Archivo Audiovisual Biblioteca Nacional de Chile

History and Founding

The Audiovisual Archive (Archivo Audiovisual) is a department of the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile (National Library of Chile), the country's national library founded in 1813. The Digital National Library of Chile, which serves as the online platform for the Audiovisual Archive, was inaugurated on August 19, 2013, marking the bicentennial of the National Library. The Audiovisual Archive's collection spans from the 1940s to the present and focuses on preserving Chile's audiovisual cultural memory through systematic digitization of diverse media formats.

Collections and Holdings

Through its digitization program, the Audiovisual Archive provides access to a wide range of materials: unpublished recordings, field recordings, home movies in 8mm and Super 8 formats, television materials, national feature films, short documentaries, radio broadcasts, and oral history recordings. Notable collections include the Audiovisual Collection of Gabriela Mistral (recordings and interviews with the Nobel laureate), the Archivo de la Palabra (spoken word archive featuring voices of major Chilean and Latin American intellectual figures from the 1960s onward), radio recordings from Chilean broadcasting stations, and a hip-hop culture radio programme from 2001–2002.

In December 2024, Chile secured a UNESCO Financial Assistance Fund grant — the first such grant for Chile — to support digitization and preservation of photographic, audiovisual, and sound archives from the Pinochet dictatorship era (1973–1990). Key materials targeted include color slides from Salvador Allende's government, open-reel recordings of Chilean musicians from the Alerce record label, and historical documentaries.

Notable Materials Related to Journalism and Media

The archive holds recordings of radio broadcasts from Chilean stations, television materials, and cultural event records produced by the National Library's Cultural Extension Department since 2013. The Archivo de la Palabra preserves oral testimony from major figures in Chilean intellectual and political life.

Access and Usage

Materials are accessible online through the Biblioteca Nacional Digital de Chile portal. The archive is part of the broader national library system located on Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins in Santiago, in a building completed in 1925.