About Us

Background

The initiative of the Common Archival Heritage of the Nations and States of Central and Eastern Europe Program was raised in 1997 at an annual conference of archives from the countries of the region, a one following from the series of Colloquia Jerzy Skowronek dedicata conferences first organised in 1995 and held every year in Poland. The 1997 Conference was devoted to archives preserving documentary evidence on the common history of Central and East European countries. The idea to prepare a directory of these archive materials was adopted during the above mentioned conference. A survey was made among the participating countries regarding the project assumptions, aiming at a precise determination of the subject and geographical scope of the directory and organisational assumptions regarding the collection of materials for the needs of the publication. The results of this survey were published in the 4th Conference Report of 1998: "Private Archives and Archive Materials in the Central and East European Countries", Warsaw 1999.

An important element of the survey was to agree upon a generally acceptable definition of the common archival heritage.

The following criteria were taken into consideration:

1. Territorial criterion: in respect to the territorial range of the record creator's activities including the territory of another state within its present borders. These are to be the materials of offices and authorities of central states-metropolis, the activities of which referred to the territory being at present within the borders of another state or states; regional offices and authorities operating on the territory which is now included into another state or states (regardless of it having or not the status of a separated administrative unit).
    
2. Subject criterion: in respect to the subject range of the record creator's activities. These are to be, among others, archives of international organisations, bilateral and multilateral treaty commissions, archives of emigration organisations and institutions, of organisations of national minorities, and religious institutions. This group also includes records produced by authorities, offices and institutions dealing with foreign affairs, international co-operation and relations, and problems of national minorities.
    
3. Private archives (of individuals and families) and private collections being the sources of studies on the history of another country or countries (e.g. archives of great aristocratic families, ambassadors' private archives, researchers' collections, etc.)

The main goal of the Program

The main goal of the Program is to provide as broad an access as possible to information on archives considered as the source base to the common history of Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, using new information technologies. The Program covers both historical archives and archives documenting the most recent history.

Partners

Partners of the Program include countries participating in Colloquia Jerzy Skowronek dedicata conferences, which appointed the Steering Committee in the following composition:

• Archives of the Republic of Slovenia
• Austrian State Archives
• Lithuanian Archives Department
• Open Society Archives Budapest
• State Committee on Archives of Ukraine
• The Head Office of the State Archives of Poland

The substantive assumptions of the Program envisage making the Common Archival Heritage web site operational, where current information on joint initiatives of archives and on-line publications will be available, regarding materials of a common archival heritage. The Program is open to all countries. Partners of the Program encourage national, public and private archives as well as all interested institutions to co-operate and participate in the Program.

Language

The English language will be the working language of the project and of the web site, with national languages used for the purpose of archival description of materials of the common archival heritage, for the needs of a database.

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