Shared Archives 3Ríos: UNESCO's Memory of the World Interview with Mtro. Adalberto Ríos Szalay

Abstract

The recognition granted by UNESCO to the "Archivos Compartidos-Tres Ríos" Archive as "memory of the world" is a dialogue between the past and the future, in search that Mexico's patrimonial values flourish with an intergenerational view in favor of knowledge, conservation and preservation of historical, cultural and natural resources.  It is made up of images that can be disseminated to raise awareness among new generations. It is oriented to forge a new look at biodiversity and cultural plurality, as an open and free support to teaching, research, cultural diffusion, and other specific community projects.

Once Ernesto and Adalberto Ríos Lanz joined the collection initially created by Mtro. Maestro Adalberto Ríos Szalay since 1970, united and complementary by their specialties and trajectory in teaching, research and journalism, they multiply in a more ambitious way, their graphic recording activities, where their talents and exemplary views are exponentially consolidated, now presented in different formats. Partly supported by the UAEM and the UNAM, this archive gathers more than one million documented and duly classified photographs, whose uninterruptedly creative touch has covered all the states of the Mexican Republic as well as 44 other countries, where the plurality and diversity of the human race is expressed. At the same time, it has been a source of inspiration for 60 books on heritage topics published in Mexico and abroad; in addition to exhibitions, conferences, web pages, radio programs and other support for teaching.

The work carried out by the "Tres Ríos" represents an approach to visual anthropology, which innovates and contributes to the observation, description and analysis of reality through photography, to establish dialogues that promote communication and interaction within the different communities. This has allowed them to stimulate the joint and shared construction of the character that each image must possess, the product of using photographic language to compile and systematize the experiences lived from the "other", as an interlocutor and instrument of registration, exchange, consultation, significance and illustration of their cultural heritage resources -material and immaterial- where they can express the authenticity of their own originality. 

For this reason, UNESCO's Mexican Memory of the World Committee, created to ensure the preservation of and access to the documentary historical heritage of greatest relevance to humanity. By agreement of its experts, it agreed to recommend the inclusion of the "Archivos Compartidos Tres Ríos" in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. For reflecting its exceptional value, which together with the commitment of its authors to protect it, disseminate it and ensure its access to any interested person, in 2022 it will be included in the world list, for the benefit of humanity.