The University of Social Sciences and Humanities in collaboration with Aix Marseille University successfully organized the Scientific Workshop: Archival sources on Vietnam: prospects for cooperation and sharing.

Attending the workshop were: Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Thanh Truong (Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities), Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Phuong Ngoc (Institute of Asian Studies, Aix Marseille University), representatives of the leadership, lecturers, students of the Departments: Department of Archival Studies and Office Management, History, International Studies, ..., researchers from the National Archives Center, the Institute of Han Nom Studies, universities, the Archives Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; especially a number of witnesses participating in the migration to Vietnam in the years 1954-1975.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dao Thanh Truong delivered the opening speech: Archival documents play a very important role in the research activities of Vietnamese history from many perspectives, so I highly appreciate the idea of ​​organizing this conference. We would like to thank the Institute of Asian Studies at Aix Marseille University (France), especially Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Phuong Ngoc for accompanying, supporting, and closely coordinating to be able to deploy the conference quickly and effectively. The University of Social Sciences and Humanities hopes that in the coming time, we will continue to receive attention and support from the University of Aux Marseille to be able to organize more scientific activities between the two schools. In his opening speech, Dr. Cam Anh Tuan shared: “The topic of Archival documents on Vietnamese history is a topic of high theoretical and practical significance. However, up to now, there has not been any research work that systematically introduces the sources of archival documents on modern and contemporary Vietnamese history at home and abroad. Therefore, when we started the Seminar, we received the attention of many scientists and researchers at home and abroad, demonstrated through 20 presentations (17 by domestic authors, 3 by French scientists) and the presence of many researchers in today's Seminar. All presentations are the result of a process of very careful analysis, filtering, processing, and comparison of raw data contained in documents and archives to provide extremely reliable information. This is also a potential opportunity for cooperation and sharing between the Vietnam Archives and the Archives of countries around the world". In the 20 reports submitted, the papers presented at the Seminar focused on introducing archival sources related to the migration of Vietnamese generations from the late 17th century to the 1970s: migration from Vietnam to France, migration within the territory of Vietnam.
-Documents from the National Archives of Vietnam and France on the issue of immigration during the two world warsby Dr. Dao Thi Dien (National Archives Center I)
-Fieldwork methods supplement archival documents – Research on Vietnamese soldiers sent to France during World War Iby Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Phuong Ngoc (Institute of Asian Studies, Aix Marseille University)
-Vietnamese Workers in World War I (1914-1918) through Archival Documents: A Perspective on Eurasian Migrationby Dr. Cao Viet Anh (Institute of Han Nom Studies)
-Research on the repatriation of overseas Vietnamese to Thai Nguyen in the 60s of the 20th century through archival documentsby Dr. Duong Thi Huyen (Thai Nguyen University)
-Documentary sources on Neo-Island and New World Vietnamese repatriation to North Vietnam in the period 1954-1975: Value and accessibilityby MSc. Nguyen Van Ngoc (University of Social Sciences and Humanities). The papers not only mentioned information about the migrations (time of the migrations, the composition of the residents participating, the number, the lives of Vietnamese migrants in the host countries,...) but also specifically pointed to many valuable sources of documents that were exploited for the first time.
The workshop received many comments from the delegates, unanimously affirming the scientific and practical value of the workshop. The reports presented at today's workshop pointed out many extremely rich sources of documents being stored at domestic and foreign archives. The thorough exploitation of these documents will open up many new research directions on many issues that have long been left unanswered. In addition, it is also possible to exploit documents in localities, combined with interviews with witnesses to have a multi-dimensional perspective on the issue of Vietnamese immigration in the 20th century.
Ms. Tran Thai Minh Tam (Head of Archives, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) highly appreciated the cooperation between the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and Aix Marseille University in coordinating the organization of these extremely meaningful scientific activities. This is an opportunity for domestic and foreign scientists to share research results, experiences, and sources of documents. The reports pointed out that the sources of documents on the issue of Vietnamese immigration in the 20th century are very rich, stored in many places in the country and some overseas archives, so they need to be shared and exploited to bring useful, multi-dimensional and reliable scientific information. On the part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we are ready to support and create conditions for researchers, lecturers, and students of the University to access and exploit the archived documents that we manage.