Abstract: Joint Database as Research Tool – Sources on the Society of Budapest (1870s–1910s) on ’Hungaricana’ Portal

New possibilities on archival research

By András Sipos

Abstract to the lecture of András Sipos on 15th February 2016

Hungaricana Portal  which has been launched in 2015 provides joint  access to digitized objects and databases of Hungarian archives, libraries and museums.  (http://hungaricana.hu/en/) Users can search with one click eg. in postcard collections of museums, records in archives and old adress registers preserved in libraries. This joint database collects the results of at least 15 years of systematic database-building and digitisation on mass sources in different institutions.

There are lots of sources, which were „marginal” 15-20 years ago because the pieces of information they contain were too scattered and searches based on traditional finding aids were too laborious  for effective research – and became frequently used because these tiny informations have found their context in the joint databases.

The possibility to detect multiple connections between eg. public notary records, architectural plans, probates, litigation files, postcards, advertisement in newspapers etc. etc. opens new possibilities of insight into the social composition of tenement houses and the social relations of their tenants in the period between 1870s and 1910s. The presentation will illustrate these potentialities through research examples, concluding that the exploitation of this reservoir of information fosters to embed these communities into the context of the rapidly transforming city and Central Europe.

András Sipos ist Archivdirektor des Stadtarchivs Budapest (HU) und Koordinator der Arbeitsgruppe “Katasterkarten” bei ICARUS – International Centre of Archival Research – sowie des ’Hungaricana’ Portals.