The Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence: Research in a Multilingual and Transnational Archives

Abstract

The Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU) is a centre dedicated to the archival preservation and research on the history of European integration. In close cooperation with the Archives services of the EU Institutions, the HAEU preserves and make available to research the archival holdings of EU Institutions. Also, the Archives promotes research on the history of the EU Institutions, raises the public interest in the process of European integration and increases transparency in the EU Institutions’ work. Established following a decision by the European Communities in 1983 to open their historical archives to the public, the HAEU opened its doors in 1986. As part of the European University Institute, it is located in the historic Villa Salviati in Florence, Italy. The internet era and the modern information society have profoundly changed the research behaviour at the HAEU, in particular due to its unique character as transnational and multi-lingual archives. As central access point to EU institutional archives it is part of a network of more than 50 EU Institutions, Bodies and Agencies and seeks to respond, in close collaboration with its partners, to the challenges of the digital age. This paper outlines some key projects in terms of coping with research in an online archival database, the necessity to standardise and harmonise archival description, the added value of standardised vocabularies and the digitisation and online publication of paper archives.