Memoria Abierta was founded in the year 2000. Its goal is to foster social memory to enrich Argentina's political culture, contributing to the construction of identity and the consolidation of democratic values and practices. Memoria Abierta collects, preserves, classifies, and disseminates the archival heritage of Argentina's human rights organizations as well as personal and institutional archives connected to the history of state terrorism. It produces evidence about the country's social and political life in the 1960s and 1970s and works on issues of territorial and spatial memory relating to the years of political violence in Argentina. Motivated by a deep commitment to the transmission of memory and to the public dissemination of its archival materials, Memoria Abierta develops educational tools, produces print and audiovisual resources, and organizes public exhibits that represent the past and make connections to issues and events in the present. In its work Memoria Abierta collaborates with civil society groups and the state to create and strengthen spaces for debate and reflection. It participates in the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience along with other regional and global organizations that work to prevent all forms of authoritarianism. Max Page is professor of architecture and history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Karen Robert, associate professor of history at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, is a historian of modern Argentina. Ilan Stavans is Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College.
