We are more than happy and proud to present the printed proceedings of the 32nd ICARUS Convention, held in Novi Sad in June 2024 under the title Archives and Research – between the Analog and the Digital. The Convention was hosted by the Archives of Vojvodina and the Historical Archives of the City of Novi Sad and brought together archivists, historians, IT experts and cultural heritage professionals from Serbia and numerous other countries, including Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Georgia, the Netherlands, Estonia, Italy, Malta and Australia.
The newly published volume, bearing the same title as the Convention, brings together 21 carefully selected papers that reflect the breadth of contemporary archival research and practice. More than a simple collection of conference presentations, the Proceedings offer a comprehensive overview of current projects and emerging directions within the ICARUS community and its wider professional network. Together, the collected papers demonstrate how archival work today bridges analog tradition and digital innovation, opening new possibilities for research, accessibility and international cooperation.
By presenting outstanding examples of research, digitization initiatives, and conservation case studies, the publication aims not only to inform professionals and scholars but also to strengthen public awareness of the enduring value of archival documents as historical sources. The Editors and Publishers emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration: archivists, historians, humanities scholars, IT experts and other cultural heritage professionals are increasingly working side by side to ensure that documentary heritage is preserved, accessible and meaningfully interpreted in the digital age.
The papers are published in Serbian, Croatian and English, reflecting the international character of the Convention. They are organized into four thematic clusters corresponding to the Convention sessions.
Minority Communities in Europe – Archival Materials and Other Sources
The first section highlights archival materials relating to minority communities across Europe, demonstrating how archives preserve the voices and experiences of diverse groups.
One contribution explores the archival fonds “The Associations of Danube Swabians in Vojvodina (1920–1944)”, held at the Archives of Vojvodina. The paper provides insight into the arrangement, digitization and improved accessibility of this significant body of records. Another paper, presented by colleagues from the National Archives of Georgia, examines documentation concerning 19th-century German settlements in Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, and their important role in the country’s social and cultural development.
Attention is also given to the digitization of materials related to Aromanian culture, including the periodical “Lunjina”, as part of a project presented by UNIHUB Belgrade in cooperation with the Serbian-Aromanian Society. Further contributions shed light on archival sources concerning the Romani community in Kikinda from the 18th century to 1944, and on Muslims, Jews and Orthodox Christians in medieval Hungary as reflected in charters, letters and other documents.
The Jewish community of Syrmia is presented through selected materials preserved at the “Srem” Historical Archive in Sremska Mitrovica, illustrating everyday life and communal organization. A particularly valuable paper describes the digitization and systematization of the Folklore Collection of the SASA Institute of Ethnography, detailing software solutions developed to enable advanced exploration of folk songs and short folklore forms from the former Yugoslavia.
Other contributions in this section examine the personal fonds of Divna Zečević, preserved at the Archives of the Serbs in Croatia, and the life and political engagement of Magdalena Manda Sudarević, whose participation in the 1918 Great Assembly in Novi Sad marked an important moment in the history of Vojvodina and the broader region.
Archives and Societies – An Analog Archivist in a Digital World
The second section focuses on digitization projects and the evolving role of archivists in a rapidly changing technological landscape. A highlight of the Convention was the presentation of Transkribus, an AI-based platform for the recognition, transcription and searchability of historical documents. Developed since 2016 and operating within the READ-COOP framework since 2019, Transkribus today serves more than 300,000 users and over 200 member institutions worldwide. Staff from the Svetozar Marković University Library in Belgrade shared their experiences digitizing and transcribing numerous manuscripts using this tool, demonstrating the transformative potential of AI in archival workflows.
Migration and diaspora heritage also feature prominently. One paper documents digital image collections preserving the memory of Serbian migrants to Australia after the Second World War, created through collaboration between archives, libraries and museums. Another presents the European Commission–supported project “Archives and Traces of Migrations” (AToM), which approaches migration phenomena from an archival perspective, in partnership with institutions from Croatia, Spain, Hungary and the Netherlands.
The Proceedings further introduce the project “E-ROUTES – Time Travel Routes through Europe”, which gathers digitised materials from galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM institutions) to reconstruct thematic travel routes across Croatia, Italy, Serbia and Slovenia. Additionally, the project “C4Education – Creating a Virtual Lab for Cultural Heritage Tools”, financed under the EU Creative Innovation Labs program, aims to develop a virtual space where cultural institutions and citizens can access and use digital applications related to cultural heritage education.
Monasterium.net – From Local Digitisation to a Global Platform
The third section is dedicated to Monasterium.net, an online platform established in 2002 that provides digital access to medieval and early modern charters. What began with the digitisation of approximately 20.000 documents from monasteries in Lower Austria has grown into a vast international resource: today, the platform offers around 680.000 documents represented by nearly 970.000 images from more than 200 archives in 26 countries.
The two contributions in this section focus on the integration of medieval archives of Benedictine monasteries in Southern Italy into Monasterium.net and on the collection of charters and diplomas from the Archives of Vojvodina available through the platform. Together, they demonstrate how digital tools can significantly expand access to sources that were once difficult to consult.
Conservation and Restoration – Case Studies
The fourth section presents case studies from the workshop “Conservation and Restoration of Paper and Parchment”, organized within the program of the Archives of Vojvodina. Experts from Hungary, Croatia, North Macedonia, the Republic of Srpska and Serbia exchanged experiences in preserving written heritage.
Topics include methods of visual examination of documents, innovative use of amino alcohol-based protic ionic liquids for removing fungi from paper artefacts, conservation of maps and plans, and the crafting of a copy of the 1774 charter of Empress Maria Theresa establishing the Privileged District of Great Kikinda. Other contributions discuss methods for protecting archival materials from biological agents, including treatments by anoxia.
A Collective Achievement
The publication of these Proceedings is the result of the enthusiastic participation and professional commitment of all contributors. Special gratitude shall be extended to Ljiljana Bubnjević, Senior Archivist at the Archives of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, and Sara Samardžić, Advisor-Archivist at the Historical Archives of the City of Novi Sad, for their dedicated work as editors, as well as to the reviewers and editorial team.
Acknowledgment is also due to the institutions that made both the Convention and the publication possible: the Archives of Vojvodina as Publisher and Organizer, the Historical Archives of the City of Novi Sad as Co-Host, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia as the principal financial supporter, and the Austrian Cultural Forum Belgrade for additional support. The General Sponsor, Trevis LLC Belgrade, presented its archival storage systems during the Convention.
The volume we now hold stands as tangible evidence of vibrant professional exchange and shared commitment. By bringing together experiences from both traditional and digital archival environments, it highlights not only the challenges but also the immense possibilities of collaboration in preserving and interpreting documentary heritage for future generations.
Proceedings of the ICARUS Convention #32