Malta Study Center
Malta Study Center
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Established
1973 by the Honorary Consul General of Malta-Saint Paul/Minneapolis, Joseph S. Micallef, KMOb UOM. -
Mission
Preserve and make accessible the hand-written culture of Malta and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (also known as the Order of Malta) through digitization, research, and public engagement. -
The Malta Study Center maintains the largest collection of microfilms and digital images of manuscripts, art, and archival material related to Malta and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in the world.
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Director
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Social Media
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About
The Malta Study Center was founded in 1973 by Joseph S. Micallef, KMOb UOM, Honorary Consul General of Malta Saint Paul/Minneapolis to preserve the handwritten culture of Malta and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem through microfilm and digital photography.
The Center supports international research on Malta and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem by organizing and participating in conferences, workshops, publications, and exhibitions. The Center maintains active partnerships with other institutions, including the Mediterranean Seminar, the University of Malta, the RENowN Project (Université Côte D’Azur), the Archdiocese of Malta, the Malta Map Society, the Medici Archive Project, the National Archives of Malta, Heritage Malta, and the State Archives of Florence.
The Center also maintains one of the largest rare book and manuscript collections dedicated to Malta and the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem in North America. The collection includes incunabula, manuscripts, maps, archival material, rare printed books, and ephemera dating from the 15th to the 20th century. The Center’s collection is cataloged in HMML Reading Room.
Key milestones
- 1973-1989 The Center microfilms the religious archives of Malta, most notably the Cathedral Archives of Mdina, the Archives of the Archdiocese of Malta, the Diocesan Archives of Gozo, and the parish archives of Malta and Gozo.
- 1989 The Center begins its second major project -- the microfilming of the Archives of the Order of Malta at the National Library of Malta. The Center remains the only place outside of Malta where the complete Archives of the Order of Malta can be studied.
- 1995 HMML appoints Dr. Thresa Vann as the first Joseph S. Micallef Curator of the Malta Study Center.
- 2007 The Center starts its largest digitization project, the 1411 volumes of the Magna Curia Castellaniae Acta Originalia fonds at the National Archives of Malta.
- 2010 The Center completes a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to endow and create a permanent fund for digital preservation work and research on the history of Malta and the Order of Malta.
- 2014 HMML appoints Dr. Daniel K. Gullo as the second Joseph S. Micallef Curator of the Malta Study Center.
- 2018 The Center initiates the multi-institutional five-year preservation project, France and Malta in the Age of Revolution, 1775-1815.
- 2022 The Center initiates a multi-year project to digitize the archives of the Langue of Italy of the Order of Malta, beginning with the Priory of Pisa at the State Archive of Florence.