Document of the Month April 2008
Centenary Celebrations of the Conferral of the Freedom of the Burgh of Banff to General San Martin, 1950
© Aberdeen City Council
In recognition of Scotland the What? receiving the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen this month (April 2008), we are focussing on a similar ceremony in 1950: the Royal Burgh of Banff’s celebration of its association with its most famous honorary burgess - Argentina’s national hero, General José Francisco de San Martin.
The documents that illustrate this event have all come from a file in the Banff Burgh collection that was originally compiled by the Town Clerk at the time that the event was organised.
Aside from giving a very detailed account of the work involved in pulling such an event together, this file also shows that archives don’t just hold ancient parchment documents. In fact, much of the material they hold was created more recently, sometimes even in the 1990s or 2000s, so the age of a document is not necessarily an element in its selection for preservation. This judgement usually centres around whether the document provides good evidence about how the creating organisation or individual worked, and the importance of the information contained within it.
As we will see, even the small selection of documents highlighted from this file are excellent evidence of an event that played an important part in publicising Banff around the world and in maintaining good international relations with Argentina. They also represent part of a unique record that illustrates a lesser-known episode in the history of Banff, making them highly worthy of preservation for generations to come.
Further information about the event, including a translation of the above document and more images can be found here (opens in pdf)
If you wish a copy of this image, please contact us for further information.
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