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MARIGOT--The brand new building in Concordia that houses both the Territorial Archives and the Media Library was officially inaugurated Monday in the presence of elected officials, Director of the National Archives of France attached to the Ministry of Culture Hervé Lemoine, Director of the Archives Department in Guadeloupe Anne Lebel and numerous invited guests from both sides of the island.
Guests included principals of the collèges and schools, representatives of supervising contractor Semsamar, subcontractors, architects, representatives of the Philipsburg Jubilee Library, the Anguilla library, as well as employees and management of the Territorial Archives and Media Library.
Other personalities present, such as artist Roland Richardson and his wife, historian Daniella Jeffry, and President of the St. Martin War Veterans Association Robert Garron, had donated documents or material.
The three-level building opened on August 27 and replaces the old library in Marigot, which regularly received 18,000 visits per month. The Territorial Archives is a new addition, the archives for St. Martin previously being stored in Guadeloupe. Archives are still being transferred from Guadeloupe. Since the change of status in 2007, the Collectivité has been legally and administratively competent to manage its own archives.
The Media Library falls under the responsibility of the Human Development Department and the Territorial Archives under the general services of the Collectivité. While both are in the same building, they are managed separately. Neither has its own administration board or budget, but come under the Collectivité's budget.
Hervé Lemoine, in his congratulatory remarks, described the facility as "a magnificent structure that will serve the population well."
First Vice-President Guillaume Arnell said: "This is a unique public facility essential to culture and is a reflection of the Collectivité's commitment to education. I want to thank the architects for the quality of the building design, and Yvette Fleming Hodge for her generosity."
Technician from Semsamar Paul Beaufond gave details of the construction and named the contractors involved.
Conceived in 2010 and delivered in late 2013, the project was previously budgeted at 6 million euros, but soared to 9.365 million euros. The Collectivité of St. Martin financed 3.4507 million euros (36.85 per cent), FEDER 3.1513 million euros (33.65 per cent), The State (Contrat de Projet Etat-Rgion) 363,000 euros, and Fonds Exceptionnel d'Investissement (FEI) 2.4 million euros.
The library takes up 1,700m2 of floor space, archives 1,500m2, and 200-seater auditorium 300m2. The building is entirely accessible to the handicapped or persons of reduced mobility. Parking is available for 48 cars. The facility serves researching students and scholars and the auditorium will be able to hold conferences, plays and cultural events.
Some 3,000m3 of steel-reinforced concrete was used in the construction, in addition to 100 tons of steel for the framework of the building delivered in 14 40-foot containers, 2,000m2 of roofing, and 140m2 of glass for the windows. Some 17 St. Martin contractors were used for the building's construction.
Following the speeches, a ribbon-cutting took place, first for the media library with its director, Patrick Javois, and then with Director and Curator of the Territorial Archives Stéphanie Dargaud.
Stéphanie Dargaud then gave a tour of the archives section, which is currently holding an informative exhibition open to the public without charge every day from Monday to Friday, from 9:00am to 3:00pm, until May 7, 2015. Guided visits are organised on appointment on the first Saturday of each month from 10:00am to 1:00pm.
The exhibition, with texts in French and English, is an opportunity for the public to understand how archive documents are managed and preserved. The storage area for archives are not open to the public as the temperature of this room has to be strictly regulated. Private visits can be arranged however.
Dargaud did produce an ancient and delicate civil registry book that attracted quite some interest. The book records births, deaths and addresses of St. Martiners from 1837 up to 1986.
The Territorial Archives currently has seven employees.
