NDAP international activity

Description of conducted activity

I. Achievements to date

The Head Office of State Archives and archives subject to it in Poland are involved in developing collaboration with many foreign partners. The basis for these contacts constitute bilateral agreements concluded with 25 countries. Under these agreements joint scientific projects are conducted as well as exchange of professional staff and experiences within traineeships, training, scholarships; international conferences are organised on current archive problems and promoting the knowledge about Polish archives and their invaluable collections. The most important tasks and trends of the foreign policy of the General Director of State Archives focus on a few basic areas:

• Idea of common archive heritage in relations with the Central Eastern European countries.
• Collaboration of Polish archives with the archives of the European Union.
• International programmes.
• Collaboration with Polish communities and preservation of Polish cultural heritage abroad.
• Archives in the state’s history-based politics.  

II. Future aims and plans

Experiences of Polish state archives in foreign collaboration to date show that these institutions became important partners for archives in the West, Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In the last two cases Polish archives and the Head Office of State Archives can become a leader for smaller countries of that region and in some fields are already considered as such. It is proved by experiences from the contacts to date, for example, international conferences such as Colloquia Jerzy Skowronek Dedicata and EURASICA. Polish state archives are ahead of Central European and Asian countries in terms of computerisation, on-line access to databases and professional publications. This position should be strengthened, for example by intensification of collaboration under bilateral agreements and joint projects, especially with our closest neighbours. Polish archives can also be an intermediary in expressing the needs and interests of the Eastern European archives in European archive bodies, successful collaboration with the East can also strengthen our role as a partner for the Western Europe. Contacts of the last few years and participation of the Head Office of State Archives representatives in discussion on current problems of European archive studies (e.g. within DLM-Forum, or problems of archive standards, like application of EAD standards as a tool to present archival aids) indicate that in a short time we can “catch up” in terms of technology and already today we are becoming an important and rightful partner for the archives of Western Europe.

Among the most important trends and tasks for the archives in the field of international collaboration in near future are:

• develop these areas of collaboration which at present are of key importance for European archives (these crucial areas were indicated for example in the Report on archives in enlarged European Union of 2004), e.g. questions related to acquiring and managing electronic documentation or the problem of digitalisation of archives, including the planned protective digitalisation (this will be connected with the necessity to obtain significant financial resources for this kind of project);
   
• develop wider exchange of archivists with Western European countries (at present it takes place in one way, i.e. usually Polish archivists are sent abroad). We need to encourage them to use Polish archive collections and get to know Polish archives what will lead to promotion of Polish archival assets;
   
• maintain and develop contacts with countries of Eastern Europe and make attempts to participate in new initiatives, e.g. through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Department for Development of Cooperation which within new projects offers a possibility to support countries of this area, for example, offering help in the form of scholarships and staff training. Extremely important forms of collaboration with this region of Europe remains microfilming and scanning of collections concerning Poland (especially completion of the project in Ukrainian archives) as well as start of microfilming of documents from the Lithuanian and Belorussian archives;
   
• continue the policy of obtaining copies of archive materials from Russian archive collections. One of the most important offers from the Russian side is a repeated offer to sell microfilms of the Lithuanian Metrica and Ruthenian (Volhynian) Metrica whose originals are kept at the Russian State Archive of Old Files in Moscow – it is one of basic sources on the history of old Poland;
   
• continue organisational and inventorying works of Polish community collections with emphasis on staff training during traineeships in Poland. Last year we observed an increased interest in collaboration with the Head Office of State Archives from Church institutions (e.g. Polish catholic missions) which so far rather distanced themselves from participation in joint projects. Fourteen Polish institutions from European counties and the United States expressed interest in obtaining archival help from state archives in 2008;
   
• development of marketing actions, especially through publications and international conferences, presenting the possessions of Polish archives and their significance for the preservation of Polish and European cultural heritage.

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