Exploring Frank Portelli’s archive : a proposed methodology for artists’ archives in Malta

Abstract

Due to growing artistic movements, a need is felt to safeguard artists’ archives in Malta. However, there is currently no national register of archives (Farrugia, 2008), which means that there are no artists’ archives in Malta preserved in private hands that are officially recognised by the state as cultural patrimony. There are also no methodological guidelines that can be applied to local private archives in Malta, especially for artists’ archives and their role in preserving the national collective memory in a postcolonial nation. Having private archives officially recognised by the state would be crucial for obtaining funding, for preservation and for granting access to information on the artist. Providing further access to private archives would also resolve archival gaps, which would contribute to Malta’s collective heritage. This dissertation analysed how private archives can be organised locally and how archivists and owners of private archives can collaborate with professionals through organising a small section of the archive of Frank Portelli (1922-2004) — a Modernist artist. Collaboration involved participants working and volunteering in international private archives, as well as an art historian who conducted research on Portelli. This dissertation revealed that this artist’s archive contains a wide variety of archival material that could contribute to the national memory of the archipelago. This analysis contains six chapters and two appendices. Chapter One will introduce the topic and key terms used for this dissertation. Chapter Two as the literature review will examine three different archival schools of thought. Chapter Three will focus on the background of Portelli and on his archive. Chapter Four will describe the methodology of how the Portelli archive was organised, while Chapter Five will serve as a conclusion which discusses the results of this dissertation and the way forward. The two appendices respectively consist of the list of archival levels in the archive and the photographic appendix.