Fondo Germano Facetti

Facetti’s Archive: an initial examination (by Andrea D’Arrigo)

On first look, the archive appears to be mainly organized in well-defined groups. Every title is assigned on the basis of Facetti’s personal criteria for classifying material according to its core content. Most of the 118 containers (files and boxes) are labelled with the initials or names of the European and non-European nations the sources refer to. Other containers are labelled with chronological notes or colours that usually refer to those of the respective national flag. The most substantial files are those that hold material concerning Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States, China and Japan. Each group has further subdivisions made by Facetti, which may correspond to ideal subclasses and dossiers connected to macro-themes – such as the World Wars, history of art and architecture – and more specific topics that provide additional information about the core contents.
The majority of the sources are mainly photographs, usually labelled with specifications and information on where they came from. But there is also considerable written material and it includes newspaper clippings, magazines, notes, Photostats of pictures and drawings. Therefore, a scholar must face a highly varied body of documents that includes Comunicazione di buona salute, handwritten in pencil on a form created by the Displaced persons Section of the Allied Military Government and sent to Giuseppina and Mario Facetti in May 1945. The document announced Germano’s return from the Gusen camp and it is a dramatic and tangible testimony of that resistance to hatred and violence that gave birth to the archive.

Information on the progress of organizing and giving value to the work can be found on the Istoreto site: www.istoreto.it/archivio/fondo_facetti.htm

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