COURAGE

connecting collections

The Croatian State Archives (CSA) is the central archival institution in Croatia, which operates not only archival material created by the central state bodies and important national institutions but also material from the personal papers of families and distinguished individuals, as well as that of the Croatian diaspora.  The institutionalisation of CSA goes back to the early modern period, in the seventeenth century, when in 1643 Croatian Parliament decided to store and keep documents and charts of feudal privileges and prerogatives of the Croatian Kingdoms in a special chest. In the nineteenth century, this archive became accessible to the public upon the enactment of the Act on National Archives in Zagreb, stipulating conditions on the use of the content. In the interwar period, during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the archives become an independent institution under the name of the Royal State Archive, which becomes a body separate from the government.

In the communist period, the archive again confirms its independent status. First, it operates under the name of the State Archive of the People’s Republic of Croatia, and from 1962 as the Archive of Croatia. At around that time, various departments for the preservation of archival material were established. In 1962, it was the Documentation Information Centre. In 1979, the Croatian Film Archive was founded as part of the Archive and served as the national film archive. After the fall of communism and once Croatia gained independence, the Archive of Croatia gained its present name of the Croatian State Archives (CSA) (1993). Today, CSA holds more than 23,500 linear meters of archival records, arranged into more than 1,850 archival funds and collections. Next to the Film Archive is the Photo Archive with more than 750,000 photos of particular value, along with the Microfilm Archive containing more than 7 million pictures from different Croatian and foreign institutions. The CSA library holds more than 160,000 volumes. From 2006 onwards, the CSA has been developing a unique archival information system, making digital data accessible from all the Croatian archives.

At the CSA, about 580 funds and collections out of the total of 1,850, or 33%, have limited accessibility, with the majority belonging to the Department of Contemporary Archival Material and the Department of Family Funds. However, the CSA systematically facilitates accessibility to its archival material through the declassification of the material marked by various levels of secrecy, especially that about the socialist period.

The goal of the Tamás Cseh Archive Foundation is to set up an independent interdisciplinary archive in order to document the oeuvre and personality of Tamás Cseh and the era in which he was active, create a complete digital database, and publicize the findings of research on his life and creative work.

The foundation was planned in 2011, and in 2012 it became a legal entity. Members of the first board were Géza Bereményi, Éva Császár Bíró, Gábor Hanák, and Ferenc Zumbok. Following the death of Zumbok, János Csák and István Kukorelli joined the board.

Established as People's Community Center [Chitalishte] "Napredak" [Progress] in 1927, the Chitalishte in Chepintsi is still active today. Till 2005 it maintained a library with over 12 000 editions; a dance school, a singing group, a cinema hall. At the Chitalishte functioned also the "Club of the Regional Ethnographers [kraevedi]". In 2005, due to the restitution of the building, the Chitalishte remained for several years without own spaces and was not functioning; part of the library fund was destroyed due to poor conditions in the derelict after the restitution building. In 2009, some rooms on the top floor in a building that functioned in the 1960s-1970s as a maternity hospital were given to the Chitalishte for the needs of the library. After a partial renovation and with great volunteer work of the librarian Maria Petkova Ivanova (daughter of Yagoda and Petko Ogoyski) the main part of the editions was saved and the library opened again.

The Chitalishte is on budget at the Ministry of Culture. The limited budget allows only two posts – a librarian and a secretary. The Chitalishte's management is honorary: Chairman Nikolay Likovski, vice-chairman – Petko Ogoyski.

The management of the Chitalishte and the Town Hall of Chepintsi discuss the option of reconstructing a building for the needs of the Chitalishte with the construction of a museum part in which the collection of Petko Ogoyski could be transferred.

Czech Radio is a Czech public broadcasting body established by law. At present, Czech Radio operates four nationwide stations: Radiožurnál, Dvojka, Vltava and Plus, as well as regional broadcasting. Czech Radio began broadcast on 18 May 1923. Czech Radio also operates one of the largest sound archives in Central Europe. It holds 80 000 hours of phonograph records and 25 million pages of written material. The Archive supports the radio program, preserves the cultural heritage of the Czech nation and makes it accessible to the public.