Wybrane problemy bezpieczeństwa archiwów kościelnych
SELECTED ISSUES OF THE SECURITY OF CHURCH ARCHIVES

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to present the basic issues related to the preservation of church archives, which are by their nature valuable resources in the context of history and information. The research conducted for the purpose of this article was interdisciplinary, as it utilises research methods typical of a scientific discipline, namely security science, whereby disciplines classified as social sciences and technical sciences were interlinked, resulting in a coherent whole. Theoretical research methods were used, as the authors were keen to capture the correct picture of the surrounding reality related to the security of church archives. Inductive, deductive, and especially collection and ordering methods proved useful, as through the latter the results of the authors’ creative inquiries were presented in an orderly form by systematizing them. The article assumes that the security of church archives is characterized by the introduction of successive and causally related specific changes, resulting in an acceptable level of protection of these archives from threats originating in forces of nature, technical failures, as well as acts in violation of the norms of social life and the law. Thus, we are addressing those threats that, in the security sciences, are referred to as threats to public safety and common security. The authors focus their considerations on a particular type of threats, rarely analysed in the context of protecting the Church’s archival resources. They are not due to the passage of time or unfavourable environmental conditions for the storage of archival resources, but to threats that cannot be circumvented in terms of their impact. The considerations are presented comprehensively on both cognitive and utilitarian levels. The authors refer to the legal conditions for the security of church archives in the context of ecclesiastical law, in order to conduct an analysis of threats from the mentioned areas, to demonstrate their specificity and unique destructive potential against archival resources. The article is a voice in the discussion regarding the development, on a larger scale, of a unified and structured concept for identifying threats to church archives, while providing an opportunity to define their scope.

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