Feast day of St. Damasus I (circa 304-84), pope (366-84). A special achievement of his pontificate was providing adequate housing for the papal archives.
December 11, 2019

On this date in 1991, Dame Stella Rimington (1935- ) became Director General of MI5, Britain’s secret intelligence service. She was the first female MI5 Director General, the first to be named publicly, and the first to publish an autobiography. She was made a Dame Commander of the Bath in 1996 and was the model for Judi Dench’s “M” in the James Bond movies. She earned a Diploma in Archive Administration from the University of Liverpool in 1959.
December 16, 2019

On this date in 2002, the Chairman of the Russian government, Mikhail Kasianov, confiscated the buildings occupied by the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg and consigned them to the Administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kasianov proposed closing the archives and warehousing the records for 15 to 3o years until a new archival facility could be built.
December 17, 2019