Stories From the Credenza. A Conversation about Private Archives in Busk

Family photographs, albums, letters, documents, and photographic negatives often lie tucked away for years in cupboards or biscuit tins. Even their owners do not always know much about them. Yet these materials are invaluable sources for understanding the history of families, communities, and settlements.

During this discussion, we will reflect together on the role of private archives in learning about a town. What are these collections like? How and on what media were they created? How can we store and preserve them for future generations? What can photographs or videos from holidays, a workplace, a park, a bus station, a performance at the Town Community House, or near the Badeni Palace tell us?

We will pay particular attention to the Urban Media Archive of the Center for Urban History's experience of working with private archives, the digitization process, and what happens to the collections once they have been archived. We will explore how digitized materials can be described, shared, researched, and linked to broader historical events and processes.

Organizers: Center for Urban History, Busk City People's House, with the support of the Busk City Council.

The event will take place as part of the exhibition and accompanying public program "From Place to Place: Stories from Scattered Archives," which is part of the "REHERIT 2.0: Common Responsibility for Shared Heritage" project. The "REHERIT 2.0" project is implemented by the Center for Urban History and the Center for Regional Development of the PPV Economic Development Agency with financial support from the European Union.

Credits

Cover Image: Postcard "Busk, rynek, Ringplatz", 1917 / Biblioteka Narodowa / polona.pl