Dalhousie Libraries University Archives Receives $100,000 for the Borgese Collection

April 8, 2014 Marlo MacKay

Nikolaus Gelpke, the incoming president of the International Ocean Institute (IOI) and former student of Elisabeth Mann Borgese at Dalhousie, has donated $100,000 to the Dalhousie Libraries University Archives for an ambitions digitization project. Mr. Gelpke, publisher of the German-language periodical mare, The Magazine of the Sea, is funding the digitization of his esteemed teacher’s extensive collection of research and personal papers that are housed in the Dalhousie University Archives.

Nikolaus Gelpke, Michael Moosberger (Dalhousie Archivist), Michael Butler (Director, Halifax IOI).

Elisabeth Mann Borgese is an important international figure who spent nearly twenty-five years working at Dalhousie. In the 1960s, Elisabeth and Arvid Pardo (then Maltese Ambassador to the United Nations), put forward the revolutionary concept that the oceans are “a common heritage of mankind” as part of the negotiations for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Although it was not enforced as a principle of International Law for the oceans as a whole, it was codified for the mineral resources of the sea-bed beyond national jurisdiction. In 1972, Elisabeth continued her work in oceans by establishing the International Ocean Institute (IOI).

Elisabeth Mann Borgese (Dalhousie Libraries University Archives)

“Oceans are a priority research area for Dalhousie and the Dal Libraries are pleased to be contributing relevant historical content in this area, thanks to the generosity of marine conservationist Nikolaus Gelpke. Elisabeth Mann Borgese was an important figure at Dalhousie, but she was truly a global citizen, and soon we will be able to share her research on a global level,” said Donna Bourne-Tyson, University Librarian of Dalhousie.

Elisabeth came to Dalhousie as a Senior Killam Fellow in 1979. Initially, she was supposed to be here for a one year stay, but soon after she was made a full professor in the Department of Political Science. During her time at Dalhousie, she taught undergraduate and graduate students and continued to work with the IOI. Among her many awards and honours, she received five honorary doctorate degrees and the Order of Canada. She passed away in 2002. (Source: website, International Ocean Institute – Canada)

“Elisabeth Mann Borgese is known around the world for her work in ocean conservation and management. Her papers in the Dal Archives have attracted researchers from as far away as Germany and New Zealand. Now, with this generous donation from Nikolaus Gelpke, we can begin the digitization process on the boxes and boxes of Borgese’s papers, making them available to researchers everywhere,” said Michael Moosberger, University Archivist with the Dalhousie Libraries.

In all, there are 55.5 metres of material in the collection, meaning that the boxes of papers measure 55.5 metres when laid end-to-end. Additionally, there are fifty-one audio cassettes, forty-seven reel-to-reel audio tapes, three VHS cassettes, and two 16 mm motion picture films.

Digitization in an archival setting is the process of manually scanning primary source material into a digital format and adding metadata to the digital object to provide information about the physical and intellectual makeup of the item. Each digitized item will be uploaded into the Dalhousie University Archives’ online finding aid for the Borgese Archive, so users searching the descriptive entries in the finding aid will be able to access the digital object with just a click of their mouse.

“With Nikolaus Gelpke’s donation, we have budgeted for a year to get as much of the Borgese collection digitized as possible. The digitization of the Borgese collection will contribute to scholarship around the world, and the Dalhousie Libraries are proud to be contributing to that. We owe a sincere and deep thanks to Nikolaus Gelpke for making this project financially possible,” said Michael.

The IOI has an Operating Centre at Dalhousie. It is one of twenty-two worldwide. The goals of the IOI are to:

• ensure the sustainability of the ocean as the source of life, and to uphold and expand the principle of the common heritage as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; and,

• promote the concept of Pacem in Maribus, peace in the ocean and its management and conservation for the benefit of future generations.

Interest in Elisabeth Mann Borgese continues to bring people together. Under the chairmanship of Dr. Douglas Wallace (Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ocean Science and Technology), personnel from IOI-Canada, Dalhousie University, the German Canadian Association of Nova Scotia and the Consulate of Switzerland in Halifax, are planning to bring the Elisabeth Mann Borgese Exhibit to Halifax in 2015. The exhibit, organized by the Buddenbrookhaus in Lübeck, Germany, displays Elisabeth’s cultural and scientific contributions to ocean governance. The exhibit recently completed a tour of major cities in Germany.

Dalhousie Libraries University Archives’ Elisabeth Mann Borgese Collection Attracts International Researchers

April 7, 2014 Marlo MacKay

In January, the Dalhousie Archives hosted a researcher who travelled more than 15,000 km from home to access a part of the collection that is central to her work. Prue Taylor is a senior lecturer of law at the School of Architecture and Planning and the Deputy Director of the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law at the University of Auckland. She was in Halifax to use the Elisabeth Mann Borgese collection held in the Dal Archives.

Prue spent four days going through some of the sixty boxes of Borgese’s papers. “It’s taken a number of years for me to get to Dalhousie. I’m thrilled to be spending some time with this collection of international importance,” said Prue.

Prue’s work on international environmental law, environmental ethics, climate change, human rights theory, and commons governance have led her to the work of Elisabeth Mann Borgese. Borgese is an important international figure who spent nearly twenty-five years working at Dalhousie. In the 1960s, before she came to Dalhousie, Borgese and Arvid Pardo (then Maltese Ambassador to the United Nations), put forward the revolutionary concept that the oceans are “a common heritage of mankind.” This proposal triggered the negotiations for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Although it was not adopted as a principle of international law for the oceans as an integrated whole, it was codified for the resources of the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction.

Prue Taylor surrounded by file folders of Elisabeth Mann Borgese’s papers in the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room in the Killam Library.

Prue and fellow New Zealand scholar Lucy Stroud recently published The Common Heritage of Mankind, A Bibliography of Legal Writing, which includes legal work available in twelve languages. “For some time, many lawyers and diplomats have held the view that the common heritage of mankind is too utopian and controversial to be used in future international agreements. However, our research for this bibliography demonstrated just the opposite. There is a wealth of interest in the common heritage, much of it buried in legal journals. There has been a renaissance in the common heritage of mankind, and by producing this bibliography we are advocating for and participating in the renaissance,” said Prue.

“Dalhousie’s Borgese collection is a hugely valuable and important collection, and when more people know about it, it will be heavily used. An international audience would be fascinated by what you have here. Elisabeth provided an interdisciplinary approach to the common heritage of mankind. Today, that concept can be applied when we talk about climate change, biodiversity loss, and governance of the commons. It has so many contemporary applications,” said Prue.

“We have a tremendous legacy here, in form of the Elisabeth Mann Borgese collection,” said Michael Moosberger, University Archivist. “Unfortunately, people aren’t doing as much primary research these days, as more and more people rely on electronic resources for all of their research. That can provide quite a disjointed view of things, without real context or analysis. Not doing primary research also removes the joy and the benefit of serendipitous discovery, which can make primary research such a fantastic adventure,” said Michael.

Elisabeth Mann Borgese (Dalhousie Libraries University Archives)

“We’re so pleased that we will soon begin the process of digitizing this collection, thanks to a $100,000 donation from Nikolaus Gelpke, a former Dalhousie student of Elisabeth Mann Borgese. We love hosting international researchers like Prue, but we know that the Borgese collection will reach so many more researchers once it’s available digitally,” said Michael.

Prue Taylor isn’t the first international researcher to come to the Dalhousie Archives to use the Borgese collection. In January 2012, two people from the Lübecker Museen’s Buddenbrookhaus came to examine Elisabeth’s papers in preparation for a major exhibit they were mounting in Lübeck, Germany, the birthplace of Elizabeth Mann Borgese, to mark the tenth anniversary of her death.

Prue’s visit to Halifax was short due to meetings and other obligations in Ottawa, but she certainly made good use of her time and enjoyed her stay. “It’s been a pleasure to spend these past four days looking closely at Elisabeth’s life, work, and correspondence. Michael and all of the archives staff have been so welcoming, delightful, and friendly. I could not have made the discoveries that I have without their expert help,” said Prue.

To learn more about the common heritage of mankind, read The Common Heritage of Mankind: A bold doctrine kept within strict boundaries, by Prue Taylor.

Elisabeth Mann Borgese Collection Gains International Recognition

January 13, 2012 Tina Usmiani

Holger Pils and Karolina Kühn from the Lübecker Museen’s Buddenbrookhaus are currently working in University Archives and Special Collections (DUASC) on the Elisabeth Mann Borgese collection. Museum Director Pils and science staff member Kühn are examining Elisabeth’s papers in preparation for a major exhibit they are mounting in Lübeck to mark the 10th anniversary of her death. The exhibit is being mounted with major support from the International Ocean Institute and in partnership with the Geomar, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.

Lübeck was the original home of the Mann family, whose members include the Nobel Prize winning writer Thomas Mann, Elisabeth’s father, and the novelist Heinrich Mann, her uncle. Elisabeth was born in Munich, but the Mann family left Germany after Hitler came to power, moving first to Switzerland and then to the United States. In 1978, Elisabeth relocated to Halifax, and became a Canadian citizen.

As a Killam Fellow, Elisabeth taught courses at Dalhousie in Political Science and continued her work on projects relating to disarmament, international development, integration of marine resources and marine management. Awarded the Order of Canada in 1988, Elisabeth is remembered primarily as the founder of the International Oceans Institute and as a passionate advocate for environmental issues.

Holger and Karolina are very excited about the biographical exhibit they are planning, which will focus on Elisabeth’s life, work, and the impact of her legacy. It will also highlight her personal relationships: her love for her father, her complex relationships with her brothers and sisters, and her marriage to Giuseppe Antonio Borgese. “Germans identify strongly with the Mann family,” says Holger, “some even call them ‘the Windors of Germany’ because their lives are so vivid, full of contradictions and tragedies. But we know them primarily as talented writers and humanists. Elisabeth’s life work on the protection of the oceans is less well known in Germany than it is here.” The exhibit will include not only her papers but also photos, films and interviews, and personal belongings from her estate, as well as paintings and a bust of Elisabeth done by her father Thomas. “We’re trying to cover all of the life,” Holger explains, “to give a holistic picture of what drove her, what was behind her view of the world. We’ll make it a real show!”

The Elisabeth Mann Borgese collection is one of DUASC’s largest and most significant holdings. It was donated to DUASC in two parts, the first by the Public Trustee of Nova Scotia after Elisabeth’s death in 2002, and the second by the International Ocean Institute in 2009. A finding aid with a detailed description of the collection is available online.

“Elisabeth Mann Borgese and the Drama of the Oceans” will be on display at the Buddenbrookhaus from June through October 2012. It will then travel to Kiel, Berlin, and possibly abroad in 2013. The Buddenbrookhaus museum also holds an archive of the Mann family papers.

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