Letting in the Light: The emergence of an information‐based civil society in post‐dictatorship Argentina, 1984‐2004 Available to Purchase

In 1983, democratic elections ended a seven‐year military dictatorship in Argentina, bringing the end of a violent military dictatorship and its campaign to eliminate what it labelled ‘subversive elements’ within Argentine society. Alongside the regime’s human victims, information and archives also suffered severely. Document raids of social organisations were common, and the military junta worked to actively destroy any records it deemed threatening or simply inappropriate. When civilians returned to power, they moved to initiate wide‐spread educational reforms, many of which focused on the development of libraries and archives. This article examines information repositories ‐ archives, libraries, and museums ‐ as small organisations and institutions empowered by the new civilian administration to emerge as prominent players in Argentina’s democratic transition.