José Luis Ramírez Ramírez, Don Pepe, was a notable collaborator and deep believer in the work of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). He set about creating a valuable archive with what for others was simple stationery, bureaucracy and documentation, but which over time became the basis for archaeological explorations and research that led to undergraduate and graduate thesis.
On Wednesday, November 25, 2020, Don Pepe ceased to exist, aged 75 and over 50 at the service of the INAH. For him, the most important thing was not to leave without having given some benefit to Mexican archeology and he achieved this by practically creating the INAH Technical Archive of Archeology. But, what has happened since the departure of the man who knew and believed best in this knowledge space?
In an interview for El Economista, Gustavo Ramírez Castilla, secretary general of the National Union of Professors of Scientific Research and Teaching of the INAH, shares that the file continues to be administrative in the first instance, since the technical reports and the results of the investigations are protected there, in addition of permits and authorizations. “All the information of national and foreign archaeological investigations that are carried out in the country is there.”
But the truth is that it is not only an administrative archive, “it is a historical archive in terms of how the General Archives Law marks it, because it contains relevant information on a particular discipline, which is archeology and where there are archives since the middle of the century. XIX “. He said that today his consultation is basic for any archaeological investigation that is intended to be carried out in the country, because there are many of the antecedents. Furthermore, it is not only consulted by archaeologists from the country, but they come from all over the world to seek information.
Ramírez Castilla talks about that since Don Pepe passed away, that file remained in the hands of the head of the file, Beatriz Adriana Espíndola Serna, this is an administrative position that has existed for more than 10 years and these are places that are entered through the professional service of race. There is an anecdote because, curiously, Don Pepe could not compete for that square, despite being the greatest connoisseur and protector of the collection, so he was kept in an honorary position.
Despite this, the researcher assures that Don Pepe was always a fundamental figure in the operation and management of the archive, “because he, in addition to inventing his own system to classify documents, also had an excellent memory, he remembered where almost everything was , so it was very easy for the researchers to reach him and simply ask where to get information on that region, zone, project, research; he always knew ”.
He remembers that there were also times when he corrected them, “when we presented a publication, he approached us and told us our shortcomings in the investigation, even though he knew where to find them within the archive, his privileged memory was always of great help to all the researchers that we do. archeology”.
The collection needs a decent place and to be digitized
Everyone in the archaeological union and those who knew about his work, greatly regretted the departure of Don Pepe, however the archive has to continue operating, since the administrative structure exists to do so. This is particularly housed in the facilities of the Council of Archeology, in Avenida Revolución 1900, Tizapán San Ángel neighborhood, where the projects or reports are reviewed and approved, which are later placed in the archive for later consultation.
However, now what is being requested of the INAH director general, Diego Prieto, is to follow up on the request that Don Pepe had already made at the time, which is that the technical file have decent and adequate facilities for its safeguard, conservation and consultation, in addition, thinking that in the future the information will continue to increase, a space for growth is required for the next 20 or 30 years. “So far there is a project for the archive to be moved to a space in the National Museum of Anthropology, but the project has not been possible due to budget cuts and the pandemic.”
Ramírez Castilla also considered it necessary to implement other systems, “because in these times it is no longer viable only to have printed information”, consultation would be much easier if the material is digitized and is put at the service of science through the internet itself in a repository. “We believe that the archive has to be modernized to offer a better service.”
On the other hand, it is important to think in terms of the best preservation of these documents, because the archive is not only made up of printed reports, there is also a large photographic collection, hand-drawn and painted plans, as well as donations of collections at the disposal of the INAH, are libraries that have not been able to put themselves at the service of the community because there is no space or infrastructure.
The interviewee concludes that there are many challenges that must be overcome so that the archive is in good condition, and once it is in accordance with the needs, it is also requesting that it be given the name of José Luis Ramírez Ramírez, “in honor of our dear Pepe, who was the creator of this file. It would be a worthy recognition for their very important work at the service of Mexicans ”.
In June of this year, during an analysis table convened by the researchers’ union, archaeologists Leonardo López Luján and Luis Alberto López Wario described as unacceptable the disdain that the INAH Council of Archeology has had towards the Technical Archive of Archeology, which For 50 years he formed Don Pepe, and in recent years he has been confined in a warehouse “by officials who minimized its importance and did not understand its usefulness.” Right there, the researchers proposed that the collection be returned to the Casa del Marqués del Apartado , where it would have a worthy place and where its creator wanted it to be sheltered.
The Don Pepe archive
Since 1968, as abbot of an old monastery, José Luis Ramírez Ramírez, Don Pepe, integrated and classified a collection that contains almost 10,000 files, and field and research reports of archaeological work carried out in Mexico in recent decades, but also valuable documents that constitute a corpus that goes from the 18th to the 21st century, and which has been enriched with the personal archives of eminent archaeologists who have passed away, which makes it one of the most relevant archeology repositories in the world and a tool for invaluable consultation for scholars and interested in the matter.
This archive also preserves plans, hand records, photographs, maps, unpublished writings and archeology theses. It is a time box of Mexica archeology from the last century to date.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx