Published on 16 August 2016
During the project called “Books discovered once again” the deep research inside so called Reserve Collections was made. Some books with apparent provenance signs were chosen for the process of cataloguing, library unit creation and long-term preservation. In the frame of the project more than 12 000 books have been processed. During the processing of the books new database of the provenance signs and formal holders is filled continuously. Now more than 2000 formal holders have been found. Among these formal holders there are many interesting persons from the first half of the 20th Century, some books were located in the institutional libraries (universities, civil fellowships, factories etc.) or state bodies.
During the preparation phase for the virtual and physical exhibition some smaller researches to the formal owners´ personal history were made. Obtain information bring very inspiring feedback to the questions – why, when and by whom the books were owned and how they were transferred to the National Library of the Czech Republic collections. Among the most marvellous stories belongs the tale of the Gregor Schwartz-Bostunitsch library or the story of the books collections of the formal owner of Walter´ company – Kumpera family. During these first researches many other interesting stories were discovered – to find all the possible relevant information and to start active provenance signs survey is the key challenge for the bilateral cooperation and for accentuation of the already achieved results.
Based on the information above, the group of formal holders (private persons, institutions, etc.) will be chosen. Archival specialists and historians will make a deep research in the original sources and summarize their live stories. The Norwegian project partner will be involved as well – their researchers will be responsible to open the hidden stories of foreign holders. Information about the research results will be published in step-by-step mode via the project web page. In the end of the initiative it is going to organize the seminar, where the results of the research will be discussed including the methodology and broader contextual information.
BFB initiative Nr. 1 – Provenance Signs Results – started on 15th May 2016 and will be closed in the end of September 2016. All the results shall be reusable not only by the researchers themselves, but also with other educational and culture heritage institutions, e. g. by the Division of Information and Library Studies of the Masaryk University in Brno.