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On 17 July 2026, a workshop on digital repositories for testimonies of persons in border regions, organised by Director Dr Hilda García Pérez of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, took place in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The Spanish title was ‘Repositorio digital de testimonios de personas en situación de riesgo en contextos de frontera: taller interactivo’.

Machteld Venken from the Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH) of the ±¬ÁϳԹÏÍø presented the results of her on testimonies of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These include the development of a secure, integrated digital workflow for testimonies of persons at risk, from the collection of testimonies, through their preservation, analysis and disclosure. The development involved complex decision-making intertwining ethical concerns, digital possibilities and oral history methodology. The interview archive of the Luxembourg collection can be consulted onsite and . Venken invited other researchers working with testimonies of persons at risk, including in borderlands, to be inspired by the workflow developed in Luxembourg. To that purpose, are made available.

from left to right: Dr Hilda García Pérez and Prof. Dr. Machteld Venken

from left to right: Dr. Liliana Toledo Guzmán, Jonathan Verdugo Doumerc, B.A. and Dr Hilda García Pérez

Dr Liliana Toledo Guzmán, coordinator of the municipal archives of Nogales, Sonora, offered an insight into the archives’ decision to broaden the scope of their work from the preservation to the production of archival materials. She presented the idea of constructing local history by means of a digital repository of testimonies in Nogales. An overview of digital repositories for testimonies of borderland inhabitants and migrants existing on the other side of the Mexican–American border was offered as a benchmark. These include the I , ‘’, an Open Access digital archive on the website of the University of Arizona, on bilingualism and folklore in the borderlands at the University of Arizona, the , and the in Nogales, Arizona. Dr Toledo Guzmán envisions a future in which a digital repository will be created in Nogales, Sonora, if sufficient financial means are made available.

Jonathan Verdugo Doumerc, B.A., archivist at the municipal archives of Nogales, Sonora, applied source criticism to a selection of archival administrative materials documenting violence and persecution against borderland inhabitants, such as during the armed conflict between the Mexican government and the Indigenous Yaqui people in the state of Sonora in 1917, towards Chinese migrants, and with regard to vulnerable groups including sex workers. Proposed solutions included providing archival folders with a marker indicating their violent content, and offering visitors to the archives the kind of historical contextualisation Jonathan Verdugo Doumerc’s presentation provided.

from left to right: Jonathan Verdugo Doumerc, B.A. and Dr Hilda García Pérez

Participants to the workshop

Participants agreed that the methodology intertwining ethics, the digital and oral history can be particularly useful for research in some Mexican states characterized by a high level of violence. Many participants expressed their willingness to access U-CORE’s Open Access trainings. The discussion revolved around questions related to the feasibility of creating and operating or using a digital platform, as well as a possible deepened collaboration between COLEF and the municipal archives to preserve COLEF’s interview collection.

The workshop was recorded and can be consulted .