On 17 and 18 November 2011, NISE hosted two events at the ADVN in Antwerp. On the one hand it welcomed representatives from the institutes, projects and networks linked to the NISE platform, for a seminar in which the database and its possibilities were presented. On the other hand one of the sessions of The Low Countries Conference Translation and National Images took place in the ADVN. For this double occasion a small-scale exposition with visualisations of nationalist conflicts was prepared, the result of which can from now on also be discovered on the NISE website.

From the international collections of the ADVN, sixteen cartoons, caricatures and other graphic depictions concerning nationalist struggles were chosen. In most of these images, originally published in newspapers and magazines, activists for a European national minority depicted the suppressing state and/or ethnic group. Topics as violence, economic and ecological exploitation and cultural contempt were part of a mechanism both spreading the idea of inequality and the necessity of autonomy.

At the conference in Skopje in 2010, it was agreed that the NISE network of institutes with an archival and/or custodial task related to collections and documents regarding national and regional movements, should facilitate the exchange of knowledge related to the filing of documents and archival collections. Its members should try to realize the means in order to facilitate the exchange of all relevant information related to the material conservation of their archival collections and documents and to exchange information about the conservation of their digital collections. Also, participating institutes should cooperate to realize an online tool that gives access to the archival collections and documents related to regional and national movements in Europe (18th-20th centuries) and preserved in one’s own and other national institutes for research purposes.

Expertise and Information Centre (EIC)

It has resulted in a database and an archival manual, both now available on the NISE website, the latter kickstarting a new section called Expertise and Information Centre (EIC) in the process. Over the next few months, the report following the project will be published in the Proceedings series.

http://nise.eu/en/activities/projects/guide-to-the-archives-and-documentation-of-the-member-parties-of-the-european-free-alliance-efa-4/

Project description
At the end of the Guide to the Archives (GTA) project, carried out by NISE on behalf of CMC from december 2009 to december 2011, the ensuing report made clear that for part of the member parties of EFA, the situation their archives find themselves in (material conditions, state of arrangement, level of management etc.) puts their use and even their actual survival in serious doubt.
In the report, one of the conclusions reached and recommendations made to remedy this situation concerns the necessity of assisting party archives with their most urgent and basic needs, by offering an archival service on a temporary and limited basis. The Flying Archivist project wants to organise that service.
The project will:
- organise the application process by EFA party members to CMC as well as the consequent selection process, resulting in three cases approved;
- sign with each participant separately a cooperation agreement, setting out the mutual obligations;
- send a qualified and experienced archivist for a maximum of 5 days to each of the selected party archives. This flying archivist will perform one, some or all of the following tasks, in accordance with the specific circumstances for each situation:
* consult on storage, materials, handling, arranging, drawing up finding aids, digitalisation, access regulations and procedures etc.;
* execute an exemplary arrangement;
* assist with finding and organizing due material care and attention;
* point to and arrange for the relevant ICT environment for digital born archives;
* draw up a report with conclusions and recommendations for each participating party archives separately.
- from the experience gained with the different cases, add to the on-line archival manual for the preservation and management of archives of nationalist and regionalist political parties.

Application form

Scholars from all over Europe discussed the ideas behind and functioning of these cultural associations, how they influenced each other and in what sense they were driven by nationalist aspirations. It was the first time that a comparative approach of this theme was undertaken.

Workshop reception

The programme had different sessions, analyzing both the cultural transfers in Eastern and Central Europe and the parallel developments elsewhere on the continent. Precirculated papers enabled thought-provoking debates during which the specificity and dynamics of the model of the matica were questioned.

Conference room in the Central European University

Miroslav Hroch, Alexei Miller and Louis Vos acted as chairmen; Joep Leerssen and John Neubauer formulated the first conclusions at the end of the meeting. Papers and debates will result in a publication. For more information, please contact NISE conference manager Andreas Stynen (andreas.stynen@nise.eu).