Our timeline and achievements – Archival society of slovenia

1948	An Archival Section was established within the Historical Society of Slovenia. Both the Society and the Section paid a great deal of attention to the regulation of archival services in Slovenia and the restitution of archives.

1953	The Federation of Archival Workers of Yugoslavia was founded, proposing that archival societies be established in the republics. The Slovenian Society of Archival Workers was incorporated in the federation after its inception. The name of the association has changed several times: the Federation of Archival Workers’ Societies of Yugoslavia (1955 to 1980), the Federation of Societies of Archivists of Yugoslavia (1959 to 1964).

1954	On April 27, the Society of Archival Workers of the People’s Republic of Slovenia was founded in Ljubljana.

1956–1961	In cooperation with archives across the country, the Society organizes “archival weeks”, presenting archives and archival profession in schools and on the radio, in central newspapers and exhibitions. In 1959, the State Archives of Slovenia presented its work in a central television news segment.

1960	Following the renaming of the Federation to the Federation of Societies of Archivists of the FPR Yugoslavia the year before, the Society renames itself in the Society of Archivists of the People’s Republic of Slovenia.

1962	In Novo mesto, the Society organizes its first convention. The theme of the convention is “Problems of archives and working in archives”.

1964	The Society is in charge of the preparation of the Slovene archives act: on the request of the Republican Secretariat for Education in Culture, the Society proposed a study The State, Problems in Perspective of Archival Services in Slovenia, which was submitted to the Slovene Parliament. The Society has prepared draft laws on archives, the archives council and the Archives of Slovenia. In February 1966, the Law on Archival Material and Archives was adopted.

1965	The Society publishes a Guide to the Archives of Slovenia.

1966	With the desire to include members from different disciplines, the Society is renamed the Archival Society of Slovenia.

1966	Based on the Slovene Archives Act, the Community of Archives of Slovenia (SAS) was established, bringing together all archives and administration bodies with independent archival service. SAS took over part of the tasks of the Society (including co-ordination in cooperation with foreign archival services, organization of education, publishing of professional literature). In 1970, SAS became a member of the International Council on Archives.

1973	The Society publishes an Open Letter concerning the restitution of archives from Austria and Italy on the 50^th anniversary of the unfulfilled 1923 Archival agreement between Yugoslavia and Austria. The letter is sent to various addresses home and abroad, including the International Council on Archives, in 900 copies.

1974	The Society actively participates in the organization of history groups at secondary schools. In the school year 1974/75, the Slovenian Institute for Education published the first topics for historical groups. The members of the Society participated in the preparation of topics and seminars for mentors.

1975–1990	1975–1990 Austria restitutes to Yugoslavia most of the archives under the 1923 Agreement and the 1958 Protocol relating to archives taken during World War II. Issues remain with Austria, especially in the Styrian Regional Archives.

1976	The Society proclaims October 20^th as the Slovene Archives Day. The decision is based on a circular issued on 20 October 1943 to the district cultural clerk in Velike Lašče, instructing him to save as many archives as possible from the devastated Turjak Castle.

1977	After a long effort by the Society, the study of archival science is introduced at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana.

1978	The Society is the recipient of a memorial decoration of the Federation of Archival Workers of Yugoslavia. At the same time, several members of the Society receive the award for their work in the federation.

1978	The Society begins publishing the professional journal ARHIVI, which is still published today.

1980	The Society begins publishing the series VIRI (Sources for Slovenian History). The first issue of the series was prepared by dr. Janko Pleterski entitled Political Persecution of Slovenians in Austria 1914–1917.

1981	The section of archival workers outside of archival institutions is established within the Society.

1983	On the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of the Society, the Society appoints six honorary members who were members of the commission for the fulfilment of agreements on the restitution of archives from Austria. The other members of the commission, archives employees, received recognitions for their work. Between 1983 and 2011, eleven honorary memberships were awarded for extraordinary merits for the development of archival science, development and implementation of the programme orientations of the Society, and the development of the Society in general.

1985	The Society begins with international bilateral professional meetings – “archives days”. The first is the Slovenian-Bavarian Archives Day. In 1986 and 1989, bilateral meetings were held with the Italian and Hungarian archival services.

1991	In October, the Archival Society of Slovenia withdraws from the Federation of Archival Workers of Yugoslavia.

1992	In April, the Society becomes a member of the International Council on Archives, category B, where national societies are affiliated.

1994	The Society appoints a group to formulate comments and suggestions regarding the new archival law. Two years later, it issues a memorandum over delays related to archival legislation – the Archives and Archives Material Act enters into force in 1997.

2002	The Aškerc Award and the Aškerc Recognition Award are awarded for the first time for special achievements in archival science. The awards are named after the poet Anton Aškerc, who was in charge of the Archives of the Ljubljana Municipality between 1898 and 1912 and is considered the founder of Slovenian archivistics.

2004	At the ceremony marking the 50^th anniversary of the Society, honours have been given to fourteen deserving members who have distinguished themselves in the Society with their editorial, secretarial and presidential work. The gathering was addressed by the then Minister of Culture, Andreja Richter.

2006	Achievement of the editorial board of the journal ARHIVI is the inclusion of the journal in the two most important international databases for historical scientific publications – Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life, run by the American organization ABC Clio (more about current inclusion in databases on ARHIVI webpage).

2008	The 1st International Conference of the Archivists of Slovenia and Croatia takes place in Tuhelj, Croatia. It is decided that the consultations will be biennial. The Declaration on Cooperation between the Archival Society of Slovenia and the Croatian Archival Society is signed.

2010	In cooperation with the Slovenian archives, a publication entitled Slovenian Archives present themselves is published, designed to increase the visibility of the archival profession and to present the state of today’s archival network. 2013 is followed by a reprint.

2013	At a convention in Nova Gorica, the Society presents a Memorandum on the Regulation of Archives Issues with the Republic of Italy. Support for the memorandum expressed as many as twenty reputable institutions, societies and bodies of local self-government with their signatures. The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Borut Pahor, also expressed his support for the memorandum. The restoration of archives from Italy, despite the efforts of the Society, remains an unresolved issue.

2014	In Čatež, the Society organizes an international conference entitled “Archives in Crisis”, in which archives and archival societies of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Vojvodina participate.

Our timeline and achievements