Rediscovering the Heritage of the Past

Marian Mikołajczyk, Grzegorz Nancka, Lucyna Sadzikowska

• Publisher: V&R Unipress
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9783847019251
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literatura
• Subtopic: Biblioteconomía y ciencia de la información

The contributions included in this volume address issues related to contemporary problems of publishing archival sources, legal aspects of access to archival sources created in the 20th century, electronic documents – their mass nature, peculiarities and gaps in the 20th century documentation, as well as sources serving to transfer values and knowledge between generations. The subject of the articles is the description of a wide spectrum of issues concerning the everyday lives of prominent individuals and the documentation thereof. It is imperative to acknowledge the foundational significance of this element in the context of civilisation's evolution, the shaping of international relations, and the dynamics of geopolitics.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Body
• Archival Materials as a Carrier of the Heritage of the Past: Introduction
• Marian Mikolajczyk (University of Silesia in Katowice): Municipal Books of Criminal Cases in Poland in the 16th–18th Centuries and their Research Value
• Bibliography
• Manuscripts
• Source Editions
• Studies
• Malgorzata Myl-Chojnacka (University of Silesia in Katowice): The Archives of Truth Commissions: The Simple Remains of Transitional Justice or a Tool for Ensuring the Rights of Victims?
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Truth Commissions: A Victim-Centred Approach to Documenting Past Violations
• 3. Archives of Truth Commissions and Victims’ Right to the Truth
• 4. The Archives of Truth Commissions and the Guarantee of Non-Recurrence
• 5. (Appropriate) Preservation of and Access to Archives as a Guarantee of Victims’ Rights
• 6. Conclusions
• Bibliography
• Legal sources
• Case law
• Documents of truth commissions
• Tomasz Adamczyk / Grzegorz Nancka (University of Silesia in Katowice): The Significance of Archival Sources in the Reconstruction of the Legacy of the Codification Commission of the Republic of Poland in the Area of Succession Law
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Difficulties and obstacles in the research into the succession law codification in interwar Poland
• 3. New archival sources pertaining to the history of the work on succession law and their research value
• 4. A reconstruction of the fundamental assumptions of the succession law codification as an example of the research potential of archival sources
• 5. Perspectives for the research into the legacy of the Succession Law Subcommission
• 6. Summary
• Bibliography
• Sources
• Literature
• Paulina Gwoździewicz-Matan (University of Silesia in Katowice): Private Archives in Museum Collections. A Legal Perspective
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Private archive under the law
• 2.1. Introductory remarks
• 2.2. Archive in the light of property law
• 2.3. Archival materials and the national archival resource
• 2.4. Private archive in the light of copyright law
• 2.4.1. Private archive as a collection
• 2.4.2. Archival material as a work
• 3. Archives management in museums
• 3.1. Archival materials as museum collections
• 3.2. Providing access to archival materials by museums
• 3.3. Fair use
• 4. Use of archival materials – the researcher’s perspective
• 5. Final remarks
• Bibliography
• Lucyna Sadzikowska (University of Silesia in Katowice): The Tangible and Intangible Heritage of Former Concentration Camps (Based on the Example of Stutthof, Gross-Rosen, Auschwitz Archives)
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Tangible and Intangible heritage of former concentration camps – selected Issues
• 3. Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Internet resources
• Renata Dampc-Jarosz (University of Silesia in Katowice): Between Forgetting and Remembering. A Search for the Past in the Archive of the Polish Catholic Mission in Hannover
• 1. Introduction: Methodological Assumptions
• 2. The Polish Catholic Mission in Germany: Origins, Development and Activities
• 3. Archive of the Polish Catholic Mission ‒ Characteristics of the collection
• 4. The Archive of the Polish Catholic Mission in Light of Archival Research. A Glimpse into the Future
• Bibliography
• Internet resources
• Tomasz Nocoń (University of Silesia in Katowice): Diocesan Archives as a Source of Unique Materials for Historical Research
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Organisation and functioning of diocesan archives in Poland
• 3. Types of resources
• 4. Selected examples of unique collections from the Archdiocesan Archives in Katowice
• 5. Conclusions
• Bibliography
• Sources
• Literature
• Aleksandra Jarosz (University of Silesia in Katowice): Preserve from Oblivion. The Role of Memorials and Archives of Forgotten History on the Example of the Documentation Centre for the Deportation of Upper Silesians to the USSR in 1945 in Radzionków. An Attempt to Outline the Problem
• 1. Introduction
• 2. History of deportations from Upper Silesia in 1945
• 3. Documentation Centre for the Deportation of Upper Silesians to the USSR in 1945 ‒ origins, structure and activities
• 4. Archive resources of the Centre for the Deportation of Upper Silesians to the USSR in 1945
• 5. Summary
• Bibliography
• Internet resources
• Pawel Zakrajewski (University of Silesia in Katowice): The Evolving Nature of the Term ‘Archive’
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The term archive in Oxford English Dictionary
• 3. Archiwum in the The Great Dictionary of the Polish Language
• 4. Conclusions
• Bibliography
• About the Authors