ARCHIVES IN THE AOSTA VALLEY

Archivalp

Archivalp - Archives Audiovisuelles Transfrontalières, is an online audiovisual archive that was part of the Interreg III A Italy/Switzerland project. This project was aimed to promote, preserve, and broadcast the cultural audiovisual patrimony, presenting specific aspects of the Aosta Valley reality through the collection of images prior to year 2000.

The Audiovisual contents, which enhance the characteristics and peculiarities of the regional culture of the Aosta Valley, are available for free in the Funds section of this website.

B.R.E.L.

The B.R.E.L. is the institute that promotes, coordinates and finalizes various ethnographic and linguistic research activities throughout the Aosta Valley territory. The BREL documentation centre has a substantial audiovisual archive, increasingly enriched over the years.
The most important section is represented by the photo archive, which currently features over 350,000 images, shot by some twenty local photographers. The BREL photo archives offers not only a vast variety of subjects, but it also tells the story of photography through the evolution of the media itself: from the glass plates dating back to the end of the 19th century, to the modern colour slides and digital imagery, passing through the long season of roll film following WWII. Once gathered, this important patrimony deserves careful attention in order to preserve the originals; it must therefore undergo detailed process of cataloguing, so as to allow for the broadcast of such images and content.

Main photographic funds:
BERARD
BIONAZ
BROCHEREL-BROGGI
CHAMPION
D'HERIN SERIS
DOMAINE
FUSANOTTI
MEYNET
RONC
WILLIEN

AVAS

The Aosta Valley Association for Sound Archives (AVAS) was founded in 1980. Its main goal is to build up an audio archive, gathering all the material regarding the Aosta Valley. Its activities are not limited only to the preservation of oral accounts; the Association is also interested in broadcasting the elders’ wisdom so this heritage can survive the test of time by being passed to new generations. Hence, AVAS is dedicated to preservation, reproduction, transcription and cataloguing of audio material and to its broadcasting through competitions, radio and TV shows, publications, film making, expositions and school outings and appointments.
The association currently counts over 5,000 audio-cassettes, it has organized 15 expositions, and has built an archive with 10 photographic funds for a total of 8,755 images, 36 publications, 23 audiovisual shows, and 180 RAI transmissions.

Main funds:
FONDS DÉSIRÉ MEYNET
GRAT RONC
PÉAQUIN
ORESTE BONIFACE
BROCHEREL
LOUIS LANIER
BENJAMIN BAUDIN
BOVARD
FUSINAZ
VITTORIO BESSO
FONDO A.V.A.S

Historical Institute of Resistance and Contemporary Society

In the photographic section of the archives of the Historical Institute of Resistance and Contemporary Society in the Aosta Valley there are over 15,000 photo types. Prints, negatives, transparencies, documents (both originals and copies) from the early 20th century depict the strong resistance and liberation movement that took place in the Aosta Valley.
This iconographic patrimony includes private funds and an array of images filed in the Institute Fund.

Main photographic funds
OCTAVE BÉRARD
JOSEPH BRÉAN
BRIVIO-FRACASSA
FLAVIEN CASALE
SEVERINO CAVERI
CGIL
LAURENT CHABLOZ
FEDERICO CHABOD
RODOLPHE COQUILLARD
SILVIO GRACCHINI
FAUSTO GUILLET
GIUSEPPE LAMBERTI
CLAUDIO MANGANONI
MARTINET-DOLCHI
MASSIMO MOLA DI LARISSÉ
RENZO OLMI
ANDREA PAUTASSO
PCI-LE TRAVAIL
MICHELE RETEGNO
MICHELE TOSCO
RENÉ WILLIEN