Sunday Times 2
‘Herstories’ presented to the National Archives of Sri Lanka
Herstories, an archival project focusing on Sri Lankans’ histories told through the voices of mothers from the South, East and North of the country, was presented to the National Archives of Sri Lanka on Thursday, March 6 under the patronage of the Secretary to the Ministry of National Heritage. This is the first collection focused entirely on women within the National Archives. It was exhibited at the National Archives from March 6-8, International Women’s Day.
‘Herstories’ collection deposited at the National Archives for International Women's Day 2014
Accepting the collection, the Director of the Archives, Dr. Saroja Wetthesinghe said, “The Department of National Archives functions under the legal provisions of National Archives Law, No: 48 of 1973 and National Archives (Amendment ) Act, No: 30 of 1981 and according to the clause 12, the Department acquires important special private collections. -Herstories˜ is a project of oral history and also focused only on women which carries information on women and hence it is a valuable collection. As the International Women’s Day falls on March 8, the collection is exhibited in honour of that.”
The project has collected 270 oral stories recounting family histories, experiences and hopes -through hand-written letters, photo essays, short videos and mapping and visual story-telling methods. The women who have shared their stories voluntarily are from Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Moneragala, Ampara and Kurunegala. The stories have been translated and are available in English, Sinhala and Tamil. A sample collection of 60 stories was presented through a travelling exhibition in Colombo, Galle and Ampara. The entire collection will be archived online at www.herstoryarchives.org.