State Bank of Pakistan Governor Yaseen Anwar has said that archival collections constitute an important part of society's cultural and intellectual heritage, thereby contributing to the formation of a nation's collective memory.
'To ensure the preservation of this valuable legacy and to provide for democratic accountability, archivists and records managers (including public records officers) from diverse organisations must work together to administer the records that they hold in trust for future generations,' he said, while speaking as the chief guest at a conference on "History through Archival and Scientific Sources", which was organised by the State Bank's Museum & Art Gallery Department at SBP Learning Resource Centre (LRC) Auditorium in Karachi on Saturday.
He said that "archives are vital to our society for many reasons" and added that archival records served as instruments of accountability as well as building blocks of collective memory. Appreciating the paper of the Italian expert at the conference, SBP Governor said that "Professor Mario Piacentini's presentation enlightened us on how technical investigations not only assist in writing history, but also solves the riddles of history in an accurate and precise way." The presentation also highlighted how rapidly the relationship between history and science was developing and complementing each other at the same time, he added.
Lauding the paper of another Italian expert, Professor Valeria Fiorani Piacentini, SBP Governor said: "In listening to the paper of Professor Valeria, I found the subject of archives extremely interesting; the talk evidences the importance of archives not only for writing history but also how archives are silent witnesses of our past. Imagine if we did not have archives; we would have no witness to our history. Archives provide a key link with which to examine our past and present events."
Anwar said SBP Museum was marching forward on the path "we charted out for it at the outset and has in a short time left its mark by its publication programme, outstanding exhibits, special education programme for school children and physically challenged people, arranging events on international days, showing solidarity with international bodies, and also bringing future leaders to the museum.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ishrat Husain, Dean & Director, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, described the State Bank Museum as one of the most outstanding museums of the country. He said "both the SBP Governor and Director Museum and Art Gallery deserved my appreciation and congratulations for maintaining this beautiful museum." He said that not only the SBP but also other central banks of the world had numismatic museums.
He also appreciated Professor Mario Piacentini and Dr Professor Valeria Fiorani Piacentini for their excellent researched presentations. Earlier, Dr Professor Valeria Fiorani Piacentini, Faculty of Political Science, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan Italy, Director of the Athaeneum Centre for Research on Southern System and Wider Mediterranean presented a paper on 'Silks and precious Merchandise in the 13th Century:
Genoa's Thrust to the Orient. Sindh: Sources in Arabic & Persian, Records from Italian Archives', while Professor Dr Mario Piacentini, Professor of Physics, Engineering Faculty, Laboratory of Non Destructive Analysis and Archaeometry, Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences for Engineering Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy presented a paper on 'Archaeometry in help to Archaeology/History'.
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