Czy historycy śnią o źródłach w Internecie? „Zapisy Terroru” jako nowoczesne narzędzie pracy historyka
Do the historians dream of the sources on the Internet? The “Chronicles of Terror” as a modern tool in the historian’s workshop

Author(s): Krzysztof Wiśniewski
Subject(s): History
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Chronicles of Terror; Pilecki Institute; digital archives
Summary/Abstract: Research into sources continues to be the primary area of work of historians. To this end they must frequently conduct wide-ranging preliminary archival studies. Thanks to the development of new technologies, researchers can utilize a host of modern tools, with advanced digital archives being chief among them. One such tool is the “Chronicles of Terror” portal, which is administered and developed by the Pilecki Institute. The objective of the article is on the one hand to present this website as a product of the current trend of establishing digital archives, and – on the other – to draw attention to its collections and numerous user-oriented functionalities. The introduction gives a broad outline of the background to the digitization of archival records as such, profiling the dynamics of development of digital repositories in the 2 1st century and emphasizing the significant role which they will in all probability play in the humanities in the not-too-distant future. This is followed by a description of the archival materials available in the portal, with a brief reference to the collections from which they originate. Further, I have explained the methodology according to which documents are processed for inclusion in the portal, starting with preliminary archival research and proceeding through indepth analyses and editing, right up to the authoring of translations and the preparation of materials suitable for internet publication. The paper ends with a presentation of “Chronicles of Terror” as a modern tool that augments the historian’s workshop by offering numerous helpful and comprehensive functionalities, which together assist users in rapidly locating the content which they specifically need.

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