Memory of the World Register - 2011
The Memory of the World Register lists documentary heritage which has been recommended by the International Advisory Committee, and endorsed by the Director-General of UNESCO, as corresponding to the selection criteria regarding world significance and outstanding universal value.
Barbados, Jamaica, Panama, Saint Lucia, United Kingdom and United States of America - Silver Men: West Indian Labourers at the Panama Canal
The documentary heritage concerning West Indians and their experience in and contribution to the Panama Canal represents one of the most significant movements of voluntary migration to emerge during the post emancipation period after 1838. These records document the movement of over one hundred thousand people to the Isthmus of Panama, the majority of whom never returned.
France - Châtelet de Paris banner register from the reign of Francis I (National Archives, Y9)
The Châtelet banners series covers the registration and publication of legislative texts, including the 1537 decree by King François I imposing a legal deposit system on booksellers and printers. For the first time printers and booksellers were required to deposit a copy of each of their publications in the King's library. This model spread in the 17th century supporting the growth of national libraries and the preservation of knowledge.
Germany - Construction and Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Two-Plus-Four-Treaty of 1990
The documents relating to the Construction and Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Two-Plus-Four-Treaty of 1990 are fundamental and unique parts of the political heritage and the collective memory of Germany, Europe and the world during the post-World War II era.
Iran - Al-Tafhim li Awa'il Sana'at al-Tanjim
Al-Tafhim li Awa'il Sana'at al-Tanjim is a Persian language work by the renowned Iranian scientist, abu-Rayhan al-Biruni (440-362 HD/ 973-1048 AD) containing questions and answers in a format easily understandable by new learners in sciences. This is the oldest Persian text on Mathematics and Astrology and was composed simultaneously in Persian and Arabic by abu-Rayhan himself. It was written when Iranian scientists and scholars used Arabic to write their scientific works. By composing his book in Persian, abu-Rayhan contributed to the vivification of scientific Persian.
Republic of Korea - Ilseongnok: Records of Daily Reflections
Ilseongnok, "Records of Daily Reflections," originated from the diaries kept by King Jeongjo, 22nd monarch of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), from before his ascension to the throne in which he reflected on his daily life and academic progress. After his accession, it was transformed from the personal diary of a monarch to an official daily journal of state affairs. It is of unique value with few comparable examples in the world of a diary kept by the kings of a pre-modern despotic monarchy with a view to reflecting on their rule and using it as a reference for future state administration.
United Kingdom - Historic Ethnographic Recordings (1898 – 1951) at the British Library
The Historic Ethnographic Recordings collection contains field recordings of orally transmitted cultures made throughout the world by linguists and musicologists. Some of these recordings represent the earliest extant sources for research into those cultures, and have captured in the most vivid format available at the time, unmediated by foreign textual interpretation, a linguistic and cultural diversity in a precious moment on the cusp of today’s ‘global village’. Not only were these recordings among the first of such to be made but also they may be the last: many of the languages and musical practices that feature in this collection are endangered or no longer exist.