The city of Pigüé is located in the southwest of Buenos Aires Province, 560 km from the capital. It was founded in 1884 by 40 French families from the Aveyron department. Over time, it welcomed immigrants from across Europe, and early 20th-century European-style houses can still be seen. Amicale is a local organization that keeps alive the connection between descendants of immigrants and their French ancestry, and it has access to valuable documents that reconstruct the history of this migration.
In February 2024, we installed an overhead scanning stand for capturing historical documents, which often cannot be digitized with conventional equipment due to their size, type, or fragility (posters, newspapers, framed documents, memorabilia, etc.). This allowed us to launch a digitization lab for the organization—an initiative whose planning and preparation had started long before, led by Amicale in collaboration with the Pigüé Museum and Archive, the Municipality, and the local community, which provided the necessary resources to make the project a reality.
Digitization and Networks
Digitizing documentary collections not only helps preserve and share historical heritage, it also builds networks of collaboration among those involved in safeguarding it. The responsibility of preserving heritage lies not only with official institutions such as museums and archives, but also with parishes, businesses, cooperatives, clubs, and private individuals, who often hold unique documents that these projects help to bring to light.
We believe that community-based digitization projects create synergies that inspire similar initiatives in nearby areas, leveraging existing resources. Leaving built-in capacities in the communities who are the primary stewards of their heritage is essential to ensuring the long-term sustainability of preservation and collection management projects.
Bibliohack was represented in the project by Matías Butelman, Juan Suárez, and Victoria Lopresto. Special thanks to Maria Amalia Rodriguez, Marcela Jouannys, Luján Tranco, and the entire Amicale team. Thank you, Pigüé!
