Westphalian Archive Day
The Westphalian Archives Day is an annual specialist conference of archivists from Westphalia and Lippe . The cross-regional assembly serves to exchange experiences and to discuss archive-specific problems. Invitations to different conference locations are usually made at the beginning of March for thematically defined lectures and discussion forums. The archive day is organized by the LWL Archive Office for Westphalia , an institution of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association , in cooperation with the organizing cities.
history
On January 3, 1939, the director of the Münster State Archives , Eugen Meyer , invited to the first "meeting of Westphalian archivists, archive administrators and archivists" in Münster . 66 people accepted the invitation, including 10 archivists. The majority of those gathered were administrators. On the first day they met in Governor Kolbow's state house . “The history of municipal archive maintenance” was the subject of the first main lecture, given by Eugen Meyer. However, practical work aids were also discussed at the meeting and attempts were made to convey basic principles for establishing, securing and organizing the archives. From the minutes it can be seen that the speaker followed a fixed speech manuscript, but also allowed questions and additions from the group of participants and encouraged an open discussion. The second part of the day took place in the State Archives, where, in addition to lectures by three specialist speakers, there was also a guided tour of the archive's premises.
Due to the war, another meeting of a similar kind did not take place until October 2, 1949. This took place in Lippstadt under the title “ Meeting of Westphalian archivists, archivists and archive administrators” as part of the “Day of Westphalian History”. Of the 68 invited people, 41 attended the event. This lasted just under 1 ½ hours and consisted, among other things, of a report on the organization and tasks of archive maintenance.
Another meeting followed on July 2, 1950, again as part of the “Westphalian History Day” in Brilon . An increase in the number of participants was recorded here with 59 people. Many visitors had not received an invitation and appeared of their own accord. The meeting was led by Prof. J. Bauermann , who discussed questions of a general nature and pointed out recently published aids. Afterwards there was a discussion and a guided tour through the Brilon City Archives .
In the following years, meetings were held regularly in different cities, but always as part of the "Day of Westphalian History." This changed after the 13th meeting in 1959 in Herford . They broke away from the “Day of Westphalian History” and from then on held independent events. The “Conference of Westphalian archivists, archive administrators and archivists” was held in Arnsberg from April 7th to 9th, 1960. The organization was the responsibility of the head of the archives advice center. As in the past, the program comprised several presentations with debate and was supplemented by a full-day study trip. A total of 85 participants were recorded.
In 1970 the name of the event changed. Now the “Westphalian Archive Day” has been invited for the first time. Due to the growing number of participants at the following meetings, a general discussion was soon no longer feasible. In 1980, working groups were formed in Hamm, which are still part of the Westphalian Archives Day today. There has also been a change in the topics over the years. There was a reorientation away from the purely “instructive” towards presentations on the situation in the respective region or individual archives, inspired by the respective conference location. This concept is still applied to the present day of the archives. 250-300 archivists now attend the annual meetings, which makes the Westphalian Archive Day the largest regional archive day in Germany.
List of the Westphalian Archive Days
Until 1987 there was no pre-determined conference theme.
| year | place | Conference topic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | 1939 | Muenster | - |
| 02. | 1949 | Lippstadt | - |
| 03. | 1951 | Höxter | - |
| 04. | 1952 | Iserlohn | - |
| 05. | 1953 | Minden | - |
| 06/07 | 1954 | Rheine, Munster | - |
| 08/09 | 1955 | Hagen | - |
| 10. | 1956 | Hagen | - |
| 11. | 1957 | Soest | - |
| 12. | 1958 | Dortmund | - |
| 13. | 1959 | Herford | - |
| 14th | 1960 | Arnsberg | - |
| 15th | 1961 | Höxter | - |
| 16. | 1962 | Hohenlimburg | - |
| 17th | 1963 | Rheine | - |
| 18th | 1964 | Muenster | - |
| - | 1965 | - | - |
| 19th | 1966 | Bochum | - |
| - | 1967 | - | - |
| 20th | 1968 | Wiedenbrück | - |
| 21st | 1969 | Ludenscheid | - |
| 22nd | 1970 | Brilon | - |
| 23. | 1971 | Warendorf | - |
| 24. | 1972 | Werl | - |
| 25th | 1973 | Minden | - |
| 26th | 1974 | Beckum | - |
| 27. | 1975 | Bocholt | - |
| 28. | 1976 | Blomberg | - |
| 29 | 1977 | Muenster | - |
| 30th | 1978 | Soest | - |
| 31. | 1979 | Brakel | - |
| 32. | 1980 | Hamm | - |
| 33. | 1981 | Freudenberg | - |
| 34. | 1982 | Lemgo | - |
| 35. | 1983 | Arnsberg | - |
| 36. | 1984 | Bochum | - |
| 37. | 1985 | Lippstadt | - |
| 38. | 1986 | Schwelm | - |
| 39. | 1987 | Minden | - |
| 40. | 1988 | Rheine | The economic sources and their importance for the local history / indexing of archival collections |
| 41. | 1989 | Rietberg | Aristocratic archives in Westphalia. Politicians and archive owners on the importance of maintaining private archive material |
| 42. | 1990 | Attendorn | Sources on the history of trade and commerce |
| 43. | 1991 | Luenen | Newspapers and local history / newspaper holdings in municipal archives |
| 44. | 1992 | Meschede | Sources on technology and building history |
| 45. | 1993 | Muenster | Aspects of historical educational work in municipal archives |
| 46. | 1994 | Paderborn Castle Neuhaus | Sparkasse regional history |
| 47. | 1995 | Bielefeld-Bethel | Archives of the ev. And cat. Church / Church sources in municipal archives |
| 48. | 1996 | Bark | District archives: responsibilities and tasks |
| 49. | 1997 | Plettenberg | Transport history - current location of the archives of district communities |
| 50. | 1998 | Bad Salzuflen | Evaluation of files and electronic data |
| 51. | 1999 | Olpe | Future of Non-Governmental Archive Maintenance / Historical Environmental Research |
| 52. | 2000 | Rüthen | Digital information technology in the archive |
| 53. | 2001 | Menden | Society's Memory - The Archive's Documentation Task |
| 54. | 2002 | Rheine | Balance sheet and perspectives of archive maintenance in Westphalia-Lippe |
| 55. | 2003 | Warendorf | Public administration in transition / archives between defensive and offensive |
| 56. | 2004 | Brakel | Preserving, preserving, making usable - 15 years of the Archive Act in North Rhine-Westphalia |
| 57. | 2005 | Bad Lippspringe | Archive work under changed framework conditions / NKF - One-Euro-Jobs - Internet publications |
| 58. | 2006 | Bad Oeynhausen | Cooperation between the archive divisions / construction and installation of archive buildings |
| 59. | 2007 | Arnsberg | Regional identity and tradition formation / archival handling of bequests and photo collections |
| 60. | 2008 | Iserlohn | Historical educational work / archival handling of films |
| 61. | 2009 | Detmold | Forge alliances! Fields of archive cooperation today |
| 62. | 2010 | Came | From side by side to togetherness - profiling the archives in the urban cultural landscape |
| 63. | 2011 | Wins | Stop-gap or crown jewels - unofficial records in municipal archives |
| 64. | 2012 | Gronau | Use of archives between the reading room and the virtual shopping cart - everyday challenges and new perspectives |
| 65. | 2013 | Muenster | Everything digital? Electronic archiving in practice, building files archiving and digital services |
| 66. | 2014 | Bielefeld | Looking ahead - strategy development and planning in archives |
| 67. | 2015 | Gladbeck | Formation of tradition between pedagogy and paragraphs |
| 68. | 2016 | Luenen | Is everything according to plan? Handling maps and plans in archives |
| 69. | 2017 | Hamm | Are you still watching or are you already archiving? Photos and films in archives |
| 70. | 2018 | Greven | Carry on as before? Archive work under changed framework conditions |
| 71. | 2019 | Herford | Future is now! Digital ways of creating traditions, opening up and making them accessible |
| 72. | 2021 | Hagen | The focus is on people: sources of personal history in municipal archives
(originally planned for 2020, postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic ) |
Organization and process
The venue is determined by the organizer, the LWL archive office for Westphalia , at least one year in advance. Care is taken to consider the various regions in an appropriate ratio. Since the participants are mainly from small and medium-sized communities, the conferences mostly take place there.
Between 1973 and 1998 the Archive Days were traditionally held once a year in the week before Ascension Day. However, at the request of the visitors, the date was brought forward to the end of March. The participants come from all archives , but mainly from municipal and state institutions in the catchment area of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association. Over the years the number of visitors has increased to around 250 today.
When determining the general topic, one orientates oneself on activities and problems that arise from the day-to-day work of the archivists. This “topic” forms the basis for the later lectures and working groups. Only the regular lecture on the history of the respective venue does not relate to the topic.
In terms of content, the event is divided into two different sections, each of which is dedicated to a day: While general lectures on the respective conference topic and greetings are given on the first day, visitors have the opportunity to exchange experiences and discuss problems in smaller working groups on the second day. The conference closes with the “current hour”, in which the presentations and sessions are finally reflected on and assessed. In addition, the venue for the next year will be announced to the participants.
Conference reports and lectures of the Westphalian Archives Day are regularly published in the autumn edition of the specialist magazine “Archivpflege in Westfalen-Lippe” published by the LWL archives office and in the in-house “archivamtblog”.
Since 2008 there has been a stand at the Westphalian Archive Day, where the trainees of the graduating class of specialists for media and information services - specializing in archive (“FaMIs”) of the Karl Schiller Vocational College present projects. These are worked out beforehand as part of vocational school lessons. In the past, the subject areas included, for example, the introduction and integration of the FaMI profession in the archive world, which has existed since 1998, public relations as one of the main focuses of training and problems such as preservation and protection of the archive material from environmental influences.
literature
- Helma M. Massalsky: The Westphalian Archive Days - Assembly of Westphalian archivists, archive administrators and archivists . In: Westfälisches Archivamt (Hrsg.): Archive maintenance in Westphalia-Lippe . No. 24 , 1986, ISSN 0171-4058 , pp. 28–41 (47 pp., Lwl.org [PDF; 4.4 MB ; accessed on November 8, 2016]).
- Westfälisches Archivamt on behalf of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Ed.): Archive maintenance in Westphalia and Lippe . No. 46 , 1997, ISSN 0171-4058 ( lwl.org [PDF; 7.5 MB ; accessed on November 8, 2016]).
- Regional archive days in Germany . In: Norbert Reimann (Ed.): Texts and investigations for archive maintenance . tape 10 , 1998, ISSN 0944-2421 .
- Blog of the LWL archives office accompanying the conference (initially started as a pure conference blog ) ISSN 2363-6629
Further regional and country-specific archive days
- Working meetings of the working group of Lower Saxony municipal archivists
- Bavarian Archive Day
- Brandenburg Archive Day
- Conference of archivists from Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland
- Hessian Archive Day
- State Archives Day Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
- State Archives Day Saxony-Anhalt
- North German Archive Day
- Rhenish archive day
- Saxon Archive Day
- Schleswig-Holstein Archive Day
- Southwest German Archive Day
- Thuringian Archive Day
Web links
- Westphalian archive Daily 1990-2019 (on the homepage of the fiber optic Archives Office of Westphalia www . Lwl-archivamt.de)
- Archive School Marburg - Archive Days
Individual evidence
- ^ Helma M. Massalsky: The Westphalian Archive Days - Assembly of Westphalian archivists, archive administrators and archivists . In: Westfälisches Archivamt (Hrsg.): Archive maintenance in Westphalia-Lippe . No. April 24 , 1986, ISSN 0171-4058 , pp. 28 (47 pp., Lwl.org [PDF; 4.4 MB ; accessed on November 8, 2016]): "The first" meeting of Westphalian archivists, archive administrators and archivists "took place in Münster on January 3, 1939."
- ↑ City archive remains open because the Westphalian Archive Day was canceled due to Corona. In: City of Witten. March 10, 2020, accessed on March 13, 2020 : “The actually for 17./18. March planned "Westphalian Archive Day" has been canceled as a precaution due to the corona virus! "