The Department of Library, Information & Archive Sciences and the Department of History of the University of Malta (RSSD funds), in collaboration with the State Archive of Florence and the Malta Study Center, are glad to announce the first edition of the Winter School in Archival Studies ‘Malta and the Order of St John in Europe (16th-18th centuries). Documents, People, Institutions’.

This School aims at offering a unique opportunity to gain knowledge on archival records related to Malta and the Order of St John in Europe, with a special emphasis on the unexplored Hospitaller archives in Florence. The programme aims at training students in analysing, cataloguing, and researching Hospitaller records. It will also delve into the multiple historical and legal frameworks in which the documents were produced and preserved and the institutions involved in these dynamics. Insights into the Order of St John’s history, going from nobility and property management to institutional workings, diplomacy and spirituality, will be provided.

Thanks to the digitisation project of the Hospitaller records at the Florence State Archive curated by the Malta Study Center, the Winter School will also offer an overview of the best practices for digitisation and international accessibility of records with a visit to the digitisation studio.

The Winter School will be held at the State Archive of Florence from the 29 January to the 2 February, 2024 and will include class-based lectures, archival laboratories with cataloguing sessions, and site-visits to private archives and collections. Various experts will teach in the school.

The Winter School can host a maximum of 30 participants and it is open to students in their second to the third year of undergraduate studies up to PhD level, to professionals in the field of archives, as well as a wider interested public subject to space availability. The selection will be made by the board of partners.

Winter School Provisional Programme