National Archives Center No. 3 receives valuable items

The “Technique of the Annamese people” album was a gift from Vietnamese-French ethnologist Vu Thi Xuan Phuong presented via the Vietnam Embassy in France.

The album was a result of fact-finding trips by Henri Oger, a researcher on Oriental cultures and a student of Louis Finot who was the first director of the Hanoi-based French School of the Far East. Henri Oger and a Vietnamese artist conducted fact-finding tours in Hanoi and neighboring areas while serving the French expeditionary force in Indochina in 1908 - 1909.

Former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep speaks at the event.

The album gathers photos of all local industries in the 20th century in Vietnam and was produced in around 1910 by using the traditional woodblock printing technique of the Vietnamese people. At present, there are only four copies of the album kept at Vietnamese and French libraries.

According to former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep, who handed over the photo collection to the center, before passing away, Vietnamese-French ethnologist Vu Thi Xuan Phuong expressed her wish to present the album to Vietnam through the Vietnam Embassy in France. Affirming the great significance of the album to the field of social sciences, the former diplomat said that it will contribute to diversifying the information of the State Archives of Vietnam.

Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs Mai Phan Dung said that Phuong’s deed demonstrated her love for the nation as well as overseas Vietnamese’s aspiration to preserve culture of the nation.

Also at the ceremony, the former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep handed over some voice records about the Paris Peace Conference on the War in Vietnam in 1973 provided by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Director of National Archives Center No.3 Tran Viet Hoa (left) receives the item from former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep.

At the handover ceremony, Director of National Archives Center No.3 Tran Viet Hoa affirmed that with modern equipment, the unit will safely preserve and effectively promote the values of those valuable items to serve the national construction and defense cause. 

According to Deputy Director of the State Records and Archives Management Department, the presentation of the album and voice records was part of a program on collecting documents from diplomatic agencies and Vietnamese ambassadors in different countries.

Translated by Tran Hoai