The premises of the Central Salesian Archive as they are today (2025).
The “Don Bosco” Library building on the UPS campus. Below, the shared entrance to floor 0, for the library staff and for the staff of and visitors to the Central Salesian ArchiveView from below of the windows of the ASC storeroom and of the UPS CeSIT officeView from below of some of the windows of the ASC officesFloor plan of floor 0 of the “Don Bosco” Library building at the UPS. The hatched area indicates the shared entrance and the space belonging to the Library and to CeSIT. The white area on the left shows the 4 offices and the Reading Room; on the right, the storage area, with the compact shelving units holding the archive boxes shown in light blueFloor plan of floor 0 of the “Don Bosco” Library building at the UPS. Bottom left, the entrance to floor 0 from outside; then, top left, the entrance to the archive offices and the shared corridor running round the library stacksFloor plan of floor 0 of the “Don Bosco” Library building at the UPS. In the detail of the drawing on the left, the area of the archive officesFloor plan of floor 0 of the “Don Bosco” Library building at the UPS. The storage area with the internal entrance and the two laboratory rooms on the right. Below, the CeSIT premises, hatched.Internal entrance door to the archive offices.Entrance to the shared corridor leading to the library and, on the right, to the storeroomREI fire door at the entrance to the archive offices. It was formerly the entrance to the UPS copy shopThe corridor links 4 offices up to the reading room and, at the end, to the REI fire door onto the emergency staircase on the north sideCorridor with offices on the left and the reading room at the endOn the left, along the wall next to the first library stack, cabinets with yearbooks and basic reference volumes for the archivists’ useInterior view of office 1 with workstationBetween one office and the next, copies from a selected photographic display of documents and of members or events are hung. Below, basic reference works: Memorie Biografiche, Epistolari, biographies of Don Bosco and other volumesOn the right, photographs of former archivists. An original front page of the period newspaper Corriere Nazionale announcing the day of Don Bosco’s death, 31 January 1888.Interior view of Office 2Between one office and the next, copies from a selected photographic display of documents and of members or events are hung. Below, basic reference works: Memorie Biografiche, Epistolari, biographies of Don Bosco and other volumesA set of the Memorie Biografiche del Venerabile don Giovanni BoscoA painting by Zonta, period reference works (Giovane Provveduto, Letture Cattoliche…) and recent onesInterior view of Office 3Second interior view of Office 3Interior view of Office 4Second interior view of Office 4Between one office and the next, copies from a selected photographic display of documents and of members or events are hung. Below, basic reference works: volumes published by the Salesian Historical Institute and by ACSSAView of the office corridor from the reading roomSecond view of the office corridor from the reading roomOverall panoramic view of the reading roomSecond interior view of the reading room, with minimal, essential equipment for reproduction and printingView of the corridor from the reading room. Top left, a reproduction of Savoy and Piedmont (1799)Internal entrance to the Archive Storeroom from the shared corridor connecting with the offices and with the libraryInternal entrance door to the Archive StoreroomSouth external side entrance. This entrance and emergency exit corresponds to the entrance of the former Cesit offices and leads to compact Shelving Unit A1, whose shelves hold the most recent archive boxes and which has free shelves that will take the archive boxes of transfers and of future documentation. Along the window frames, beneath the windows, are old Registers containing personal-record or accounting information, according to the corresponding shelf-mark codes.South external side entrance This entrance and emergency exit corresponds to the entrance of the former Cesit offices and leads to compact Shelving Unit A1, whose shelves hold the most recent archive boxes and which has free shelves that will take the archive boxes of transfers and of future documentation. Along the window frames, beneath the windows, are old Registers containing personal-record or accounting information, according to the corresponding shelf-mark codes.South external side entrance. Above the light-blue handwheels, yellow strips in blue lettering show the ranges of the shelf-mark codes of the boxesFrom the external side entrance to the door of the internal entrance. From this angle one can see the main internal entrance door (also an emergency exit) with the Shelving Unit marked A2. Between the two shelving units stands a metal chest of drawers holding objects and gifts received over the years by the Rectors Major.External side entrance View of archive boxes housed in Shelving Unit A2, with the internal entrance/exit door at the far leftExternal side entrance Details of the boxes of series H, archive boxes housed in Shelving Unit A2, with the internal entrance/exit door at the far leftMain internal entrance Details of the boxes of series H, archive boxes housed in Shelving Units A2 and A1, with the external side door at the far leftMain internal entrance with a view of the details of the boxes of series H, archive boxesView of the compact shelving with the light-blue handwheels of Shelving Unit A2, which hold the archive boxes of series E – HView of some internal shelves holding documentary series HDetail view of the signs giving the locations of the series on the compact shelving that houses the archive boxes of series HDetail view of the signs giving the locations of the series on the compact shelving that houses the archive boxes of series HView of the compact shelving of Shelving Unit B, which holds the oldest documentation. On the left, work tables for the staff to take out and check boxes and documents. Below, bulky and heavy handwritten accounting registers and other land registers from the beginning and the early years of the twentieth century. On the left, at the far end, the metal chest of drawers for large formats and shelving unit E can be glimpsed.View of the compact shelving of Shelving Unit B. In particular, the signage for series DView between series B and C showing, towards the far end, the shelving units with orange handwheels for photographs, photograph albums and building project filesView of the signage of the boxes of the series from A onwards of shelving unit BView of shelving unit B on the left, and shelving unit A2 at the far endView of the three metal chests of drawers for XXL large formats and, at the far end, shelving unit E with red handwheelsView of shelving unit E with the red handwheels on the left and, beneath the windows on the right, old accounting and personal-record RegistersDetail view, on the right, of handwritten Registers of the deceased, “Stati dei decessi del 1865”View, on the left, of the red handwheels of the compact shelving, with security key lockOverall view from shelving unit E to shelving units B and A2 at the far endView of shelving unit B showing the signage of the A boxesView of the corner glass partition, with the map showing the renovated offices and the plan of the new storeroom posted on it, and shelving unit B with the signage of the oldest boxes of series A, containing Don Bosco’s lettersView, on the left, of shelving unit C of the intermediate archive and, at the far end on the right, with the orange handwheels, the shelves holding the building projects and the photograph albumsView, on the right, of shelving unit D with the orange handwheels, with the shelves for the photograph boxesDetail view of the boxes with the photograph envelopes (IMG)Detail view of the compact shelving of shelving unit D with the orange handwheelsDetail view of boxes of the intermediate archiveDetail view of the cabinet of photograph albumsCentral view of shelving units D on the left and C on the rightView of the work area towards the north emergency exitGeneral view from the work area towards the photographic and intermediate archive. At the far end, shelving unit BView of shelving unit D, which holds the building projects, the photograph albums and the photographs, with the orange handwheel. At the far end on the right, the metal filing cabinets and chests of drawers holding photographs on glass plates, DVDs and CDs, and slidesView, on the right, of the files containing the building projects of the Salesian houses/works, arranged by country. At the far end on the right, the metal filing cabinets and chests of drawers holding photographs on glass plates, DVDs and CDs, and slidesView, on the right, of metal filing cabinets and chests of drawers holding photographs on glass plates, DVDs and CDs, and slidesDetail view of a drawer containing CDs and DVDsDetail view of a drawer containing glass photographic platesDetail view of a drawer containing 35mm slides in hanging sleevesInterior view of the small room for photograph processing and scanning. Filing cabinets with photographs and DVDs, and boxes being processed and already processed containing digitised photographsInterior view of the small room for photograph processing and scanningInterior view from the small room for photograph processing and scanning towards the archive storeroom. The room is air-conditioned.Interior view of the scanning workstationInterior view of the second, north laboratory for processing large-format documents, video transfer and digital format conversionInterior view 1 of the north laboratoryInterior view 2 of the north laboratoryInterior view from the north laboratory towards the archive storeroomInterior view 3 of the north laboratoryInterior view from the north laboratory towards the north emergency exitInterior view 4 of the north laboratory with the format conversion workstationInterior view 5 of the north laboratory
