The Archive of Serbs in Croatia was established in 2006 as a result of cooperation between the Serb National Council (SNV) and the Croatian Cultural Society “Prosvjeta” (SKD “Prosvjeta”). In the archives, registered archival material – documents, audio-visual and digital records and photographs of significance for the cultural-historic heritage of Serbs in Croatia and for studies of Serb-Croatian relations – is collected, stored, processed by experts and prepared for use.
Thus far, the Archive’s major focus was to collect documents created in institutions run by the Serb national minority. As a result, it now holds original material from most Serb institutions and associations (SNV, SKD “Prosvjeta”, Serb Democratic Forum, Serbian Orthodox Church). The Archive also possesses significant authentic documents such as bequests, maps, postcards, collections of photographs and other audio-visual and digital records, press clippings (i.e. newspaper library which contains 8,000 digitalized units) and copies of older archive materials, whose originals are kept in archives, museums and other institutions. The established quantity of material totals 110 d/m covering an extensive time period.
The most notable archive sources include donations by Vojin Bakić, Adam Dupalo, Slavko Goldstein, Dane Mirić, Jovan Mirić, Ervin Peratoner, Mihael Sobolevski and others; materials from associations, organizations and religious communities pertaining to the Serb community.
Identification of the source of material, its collection and classification implies further analysis and assessment, and display with the corresponding inventory and information tools. In data collection, another method is interview, especially when it comes to dealing with relevant historical witnesses or gathering family narratives.
With these methods and the scope of work in the Archives, the foundation is laid for a future research centre. The goal is for the archive researchers to use and thereby display materials in their scientific work, but also for all the interested users to be able to find most of the information and materials they need in one place. For this purpose, scientific journal Tragovi [Traces] has been founded.
The database allows our users to search materials that have been gathered, processed, and listed thus far. At the moment, the Archive is a part of the library catalogue which is updated on a weekly basis and now comprises more than 2,000 books. The database can be searched at the following link.
Contact the Archive of Serbs
Dimitrije Birač
dimitrije.birac@snv.hr
Address
Preradovićeva 21, Zagreb