DIGITIZING THE PAST TO ILLUMINATE THE FUTURE

Press Release
PI/1283

DIGITIZING THE PAST TO ILLUMINATE THE FUTURE

To mark the occasion of the Millennium Assembly, and to inspire reflection about the past, present and future of the United Nations, the Dag Hammarskjöld Library has digitized and posted on its Web site selected landmark documents in all of the official languages of the Organization (http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/landmark/amajor.htm).

The Library has undertaken this initiative so that all peoples of the world can have the opportunity to reflect on the heritage of the United Nations and witness the beginning of its future.

The Web site is a unique source of historical documentation that commemorates the foundations upon which the Organization has been built and selected events that occurred in its earlier years.

In addition to verbatim records of the first General Assembly, held in 1946, other documents posted include the first agenda, verbatim records from the General Assembly session when Trygve Lie was installed as the first Secretary- General, and verbatim records from the session when the Declaration on Human Rights was adopted.

This digitization project is one of many conducted by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library in its continuing efforts to improve multilingual, electronic access to the documentation of the United Nations.

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