Home

61Kb. The Interior - II Floor		PRATO STATE ARCHIVES GUIDE TO SERVICES
		Admission Research Depository Research and copy for administrative purposes Copyright Public Relations Bureau	Study Room rules Requests Access to documents Photoreproductions Authorization to publish Education and guided tours

Admission

Admission to the Study Room is open and free to the public wishing to consult the archives for study, administrative and private purposes.
In order to be admitted, one must produce one's identity card and fill in an admission form, complete with personal data and the reasons for the research.

56 Kb. The Study Room

Study Room rules At the entrance of the Study Room, one must sign the register of presence in a legible way, indicating one's profession and nationality. Bags or other cases are not allowed in the Study Room. In order to assure the utmost silence in the Study Room, conversations among researchers will have to take place only in the assigned areas. Researchers may freely consult inventories and complementary instruments, but it is not allowed to take them out of the Inventories Room without authorization. Any action that may damage the integrity of the documentary records is prohibited. It is not allowed to write marks or numbers on the papers. Researchers are kindly requested to use the reading desks and the specially provided paper in order not to lean their fingers on the documents. It is not allowed to alter, in any way, the order of papers and files. It is allowed to consult only one piece at a time, when it deals with envelopes or cartoons of loose papers. It is compulsory to quote the source, including the instruments of research, when reproducing a text or a part of it. One reminds that the respect for copyright is under the responsibility of researchers. Researchers using documentary records undertake to hand a copy of prospective publications or theses. As for the latest, researchers may establish conditions for use.

The research

   Researchers may begin their study reference by using the complementary instruments available, starting from Guida Generale degli Archivi di Stato, alla voce "Archivio di Stato di Firenze - Sezione di Prato (General Guide to State Archives, under the entry "Florence State Archives - Section of Prato), and Inventario sommario dell'Archivio di Stato di Prato (General Inventory of the Prato State Archives) by G. Pampaloni.

    Once the bonds between the object of the research and the funds preserved in the Archives have been determined, one will proceed to consult the corresponding Inventories.

    The Inventories available in the Study Room are divided into two series, marked by the following letters of the alphabet: N for new inventories and V for old inventories. The alphabetical index that allows the tracing of records is in the box of cards on the table of the Study Room.

    In the Hall of the Archives, there is also the subject and author catalogue of the Archives Library, which can be consulted by the public to ease the research. At present, the catalogue of the Library is being organized on-line and, as soon as it is completed, one will be able to consult it from the specially provided position located in the Study Room. Some volumes, which are frequently used for reference, are available in the Study Room. External loan is not allowed.

The requests

    Requests for archive documents must be filled in on the specially provided forms, duly indicating the following details:

 1. archive pressmark (name of the fund, series and sub-series if any, and number of the piece)
 2. date of the request
 3. applicant's signature

    Each application form is valid only for one single archive unit or for one book.

    It is possible to make requests by telephone, properly indicating the exact pressmark of the documents. It is also possible to reserve pieces by e-mail, duly completing the specially provided form.

The Depository

    The documents requested are kept on hold for the applicant and re-arranged in their position after 30 days from the latest consultation.

Access to documents

    One may have free access to the documents preserved in the State Archives, except for those mentioned below, which are considered confidential files, as per President's Decree n. 1409 art. 21 of 30 September 1963:

1. confidential documents concerning domestic and foreign politics of the State, which relate to affairs of the last fifty years;
2. confidential documents concerning typically private situations of individual persons, which relate to affairs of the last seventy years;
3. documents of penal actions of the last seventy years, with the exception of the judgements that are public and freely accessible.

    A possible consultation before the above-specified terms can be authorized - for research purposes - by the Ministry of the Interior, by previous application to be addressed directly to the Prefecture. The Direction can exclude the temporary access to reference and/or photoreproduction of documents whose state of preservation make it necessary.

Research and copy for administrative purposes

    For administrative and legal purposes concerning legal successions and judicial offices, it is possible to research and request the issue of a certified copy of documents by producing an application in stamp paper.

Photoreproductions

    The Archives do not have a microphotographic laboratory and therefore only private photographers authorized by the Archives, whose complete list is available in the Study Room, may carry out photoreproductions.
    Researchers shall contact the photographer selected personally and order the documents to be reproduced in good time.
    Researchers shall also fill in a printed form of application for the authorization to photograph. The form is available on-line both in Word 6 Format (14 KB) and in Portable Document Format (9 KB).

Copyright

    Reproductions carried out for personal or study purposes are not liable to copyright.
    Photographs carried out for commercial use or publications are, on the contrary, liable to copyright and royalties will have to be paid for each shot of each subject, for a maximum of 10 releases, as follows:

Colour photograph: Lit. 100.000 - Euro 51.65

Black and white photograph: Lit. 20.000 - Euro 10.33

    The compensation includes royalties of one single photograph, edition and language only. The receipt for payment of royalties will be handed over in the Study Room together with the application for photoreproductions, which are essential requirements in order to have access to this service. The payment can be made to Tesoreria provinciale di Stato di Firenze - Prato (capo XXIX cap. 2584 art. 3) or through the current postal account n. 5512 registered in the name of Tesoreria provinciale di Stato di Firenze - Prato (capo XXIX cap. 2584 art. 3).

Authorization to publish

    In order to publish photoreproductions of an archive document or of a part of it, it is necessary to request the authorization to the State Archives Direction by using the specially provided form, complete with a revenue stamp. The form is available on-line both in Word 6 Format (14 KB) and in Portable Document Format (9 KB).
    The publication will have to indicate the exact pressmark of the document, quoting "by kind permission of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Environmental Conservation" together with the warning not to further reproduce or duplicate with any mean.
    The Archives Administration requires the handover of three copies of the publication for which the authorization has been requested.

Public Relations Bureau

    In compliance with the law n. 241/90 and as per art. 12 of the Executive Order n. 29 of 3 February 1993, the Public Relations Bureau has been set up (URP). Both the Director of the Archives and the executive in charge of the Study Room have responsibility for this service.

    The tasks carried out are the following:

1. acceptance of users' requests for the participation in the administrative procedures, for the access to the records and for the information about the state of the procedures;
2. arrangement and circulation of information sheets concerning the Study Room, evaluation of users' needs and issue of authorizations in exceptional cases, working-out of the suggestions made by users as for the services offered, handling of claims;
3. information about the cultural activities run by the Institute.
   
   

74 Kb. The Conference Room

Education and guided tours     It is possible to carry out guided tours of the Archives, with the illustration of the funds, or of some of them in detail (e.g. Archivio Datini). This opportunity is offered to students of primary and secondary schools, to university students and to groups and associations. The persons interested should write to the Direction of the State Archives (Direzione dell'Archivio di Stato, via ser Lapo Mazzei, 41, Prato) in order to fix a date, or should phone on 0574 26064. It is possible to make requests by fax on 0574 445175 or by e-mail, through a simple electronic form.

Home