June 2009 – Paris Presentation at Alliance Israélite Universelle
Alliance Israélite Universelle students in Tunis, Tunisia 1901
Professor Frances Malino, Diarna’s lead academic advisor and director of Wellesley College’s Jewish Studies Program, addressed a packed audience at the international headquarters of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris. She discussed Diarna’s unique ability to preserve endangered Mizrahi heritage sites. Inspired by her presentation, the Alliance and the Société d’Histoire des Juifs de Tunisie, which co-sponsored the event, have each agreed to partner with Diarna. The Alliance’s collection, estimated to include 30,000 photos and three million pages of archives, will be incorporated into Diarna’s technical framework. “Our very rich archives possess photos and letters related to almost every town and village in which the Alliance had a school or an activity. Therefore,” says Jean-Calude Kuperminc, the Alliance’s Library and Archives Director, “it is crucial that the Alliance documents be digitized and given access through Diarna.”
