History, Memory, and Archives: Sensitive Issues

The conference is organized by the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore in cooperation of the Network of Nordic and Baltic Tradition Archives. Vilnius, 17–19 October 2018.

The conference is dedicated to the Centenary of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland. See PROGRAMME.

Creation of the national state is hardly imaginable without striking its roots in history and defining the grounds on which the future state is to be constructed. Thus, establishing of the tradition archives had a significant impact in consolidating national communities and shaping their values, even becoming means by which identity of a national community was formed. The tradition archives still play an important role in safeguarding the collectables and making them available to the society, and as knowledge hubs shaping people’s understanding of themselves. However, there are hosts of sensitive issues related to the functioning of the archives, from policies of the archive making to representation and research of the materials. The 100th anniversary of the independent states of the Baltic region is a good opportunity to survey how the national history is reflected in the archives and how the archives influence and sustain creation of national, social and individual identities.