OVERVIEW

The teaching of Archives and Institutions, serving as a heuristic of documentary sources, has as its main objective the illustration of the birth, development, and management of archives with reference to the relevant producing entities. The second module examines the archival documentation created by non-state, public, and private producers from the 15th to the 20th century, with particular attention to the collections and archives preserved in the Historical Archives of the Municipality of Genoa.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The teaching of Special Archives, understood as a heuristic of documentary sources, has as its main objective that of illustrating the dynamics of formation, maintenance and conservation of archives in reference to the relative producing entities, of state, public, ecclesiastical and private origin, from the Middle Ages to the contemporary age.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to provide the tools to understand the dynamics between administrative activity, documentary production and archival conservation, in order to be able to identify, among those available, the most suitable archival sources to satisfy the different information needs of historical research.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

• orient themselves confidently among the different archival institutions existing on the national territory in relation to the documentary heritage preserved;
• identify, through historical-institutional investigation paths, the place of conservation of the archival funds useful for their research purposes;
• recognize and critically evaluate the nature of the archival documentation on the basis of its public, private or ecclesiastical institutional origin;
• safely use the archival research tools available in analog and digital format;
• use an appropriate disciplinary language.

PREREQUISITES

There are no specific prerequisites.

TEACHING METHODS

Teaching is held through lectures and seminars with the direct involvement of students.
Attendance, although not mandatory, is strongly recommended. The seminar insights proposed to attending students are used as ongoing assessment tools.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1. Special archives: introduction to the discipline.
2. The concept of producing entity.
3. Legal profiles of producing entities and conservative destination of archives.
4. State archives: Middle Ages and Municipalities.
5. State archives: Modern Age.
6. State archives: Napoleonic period and Restoration.
7. Post-unification state archives: Central bodies.
8. Post-unification state archives: Prefectures and other peripheral offices of the Ministry of the Interior.
9. Post-unification state archives: judicial offices.
10. From Community archives to Municipal archives
11. Archives of non-state public bodies
12. Ecclesiastical archives: archives of cathedral and capitular churches before and after the Council of Trent.
13. Ecclesiastical archives: religious orders and regular ecclesiastical bodies.
14. Private archives: general characteristics.
15. Private archives: families, people, personalities.
16. Private archives: businesses.
17. Private archives: political parties, unions and other organizations.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) I. ZANNI ROSIELLO, Gli archivi nella società contemporanea, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008

An essay chosen from the volume:
2) Storia d’Italia nel secolo 20esimo. Strumenti e fonti edited by C. PAVONE, Rome 2006, downloadable at https://dgagaeta.cultura.gov.it/public/uploads/documents/Saggi/Saggi_88.pdf

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

september 15, 2025

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam is oral. The questioning leaves room for the presentation of a topic from the program chosen by the student and at least one additional question formulated by the teacher. Further questions may be asked by the teacher to better ascertain the candidate's level of preparation.

Attending students may present the results of an exercise agreed with the teacher for the exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam will focus on the topics covered in class and covered by the bibliography. The assessment of the level of preparation of the candidates will take into account the actual mastery of the basic notions of the discipline as well as the ability to critically rework the themes and problems covered in class, as well as the ability to establish relationships between different themes and topics.

For students unable to attend classes, the exam will focus exclusively on the bibliography, without prejudice to the assessment criteria just stated.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities (SLD).

Students with disabilities or SLD are reminded that in order to request adaptations during the exam, they must first enter the certification on the University website at servizionline.unige.it in the "Students" section. The documentation will be verified by the University's Services Sector for the inclusion of students with disabilities and SLD (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111).

Subsequently, well in advance (at least 10 days) of the exam date, an email must be sent to the teacher with whom the exam will be taken, copying both the School Contact Teacher for the inclusion of students with disabilities and SLD (contact email) and the Sector indicated above. In the email you must specify:

the name of the course

the date of the exam

the student's surname, name and matriculation number

the compensatory tools and dispensatory measures deemed functional and required.

The contact person will confirm to the teacher that the applicant has the right to request adaptations during the exam and that such adaptations must be agreed with the teacher. The teacher will respond by communicating whether it is possible to use the requested adaptations.

Requests must be sent at least 10 days before the exam date in order to allow the teacher to evaluate the content. In particular, if you intend to use concept maps for the exam (which must be much more concise than the maps used for studying), if the sending does not respect the expected times there will not be the technical time necessary to make any changes.