Heritage and Repatriation in the History of Habsburg and Hungarian Archives

Abstract

Hungary’s National Library and National Archives seek to collect, as exhaustively as possible, information sources defined as Hungarica: created by, or about, Hungary or Hungarians. Modern archival practice privileges the principle of provenance (the identity of the author or records creator) in determining what an archive should acquire. The Hungarian government’s Mikes Kelemen Program, founded in 2013, builds on earlier efforts for the acquisition of foreign Hungarica publications and manuscripts, defined by the Hungarian identity of the author. But because Hungarians living in the diaspora are not only Hungarian, sensitivity to the heritage and collecting interests of the diaspora host country is recommended.