The Wendish Research Exchange - Heitmann, Clemens: Digital Archive Portal on the History of the Sorbs. Work in Progress and First Results.

Lětopis Abstract 2019 1: Heitmann, Clemens: Digital Archive Portal on the History of the Sorbs. Work in Progress and First Results.

Although the Sorbian Cultural Archive already exists as a special collection and archive on Sorbian language, history and culture, there are numerous relevant sources on the history of the Sorbs, which are not stored there, but are in other archives in Lusatia, in Germany or even abroad. Those researching in Sorbian studies are therefore faced every time with the challenge of researching anew where the relevant documents on a particular question are to be found. In order to simplify and support research, the Sorbian Institute would like to built up a digital archive portal over the period 2017-2019 on the history of the Sorbs in a project financed by the Saxon State Ministry for Science and Art (SMWK). For this purpose, relevant archival materials – above all on contemporary history – are to be researched, recorded and digitalized. The recorded data secured in this way, as well as wherever possible digitalized images of documents, are to be made publicly available via an online portal, so that research on a particular topic is promoted on a lasting basis. Unfortunately, it is not possible technically to create a link to the local and district archives in Lusatia, which means that the Sorbian Institute will restrict the project to the holdings of the larger archives, such as the Federal Archive, the Saxon State Archive, the political archive of the Foreign Ministry and the United Nation’s archives at Geneva. The plan is to create something more than a special inventory or catalog of files. It will combine the archival holdings on a particular topic in virtual form, making it possible to carry out research online on information, which has been worked on systematically, and make available digitalized images. The Sorbian Institute is cooperating with significant partners, for example the SLUB (Saxon State Library – State and University Library of Dresden), the associated project “Virtual Archives for Research in the Humanities” and the Saxon State Archive.