With a donation in latest hardware and software technology, the Foundation for the Preservation of Historical Heritage (FPHH) has launched a major project of digitization of cultural and historical heritage of the BiH National and University Library, the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the daily newspaper Oslobođenje.
On this occasion, a press conference was held at the National and University Library at which Dr. James Lyon, founder of FPHH, a historian and associate scientist at the University of Graz, Nadina Grebović-Lendo MA, Project Coordinator for digitizing the NU Library, presented the process and the results of previous digitization, and the conference was attended by the CEO of FPHH Christopher Bennett, Director of Development Department Valery Perry and Technical Director Jim Marshall.
In cooperation with FamilySearch from the United States, FPHH has enabled the use of premium digital equipment, photo-cameras of high definition, special optics, own software for photographs and other pieces of equipment that record digital images of the highest possible resolution, high speed imaging, with authentic colors and lights, and at a significantly higher standard than the other known methods.
“We have decided that we need to accelerate the process of digitization. We reconstructed the space, acquired technical equipment and are now working vigorously, in three shifts in all three institutions. Our goal is to work with all the cultural institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in both entities, and with all who have precious archival material that needs to be preserved. We need to do triage, to see what is the current state and the condition of the institutions in the country,” said the founder of FPHH Dr. James Lyon.
He stressed that what people in BiH do not realize, is that at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Austrians sent their experts on the ground throughout the country who gathered the most valuable and best materials from the Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, and left these archival material in these central institutions.
“This means that these institutions do not belong to one nation alone, but to all nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina and we must preserve the cultural and historical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Lyon said, adding that the project will enable for all digitized material to be available on COBISS, the regional network of libraries.
The Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established in 1945 and since then it has collected and it cares for 400,000 museum exhibits.
The National and University Library, also founded in 1945, to this date has remained the guardian of the biggest cultural and historic heritage. In the artillery bombardment, in 1992, during the latest war the City Hall was burnt down and the fire consumed 90 percent of the Library fund – a documented testimonial of the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina living together.
(Source: Fena)
