help

build the capacities of the country’s public authorities – for the possible construction of suitable

local home for original material. At the same time, interest in the archive has grown among the

population of the region, with requests for documents immediately received by the archivist15

.

Unfortunately it was not possible to provide the archive of a digital database for records retrieval, a

computer not being available in the archive.

In addition to the series and files already identified (of which the survey expanded the extent),

particularly relevant under a historical and anthropological perspective are the series and the

volumes dedicated to Political Affairs, Correspondence and Civil Status. Numerous and interesting

are also the dossiers on the different cantons that were part of the Cercle, and many loose files at

15

Documents relating to land ownership and registers of civil status have been the most sought records at the Archive

of Bandiagara.

24

present not attributable to any series, some of which thanks to this project and to further analysis

could be traced back to their previous classification.

Finally, there are also some interesting historical files related to the Lands Affairs (ownership and

conflicts), although they have been excluded by any digitisation activity as agreed with the Prefect.

As expected, the survey was not exhaustive (the primary aim at this stage was to get a sense of the

value and scope of the material) and a longer process will be necessary to reassign loose files or

new acquisitions to the correct series. This will take the time for a thorough examination of archival

records and for a further process of metadata enrichment of the digital surrogates, which will make

it easier to perform a cross-check with the records of the National Archives of Mali.

This will also require greater involvement of the National Archives, which already interested in the

project, are now defining a proposal for future participation in a possible future project. In addition

to being necessary for evaluating the feasibility of a potential Major Project for the preservation of

the collection of Bandiagara, a stay in Bamako has also made it possible to start a discussion with

staff members for an initial data analysis and evaluation, for the definition of legal issues of records

accession and publication and for the possible launch a more detailed cross-check with the database

of the National Archives.

Besides some administrative documents (reports, studies, statistics, circulars and directives) that

may occasionally be found, in original or copy, in other archives16

, manuscripts and other

documents relating to the civil administration of the Cercle of Bandiagara are undoubtedly unique,

as those relating to public hearings, correspondence, civil status (some Civil Status registers contain

photographs of the inhabitants of the Cercle and besides offering information about the faces, the

postures, the hairstyles of historical figures they have aroused a lot of interest in the project staff).

However, together with Mr. Timothée Saye, we considered that the criterion of uniqueness of the

archival material may indicate a potential priority order for future digitisation, but it hardly allows

to decide whether to exclude some files from an interest in preserving and digitising. Not only

because these processes may also be useful to the National Archives in Bamako, but also because

documents are often enriched with detailed notes and other original and unpublished information:

precious data that tell a local history and the way the information was circulated and was interpreted

in the territory of the Cercle.

A clear example come from the inspection reports on the cantons of the Cercle, who were often sent

in copy to the central archives, but of which the dossiers in the archive of Bandiagara can store

16

This includes not only the National Archives in Bamako, but also the “Fonds de l'Afrique occidentale française

(AOF)” in Dakar and the “Archives nationales d’outre-mer” (ANOM) in Aix-en-Provence, although a query of online

databases did not return relevant results.

25

minute letters, notes, handwritten maps or, as in the case of the canton of the Iréli, even the unique

photograph of an old Hogon (traditional political and religious authority of the country Dogon)

dating back to the 20’s. So there is little in the historical collection for which the creation of a

digital surrogate is not desirable.

There remains the need to separate open and closed fonds and to continue the activity of

reorganization and digitisation of the historical series of the collection and proceed with the

acquisition of new records found in the new repositories, otherwise destined to destruction.

A new document, dating back to the colonial period, shows the classification criteria prior to those

used today for the classification of closed-fonds in Mali. It could provide more tools and awareness

for the rehabilitation of an archive that stratifies different classification systems. Next to that

document, there is a handwritten note of an archivist of the past, which describes how, already in

the 50's, the archive had to cope with difficult conditions and, at the time of preparing the

transmission of documents in Bamako, complained that many of the oldest records had been lost

due to the relentless work of termites.

26

Appendix 1 - Computer and Software

The computer used for the project was a MacBook Pro 13" (late 2013 model). To carry out the

digitisation work and the following image files processing, the these software packages were used:

- ColorChecker Passport desktop application (to create a camera profile);

- Adobe Camera Raw 8.8 (for applying camera profile, converting to 300dpi TIFF and image

resizing);

- ChronoSync v4.5.4 (for backups and folder synchronizations);

- Apple Automator (for batch renaming folders and files);

- md5sumd script utility for Mac OS X (to generate manifest files and verify data integrity).

27

Appendix 2 - Classification Scheme for Closed Fonds

(1800-1960)17

République du Mali

Ministère des Sports, des Arts et de la Culture

Division du Patrimoine culturel - République du Mali

Opération Lecture Publique

Série A - Actes Officiels

Série B - Correspondance Générale

Série C - Personnel

1C - Dossiers de personnel

2C - Statut du personnel

Série D - Administration Générale

1D - Etudes générales

2D - Affaires administratives

3D - Conseil et Assemblées

4D - État-Civil et Curatelle

5D - Recensement

6D - Impôts et Taxes

7D - Élections

8D - Cartographie

Série E - Affaires Politiques

17

The Article 15 of Decree No. 424/P-RM of 09 September 2002 - Republic of Mali states: «Les documents d’archives

antérieures au 22 septembre 1960 sont collectés, conservés, triés, classés et communiqués indéfiniment en function du

cadre de classement établi suivant les arrêtés N°5065 et N°5066/IFAN du 9 juillet 1953».

28

1E - Politique Générale

2E - Politiques indigènes

3E - Cultes

4E - Politique Musulmane

5E - Relations extérieures

Série F - Police et Prisons

1F - Police

2F - Prisons

Série G - Enseignement - Sciences et Arts*

1G - Enseignement

2G - Sciences et Arts

Série H - Santé et Assistance

1H - Service sanitaire

2H - Assistance Publique

Série J - Postes et Télécommunications

Série K - Travaux Publics – Chemin de Fer - Énergie

1K - Travaux Publics

2K - Chemin de Fer

3K - Énergie

Série L - Navigation

1L - Marine de guerre

2L - Marine de commerce

3L - Météorologie

29

4L - Aviation

Série M - Justice

Série N - Affaires Militaires

1N - Opérations militaires

2N - Organisation militaires

3N - Personnel militaire

4N - Gardes Cercles et Gendarmerie

5N - Périodes de guerre

Série O - Domaines*

Série P - Douanes*

Série Q - Affaires Économiques

1Q - Commerce

2Q - Industries

3Q - Mines

4Q - Transports et Communications

5Q - Sociétés de prévoyance

Série R - Affaires Agricoles

1R - Agriculture

2R - Service zootechnique

3R - Forêts

4R - Pêche

Série S - Travail et main-d'œuvre

30

Série T - Finances

1T - Budget

2T - Trésor

3T - Agences spéciales

4T - Comptabilité matière

Série Z - Fonds Privés

31

Appendix 3 - Inventory of the Archive

The survey mostly focused on the historical collection of the archive taking into account the records

dating back to before 1960, although there are also many documents belonging to the open-fonds

that may provide a precious insight into many aspects of local pre-modern life and traditions in an

area of outstanding cultural interest and which cannot easily be excluded from an interest in their

preservation and digitisation.

The listing is not exhaustive, as investigating all scattered material or not even shelved would have

produced a hasty and superficial result. Here it is divided into 3 different tables representing

different layers of arrangement and classification, to which we have already referred:

1. the intervention of the O.L.P. in 1995, which followed the classification criteria of the National

Archives in Bamako. The table 1 shows not only the current contents of the various series of

the collection, but also a cross check with the contents that were inventoried by O.L.P.. Many

sub-series and files are missing. These contents, which have been marked as “not present” (NP),

have been irretrievably lost, or rather will be recoverable in the scattered material that with the

collapse of the old seat has lost its archival bond. This is the case for example of the electoral

lists of 1957 and of different dossiers on the cantons that were part of the Cercle.

2. About 1200 loose files had been temporarily arranged on the shelves by the research team of

Sapienza - University of Rome. After the collapse of shelving this arrangement has been

reconstructed through this pilot project, which also allowed to add new records. They are

now 1,301 files (including both the closed and the open fonds) that will have to be examined

in more detail to be brought back to their reference series and classified. Most of them are in

A4 format except for the correspondence (from both colonial officials and private

individuals), maps, civil status registers and 2 string-bound packages, which can get up to

A3. Table 2 shows only a selection of historical fonds with the files most concerned with the

scope of a potential Major Project. It includes:

• 45 registers relating to Judicial Records (12), Correspondence (7), Civil Status (23),

Military Office (2), Political Affairs (1);

• 48 dossiers on the cantons of the cercle;

• 99 files created by collecting scattered material

32

Their number could grow. Working conditions in the archive make it hard and slow the survey.

The degree of deterioration of this material is various and may change quickly. In particular,

approximately 1.5 - 2 meters of records are very brittle and difficult to handle without

disintegrate them into many fragments.

3. Miscellaneous documents are gathered into some old archival storage boxes. They lack of any

title or reference and will require more detailed investigation. Table 3 list some of them, which

seems to refer to an earlier classification system of the colonial era (of which a partial schema

has been found). Some of these boxes have been replaced with new acid-free ones, as they were

deeply attacked by termites. Most of the documents they contain are in a stage of advanced

deterioration (missing pages, severe termites damage, holes, pages crumpled and damaged,

mould, faded ink).

The tables presented here are a simplification of the index cards produced during the survey, which

contain some essential data: Classification Code (O.L.P), Title/Subject, Start Date, End Date, Shelf

mark, Document Type, Format, Number of Pages, Condition, free-text Notes. Although this is not

satisfactory as a catalogue, it may have the potential to be developed into a comprehensive

catalogue in digital format. They remain excluded the many documents, currently kept secret or not

yet shelved. The first and the third lists follow the hierarchy of the collection, whereas the second

one is sorted by start date.

33

TABLE 1

S = Series

S/S = Sub-series;

F = File

NP = not present

S S/S F Title Start

Date

End

Date

Classification Code

(OLP)

A Actes Officiels

1 Lois 1958 1960 S/A 01-09

2 Ordonnances 1959 S/A 01-09

3 Arrêtés 1954 1957 S/A 01-09

4 Arrêtés 1955 S/A 01-09

5 Arrêtés - Gouverneur Soudan Français 1956 S/A 01-09

6 Arrêtés 1958 1959 S/A 01-09

7 Décisions 1950 1959 S/A 01-09

8 Décisions Inter-Ministérielles 1952 1957 S/A 01-09

9 Décisions 1954 1955 S/A 01-09

*10 Décisions 1955 1956 NP

11 Décisions Gouverneur Soudan Français 1955 1956 S/A 10-18

*12 Décisions Commandant Cercle Bandiagara 1956 NP

13 Décisions 1957 1958 S/A 10-18

14 Décisions Inter-Ministérielles 1958 S/A 10-18

15 Décisions Inter-Ministérielles 1959 S/A 10-18

16 Circulaires 1954 1955 S/A 10-18

17 Circulaires - Notes de Service 1955 1956 S/A 10-18

*18 Circulaires Gouverneur Soudan Français 1956 NP

B Correspondances Générales

1 Correspondances 1934 1935 S/B 1-5

2 Correspondances 1938 1939 S/B 1-5

3 Correspondances Diverses 1951 1962 S/B 1-5

4 Correspondances diverses 1958 1963 S/B 1-5

34

S S/S F Title Start

Date

End

Date

Classification Code

(OLP)

5 Confidentiels Départ 1942 S/B 1-5

6 Cahier Courrier Départ 1956 S/B6-11

7 Correspondances 1930 1940 S/B6-11

8 Correspondances à l'arrivée 1940 S/B6-11

9 Correspondances - Arrivée 1956 S/B6-11

10 Correspondances - Arrivée 1954 1959 S/B6-11

11 Correspondances à l'arrivée 1956 S/B6-11

12 Correspondances - Arrivée 1958 1959 S/B 12-18

13 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1935 1936 S/B 12-18

14 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1943 1944 S/B 12-18

15 Courrier - Arrivée - Départ 1949 1959 S/B 12-18

16 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1952 1958 S/B 12-18

17 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1953 S/B 12-18

18 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1953 1954 S/B 12-18

19 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1954 1955 S/B 19-24

20 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1955 1956 S/B 19-24

21 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1955 1956 S/B 19-24

22 Correspondances - Arrivée - Départ 1954 1959 S/B 19-24

23 Cahier de Transmissions Officiels 1953 1955 S/B 19-24

24 Messages RAC 1956 S/B 19-24

C Personnel

1C Dossiers de Personnel

1 Gestion du Personnel de l'Adm. Générale - C/Bandiagara 1955 S/C - S/S 2C2

2 Corps des Commis Expéditionnaires du Cadre Local du

Soudan Français

1955 S/C - S/S 2C2

2C Statut du Personnel

1 Élection Délégués PTT 1955 S/C - S/S 2C2

2 Concours Professionnel de Recrutement Commis

d'Administ. et d'Industrie

1959 S/C - S/S 2C2

D Administration Générale

35

S S/S F Title Start

Date

End

Date

Classification Code

(OLP)

1 Procès-Verbal passation de service entre Raoul Bovis

Médecin Sortant et Dibo Abdoulaye Médecin Entrant

1958 S/D - S/S 1D9

2 Inventaire du mobilier du logement 1er Adjt Cdt Cercle 1959 S/D - S/S 1D9

1D Etudes Générales

1 Bulletins périodiques de renseignement 1941 S/D - S/S1D9

2 Projet de création de la Subdivision de Nombori 1947 S/D - S/S1D9

3 Dossier Affaire Baissembe Golokoundo 1950 1955 S/D - S/S1D9

4 Revues mensuelles 1950 1958 S/D - S/S1D9

5 Bataille entre habitants du village de Youdou (Canton de

Séno-Togol) et Nabene (Canton de Gondo-Séno-Fulbe)

1936 1955 S/D - S/S1D9

6 Cahier - Revues-Journaux périodiques 1955 S/D - S/S1D9

7 Notes sur le Palais des Rois Alpha Macki Tall et Aguibou

Tall

1955 S/D - S/S1D9

8 Catalogues et Revues publicitaire des Maisons de

Commerce

1956 1957 S/D - S/S1D9

9 Catalogues et Revues publicitaire des Maisons de

Commerce

1956 1957 S/D - S/S1D9

10 Catalogues et Revues publicitaire des Maisons de

Commerce

1956 1957 S/S 1D10-12

11 Prospection etnographique en Pays Dogon* 1957 1958 S/S 1D10-12

12 Offres des Maisons de Commerce de la Place 1957 1959 S/S 1D10-12

2D Affaires Administratives

1 Testes d'applications de la Loi-Cadre 1956 S/S 2D - S/S 7D1

2 Rapports d'inspection 1938 1956 S/S 2D - S/S 7D1

5D Recensement

1 Statistiques démographiques de Bandiagara 1937 1952 S/S 2D - S/S 7D1

*2 Rapport de tournée - recensement des cantons 1955 NP

3 Enquêtes Démographiques 1958 S/S 2D - S/S 7D1

7D Élections

1 Élections Assemblées-Territoriales du Soudan 1956 1957 S/S 2D - S/S 7D1

*2-4 Procès-Verbaux Opérations électorales territoriales 1956 1957 NP

*5 Liste électorale fonctionnaires 1957 NP

*6 Liste électorale législative - Village Indépendant de Borko 1957 NP

*7 Révision exceptionnelle des listes électorales 1958 NP

36

S S/S F Title Start

Date

End

Date

Classification Code

(OLP)

*8 Révision des listes électorales 1958 1959 NP

*9 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Bandiagara-

Plateau

1957 NP

*10 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Barassara (Ollo) 1957 NP

*11 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Barassara 1957 NP

*12 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Bargué 1957 NP

*13 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Dakol Ibi-Damatto 1957 NP

*14 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Dakol Ireli 1957 NP

*15 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Dakol Ireli

(Tagorou)

1957 NP

*16 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Dogani 1957 NP

*17 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Douléri Sanaberi

(Dédié)

1957 NP

*18 Liste électorale législative Canton Douléri Sanaberi (Dédié) 1957 NP

*19 Liste électorale législative Canton Douléri-Sissongo 1957 NP

*20 Liste électorale législative Canton Douléri-Sissongo et

Village de Goundaka

1957 NP

*21 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Dourou 1957 NP

*22 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Endé (Golombo) 1957 NP

*23 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Guimini 1957 NP

*24 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Guimini

(Konsogou-Doa)

1957 NP

*25 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Kambari (Bgara) 1957 NP

*26 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Kambari

(Lougourougoumbo)

1957 NP

*27 Liste électorale législative du Canton Kambari-Bandiagara 1957 NP

*28 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Dé (Kilegou) 1957 NP

*29 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Koutoumiri 1957 NP

*30 Liste électorale Législative du Canton de Ledgueou-

Djennenké

1957 NP

*31 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Léolguéou-

Djennenké

1957 NP

*32 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Léolgueou-

Nononké

1957 NP

*33 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Dondoli 1957 NP

*34 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ouakara Ponba 1

et 2

1957 NP

37

S S/S F Title Start

Date

End

Date

Classification Code

(OLP)

*35 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ouakara-

Namakoro

1957 NP

*36 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ouakara-Amalla 1957 NP

*37 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ouakara-Gogouna 1957 NP

*38 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ouakara-Gogouna

(Djombo)

1957 NP

*39 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ouassabari

Ondogou et Indell

1957 NP

*40 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ouassabari Ouroli

et Darré

1957 NP

*41 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ouassabari Ouroli

et Darré

1957 NP

*42 Liste électorale législative Canton de Ouassabari Ouroli et

Darré

1957 NP

*43 Liste électorale législative Canton Ouassabari Menthely-

Dié

1957 NP

*44 Liste électorale législative Canton Ouassabari Menthely-

Dié

1957 NP

*45 Liste électorale législative Canton Pignari-Mackou 1957 NP

46 Liste électorale législative Canton Pignari-Mackou 1957 NP

*47 Liste électorale législative Canton Pignari-Tougoumé 1957 NP

48 Liste électorale législative Canton Pignari-Tougoumé 1957 NP

*49 Liste électorale législative Canton Sangha-Soban 1957 NP

*50 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Eiminiri 1957 NP

*51 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Ein-Eam 1957 NP

*52 Liste électorale législative du Canton de Eombogo-Ningari

et Mory (Daga-Daga)

1957 NP

*53 Liste électorale Législative Canton de Tombogo-Ningaru et

Mori (Kindé)

1957 NP

*54 Liste électorale Législative Canton de Tombogo-Ningaru

(Nangadoumbo)

1957 NP

*55 Liste électorale Législative Canton de Touré 1957 NP

*56 Liste électorale Législative Canton de Koutoumiri 1957 NP

E Affaires Politiques

*1 Livre Journal de Caisse de l'Union Dogon 1955 1959 NP

1E Politique Générale

38

S S/S F Title Start

Date

End

Date

Classification Code

(OLP)

1 Affaires Musulmanes 1929 1943 S/S1E - S/S5E1

Mosquées Série “E” 1981 1982 S/S1E - S/S5E1

Dossier Construction Mosquée de Dè (Arrondissement de

Ningari)

1983 1985 S/S1E - S/S5E1

4E Politique Musulmane

1 Affaires Religieuses Musulmanes 1930 1937 S/S1E - S/S5E1

5E Relations Extérieures

1 Commission de Coopération Technique en Afrique au Sud

Du Sahara 1954

1954 S/S1E - S/S5E1

F Police et Prison

*1 Dossier Tombola Scout de France (Section Soudan) 1955 NP

*2 Fêtes et réceptions 1955 1959 NP

3 Demandes d'Importation et de Port d'Armes 1955 1959 S/F1

*4 Fêtes Publiques - Réceptions – Passages 1954 1957 NP

*5 Affaires Pénitentiaires - Mandats d'arrêts- Libérations

conditionnelles - Gestion de la prison

1954 1959 NP

6 Funérailles du Professeur Griaule 1956 S/F1

G Enseignement - Sciences et Arts S/S 2G1

2G Sciences et Arts

1 Documents sur Photographie - Cinéma - Salle de Spectacle 1957 1959 S/S 2G1

H Santé et Assistance S/H1-S/S 2H1

*1 Hygiène et prophylaxie 1954 NP

*2 Cahier de Visites Médicales 1956 NP

J Télécommunications S/J 1

*1 Procès-verbal Vérification Caisse Bureau PIT Bandiagara 1955 NP

K Travaux Publics - Chemin de Fer - Énergie S/K 1-3

*1 Travaux de Construction des Bureaux du Centre d'Élevage

de Bankass

1955 NP

39

S S/S F Title Start

Date

End

Date

Classification Code

(OLP)

*2 Travaux de Réparation de la Résidence de Bandiagara 1955 NP

*3 Travaux d'érodage Groupe Compresseur 1955 1956 NP

M Justice

*1 Droit Local - Administration 1956 1958 NP

*2 Affaires Judiciaires - Citations et Jugements rendus 1957 1958 NP

*3 Registre des Jugements rendus par le Tribunal de 2ème

Degré de Bandiagara

1957 1959 NP

*4 Procès-Verbaux d'Audience 1958 NP

5 Gendarmerie - P.V. de Renseignements Judiciaires 1954 1957 S/M 1-9

*6 Correspondances diverses - Arrivée - Départ 1955 1959 NP

*7 Citations à prévenus 1958 1959 NP

*8 P.V. enquêtes de la Gendarmerie 1958 1959 NP

*9 Rapport et Fonctionnement 1957 1963 NP

N Affaires Militaires

1 Études sur la Protection Civile en cas de Conflit Armé 1954 S/H 1-2

*2 Centre Militaire d’Études Européennes (Italien) 1957 1958 NP

Q Affaires Économiques

*1 Relevé Trimestriel des Prix 1951 1953 NP

2 Commercialisation 1952 1955 S/Q 1-6

*3 État Commercialisation de Produits 1953 1954 NP

*4 Commercialisation 1957 1958 NP

*5 Police Économique - Réglementation 1958 NP

*6 Situation des Activités des Coopératives du Cercle 1949 1955 NP

R Affaires Agricoles

*1 Concours d'Entrée au Centre d'Apprentissage Agricole de

Bamako

1954 NP

2 F.I.D.E.S. - Projet d'Aide au Paysannat 1955 S/R 1-3 - S/S2R 3

3 Société Mutuelle de Développement Rural (SMDR) 1958 1962 S/R 1-3 - S/S2R 3

40

S S/S F Title Start

Date

End

Date

Classification Code

(OLP)

2R Services Zootechniques

*1 Conférence Consultative sur l'Élevage de l'A.O.F. 1936 NP

*2 Plan boucherie Bandiagara 1955 NP

*3 Rapport Annuel Secteur Elevage 1959 NP

S Travail et Main-d'œuvre S/S1-3

*1 Déclarations Périodiques de la situation Main d'Oeuvre 1952 1958 NP

*2 Code du Travail 1953 1954 NP

*3 Dossier M. Perret Gilbert Puisatier 1955 1958 NP

T Finances S/T1-2

*1 Attestations Familiales - Indemnités 1951 1959 NP

*2 Budget local d’Équipement du Soudan Français 1958 NP

41

TABLE 2

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

Registre État Civil – Mariage 1897 E1-09

Koutoumerie / Canton de Sangha et canton de Guimini (différentes dates) 1903 1960 A2-01

Registre État Civil – Mariage 1903 E1-09

Registre d’état civil – Naissance 1903 E1-10

Liste recensement administratif dans les cantons (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E2-107

Dossier canton de BARGUE (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E4-34

Dossier Canton de Arou Foulbè (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E4-36

Dossier canton de Bara-Sara (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E4-37

Dossier canton de Tomboko, Ningari-Mori (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E4-38

Dossier canton de Foulbes Fittobes (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E4-39

Dossier canton de Dacol IBI (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E4-40

Dossier canton de Kambary Pelou (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E4-63

Dossier canton de Pignari Mako (différentes dates) 1903 1960 E4-66

Relatif au Canton Arou Habbés (différentes dates) 1903 1960 G6-07

Fiche chef de canton (différentes dates) 1903 1960 H4-45

Registre de rapports B/11 1903 Shelf2B

Relatif en l’enregistrement des actes de l’état civil 1905 E1-19

Registre d’état civil – Naissance 1907 E1-10

Registre Correspondance Confidentielle 1909 1915 E1-64 (Shelf2B)

B/bis correspondance courrier 1909 1919 I3-19

Registre État Civil – Décès 1910 E1-08

Registre État Civil – Mariage 1910 E1-09

Registre d’état civil – Naissance 1910 E1-10

42

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

Registre correspondance départ 1911 1912 E1-06

Registre État Civil – Mariage 1911 E1-09

Registre d’état civil – Naissance 1911 E1-10

Relatif aux lettres et les réponses administratives et télégrammes 1911 1920 E1-43

Registre du tribunal province de Bandiagara audition publique 1912 1914 E1-07 (Shelf2B)

Registre État Civil – Décès 1912 E1-08

Courrier administratif 1912 F1-05

A - Correspondance Principes 1912 1959 Shelf2B

Registre judiciaire de l’audience publique 1914 1916 E1-01 (Shelf2B)

Registre État Civil – Décès 1914 E1-08

Registre État Civil – Mariage 1914 E1-09

Registre d’état civil – Naissance 1914 E1-10

Registre de jugement du tribunal de Cercle 1914 1915 E1-44

Registre État Civil – Décès 1915 E1-08

Relatif aux correspondances et télégrammes officiels 1915 E2-22

Dossier canton de Toure 1915 1958 E4-71

Projet de budget exercice 1916 1916 A4-04

Registre pour l’enregistrement des courriers à l’arrivée et au départ 1916 E1-77

Relatif aux audiences publiques 1916 1918 H1-25

Registre Judiciaire Audiences Publiques 1917 1919 E1-02 (Shelf2B)

Registre État Civil – Décès 1917 E1-08

Registre d’état civil – Naissance 1917 E1-10

Registre pour l’enregistrement des courriers à l’arrivée et au départ 1917 E1-20

Registre Judiciaire Audiences Publiques 1918 1920 E1-03 (Shelf2B)

Registre État Civil – Décès 1918 E1-08

43

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

État civil Bandiagara 1918 E1-38

Administration générale 1918 : gestion administrative 1918 H4-37

Registre correspondance arrivée 1919 1923 E1-05

Registre d’état civil – Naissance 1919 E1-10

Dossier canton de Sangha 1921-1958 1921 1958 E4-76

Registre Judiciaire Audiences Publiques 1923 1925 E1-04

Dossier canton de titan 1923 1958 E4-68

Registre du jugement supplétif : naissance, mariage et déclaration 1924 1944 E1-58

Rapport politique 1924 1930 I3-17

Dossier canton de Lowol-Guéou Nonokés 1925 1957 E4-49

Dossier canton de Wasabari, Ondogou et Idell 1925 1955 E4-57

Dossier canton de Tori 1925 1958 E4-72

Déclaration naissance - Audience relative à l’état civil 1925 1930 H4-29

Dossier canton de Ouakambé 1926 1958 E4-55

Dossier canton de Kambari Bandiagara 1926 1958 E4-74

Dossier canton de Seno Bankass 1926 1958 E4-77

Cartes de recrutement militaire 1926 1930 F1-08

Dossier canton de Koutoumiri 1927 1958 E4-52

Dossier canton de Tibiri 1927-58 1927 1958 E4-70

Dossier canton de Dè 1928 1958 E4-43

Dossier canton de Ouakara 1929 1959 E4-62

Dossier canton de Seno-Tengroli-Bonzon 1929 1958 E4-64

Dossier canton de Foulbe Bodis 1929 1958 E4-75

44

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

Dossier canton de Seno Tamari 1931 1956 E4-67

Registre judiciaire de l’audience publique 1932 1934 E1-15

Dossier canton de Nandoli 1932 1959 E4-54

Dossier canton de Wasabari Ouroly et Sare 1932 1958 E4-60

Fiches de renseignement personnage religieux 1933 1946 E3-01

Dossier canton Douleri Sissongo 1933 E4-45

Dossier canton de Wasabari Amala 1934 1954 E4-59

Dossier canton de Diallaye 1935 1958 E4-48

Dossier canton de Foulbe Ouallarbés 1935 1959 E4-56

Dossier canton de Ouankoro 1935 1957 E4-61

Relatif aux cartes de situation militaire et au personnel Européen 1935 F1-21

Dossier canton de Lowol-Guéou- Djenenké 1936 1956 E4-50

Jugement supplétif et audience publique 1936 1940 F1-01

Litiges territoriaux : subdivision Bandiagara 1936 F2-18

Object A/S : répertoire de statique et de renseignement 1937 A3-10

Dossier Canton de Borko – chefferie affaires de terres 1937 1957 E4-32

Dossier canton de Koumounouri 1937 1956 E4-51

Dossier canton de Kabadie (groupement indépendant) 1937 1958 E4-53

Dossier canton de Koumounouri 1937 1956 E4-73

Dossier canton de Dacol Iréli 1937 1959 E4-79

Commandement et Directives Diverses 1937 1942 I4-41

Registre du jugement du tribunal de 1er

degré de Bandiagara 1938 1941 E1-54

Rapports politiques annuels 1938 1958 Shelf2B

45

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

Dossier canton de Dinagourou 1939 1951 E4-47

Dossier canton de Pana 1939 1958 E4-58

Registre de jugement du tribunal de 1er

degré de Bandiagara 1940 1942 E1-46

Affaires diverses (chefferie de canton, chefferie des villages, affaires de terres) 1940 1950 E4-31

Revue mensuel des évènements 1940 1950 F1-70

Dossier canton de Bamba (chefferie) 1941 E4-35

Courrier administratif 1941 1945 F1-06

Liste de la 2 e portion des tirailleurs 1941 1945 F1-13

Affaires Musulmanes 1941 1957 I4-40 (Shelf2B)

Dossier canton de Boungoudié 1944 1958 E4-33

Dossier canton Guimini 1944 1958 E4-42

Registre liste des personnes avec leur canton de provenance 1945 E1-126

Rapports politiques annuels 1945 1946 I4-38

Relatif à la transmission des courriers administratifs 1946 E1-53

Relatif au courrier arrivée 1946 E1-61

Dossier canton de Dogani 1946 1957 E4-46

Dossier canton de Pignari Tougoumé 1946 1958 E4-64

Relatif aux reçus de cotisation de village de canton, carte de recrutement militaire,

PV contrat arrestation: gendarmerie nationale

1946 1950 F1-07

Registre de déclaration des naissances 1946 1950 F1-136

Dossier Pierre Kombé Somboro 1947 1948 Shelf2B

Renseignements économiques sur les cantons 1948 1949 E1-35

Demande d’édification du Chapel de Bereli 1948 F1-68

Audience publique. Matière État Civil 1948 1949 G5-108

46

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

Registre dossier permis de port d’arme 1949 1959 E1-31

Registre relatif à la détention des armes 1949 1957 E1-72

Demande de régularisation du mariage pour Serou Saye 1949 E2-64

Affaire militaire coloniale - principes 1949 1958 E3-06

Dossier canton de Foulbes-Baabes 1949 1958 E4-44

Relatif à l’enseignement 1949 1955 H5-63

Relevé montant impôt et taxe arrondissement 1949 H6-46

Nomenclature des cantons 1950 1953 E1-50

Affaires politiques et Rapports politiques annuel 1950 1959 F1-35

Relatif à l’enregistrement des noms pour l’établissement des cartes d’identité 1951 E1-34

Audience : réintégration du domicile conjugal 1951 I3-18

Lettre de Kansaye 1951 1952 I3-52

Bandiagara : avant projet 1953 A3-15

Bureau militaire. Cahier Contrôle Tirailleurs morts en Indochine et en AFN 1953 E1-11

Registre du tribunal du 1er

degré de Bandiagara en matière civil et commercial 1953 E1-22

Permis de chasse ordinaire 1953 1954 H4-01

Cahier de visite pour les anciens combattants 1953 H6-64

Personnel Administration de la F.O.M. ; Gardes de Cercle 1953 1958 I4-39

Contrôle des réservistes catégorie B 1954 E1-26

Dossiers canton Douentza 1954 1957 E3-21

Situation des militaires ayant servi sous le drapeau français 1954 F1-30

Bulletin statistique et économique mensuel 1954 1957 H5-20

Registre État civil (avec photos) 1954 Shelf2B

Télégrammes officiels 1955 E3-08

Carte de Bandiagara lotissement appliqué en 1955 1955 F1-107

47

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

Enlèvement des animaux des protestants à Wol 1955 H4-28

Registre carte d’identité et État civil des personnes régie par les coutumes locales 1956 E1-123

Dossier canton de Seno Tendeli 1956 1960 E4-69

Confidentiel 1956 F1-157

Registre État civil 1956 H1-29

Action sociale au bénéfice des officiers des affaires africaines et de leur famille 1957 A1-02

Procès verbal - plainte de Namindjiou Nantoumé 1957 A1-20

Demande de certificat d’indigence 1957 A1-25

Liste relative aux élections Canton de Sangha et canton de Guimini 1957 A2-02

Registre courrier 1957 1961 E1-127

Registre de jugement rendu pour le tribunal du 2e degré de Bandiagara en matière

civil et commercial

1957 E1-45

Liste électorale législative du canton de Dacol Iréli 1957 E3-03

Acte de naissance différentes années 1957 E3-07

Listes électorales 1957 E3-23

Listes électorales 1957 E5-03

Affaires sociales. Relatif à la formation des jeunes élèves 1957 F1-53

Messages télégrammes 1957 F1-92

Listes électorales 1957 H1-07

Listes électorales 1957 H1-08

PV renseignement judiciaire 1957 H4-32

Administration générale : Correspondance, Arrêté, Décision 1957 1958 H4-36

Cahier de note 1958 A3-07

Dossier canton de Yoro et Guiri 1958 E4-78

Extrait projet de budget exercice 1959-60 1959 A2-03

48

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

Récapitulation générale copie de bilan 1959 A2-05

Subdivision de Koro - lettre correspondance 1959 1961 A2-06

Dossiers administratifs relatifs à la subdivision de Bankass 1959 1961 E4-03

Relatifs à l’ex canton de Diallaye 1959 1960 E4-80

Renseignement démographique : Densité de la population par Caton 1959 F1-173

Relatif aux activités population du cercle 1959 F1-175

Message RAC arrivée 1960 1962 A1-01

Réquisition 1960 1960 A1-05

Autorisation pour suivre les études et admission en classe supérieure 1960 A1-15

Fête proclamation indépendance du Mali 1960 A3-06

Dossier relatif à différentes affaires économiques 1960 A3-13

Attestation pour Cissé Aly pour le père Van Rovestyn Paul de renouvellement de

carnet d’étranger

1960 A3-24

Bureau d’envoi de bulletin individuel 1960 A3-27

Liste des infections 1960 A3-30

Économie rurale cercle de Bandiagara 1960 A3-32

Note manuscrite 1960 A3-38

Bureau militaire. Cahier de transmission. Courrier au départ et à l'arrivée 1960 1961 E1-11

Bulletin statistique mensuel 1960 mois de janvier 1960 E2-52

Rapport justice 1960 1961 F1-109

Eau et forêt 1960 1961 I4-37

Affaires religieuses différentes dates 1962 1978 F1-23

Registre pour courrier à l’arrivée 1963 E1-62

Relatif aux campagnes agricoles 1963 1964 E2-106

49

Title / Subject Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

Procès-Verbal. Détournement de femme 1963 F1-169

Affaires à Sangha (vol de statuette à Iréli) 1963 F1-37

TABLE 3

S Ttle Start

Date

End

Date

Shelf Mark

A 1 Misc.: Correspondance, affaires diverses 1951 1984 Shelf_A

5 Misc.: proces-verbal, decision, personnel africaine 1946 1950 Shelf_A

B 1 Correspondances Diverses 1912 1927 Shelf_A

3 Courrier Confidentiel au départ et à l'arrivée 1948 1954 Shelf_A

4 Courrier à l'arrivée 1908 1913 Shelf_A

5 Courrier à l'arrivée 1953 1960 Shelf_A

6 Correspondances arrivée et Départ 1950 1959 Shelf_A

7 Courrier au Départ 1951 1915 Shelf_A