Help with your research

Requests and Use of Materials in the Research Room

The procedures described below are designed to protect the safety and integrity of the documents.

Archival boxes and library books/periodicals

• You may request up to 10 boxes/books at a time.
• Use only one box at a time. Remove and open only one folder at a time and mark its place in the archival box with a paper slip. Similarly, use a paper slip to mark the place of the document your remove in the folder. Make sure the order of documents is preserved when putting them back in the folder and the edges are protected by the folder to prevent physical damage. The order of folders in the box must be preserved too.
• Preserve the existing order and physical safety of unbound library material (periodicals, magazines, etc.).
• In the case of manuscripts, please leave all materials flat on the table. Gloves are required when handling photographs, slides, and objects. Gloves are provided by the Reference Staff.
• Do not use paper clips, post-it notes, etc. on any document or book.
• Do not place books or other objects on archival documents or apply pressure to them. Please be careful when (un)folding the documents.
• Do not use a pen or a pencil as a pointer or make marks of any kind on the documents.
• Return records to their archival box before you leave the Research Room.
• When you leave at the end of the day, place your box(es) on the reshelf trolley, or, if you want to continue working with them, on the shelf in the preparatory room. We hold boxes for up to 5 working days.
• Specific materials may be subject to additional rules of use.

Microfilm and micro-fiches

• You may have up to 10 microfiches or 10 microfilm reels at a time.
• After using a microfilm, rewind it.
• Remember to switch off the microfiche/microfilm reader after use.
• After use, bring the microfiche or microfilm reel back to the reference archivist.

Audio-visual materials

• We provide only digital viewing copies. You may request up to 10 files at a time.

Further files/items/boxes will be served when you have returned—in case of files in the Cloud you have notified the reference archivist that your files can be deleted—some or all from your previous batch.

Reproduction

We provide copies of textual and audiovisual materials solely for research and educational purposes.

It is the responsibility of the researcher to clear copyright and royalties for commercial use.

There may be further legal or donor-defined restrictions on specific materials.

Once you have selected the materials you wish to be reproduced, please fill out the request form, and send it to the Reference Services at. Copies will be transferred in digital format through Cloud Services. While we do our best to provide prompt service, larger orders may take a longer time to complete.

• Request Form
• Price List

Research Support

Research Room staff are available to help with general inquiries, use of catalog, and reproduction and digitization on demand services. In-depth consultations with senior archivists can be arranged. The Archivum, however, does not undertake research on-demand.

Most of our archival materials are stored on site and can be delivered to the Research Room within 15 minutes of submission of request. Delivery from off-site storage may take up to 10 working days. Requests submitted after 3:30 p.m. will be processed the next day.

For further information and support, you can contact our Research Room staff via email at info@osaarchivum.org.

Citation

Our citation guidelines draw inspiration from two seminal sources: the Citing Records in the National Archives of the United States (revised 2010 edition) and The Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition), and follow bibliography style form of citations. You may prefer another system of source citation or may follow special instructions to authors. Whatever system is adopted, it should be used consistently, providing a guide to the origin as well as to the location of the records. The citation elements we recommend are as follows (groups of data elements are separated by a semicolon):

• Item title (formal or given)
• Date of creation, production, broadcas
• Folder title
• Reference for the fonds, subfonds, series and container number (preferably in both textual and numerical form)
• Full name of the repository: Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest, Hungary. (Short name: HU OSA)

In subsequent citations to the same record, abbreviations are accepted.

• Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest, Hungary: HU OSA.
• Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Research Institute: RFE/RL RI
• Open Media Research Institute: OMRI
• Open Society Foundations: OSF

Some records may require additional information to be cited. If the title does not identify the type of record, it should be added in parentheses after the title of record and date.

Examples of citations based on the most common document types in our holdings are given below.

Background Reports

"Poland Under Martial Law: A Selection of Documents, December 1981 – December 1982." Compiled by Roman Stefanowski. 1 March 1984. HU OSA 300-8-3: 143/2.; Background Report; Publications Department; Records of the Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Research Institute; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

When you cite any online source, provide the date you last accessed it in parentheses after the URL or DOI (digital object identifier). Insert the type of record [Electronic record] in parentheses after the item title and date.

"East European Media and the Polish Free Saturday issue" by Kusin, Vladimir V; G. S. [Country Series: Poland], 15 January 1981. [Electronic record.] HU OSA 300-8-3:45-4-3; Background Report; Publications Department; Records of the Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Research Institute; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

http://osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/pdf/45-4-3 [accessed 26 March, 2012]

Information Items

"Private income of Mrs. Gero", 7 September 1951. Item 44/8884, Hungary; HU OSA 300-1-2; Information Items; General Records; Records of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Research Institute; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Correspondence

Béla Király to Daniel Moynihan, München, 21 October 1980. HU OSA 336-0-3: 2; Academic Correspondence; General Béla Király Papers; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

James T. Bartley to Victor Frank, 24 March, 1969. [Letter]; HU OSA 300-85-48; Pasternak, 1964-1969; New York Office Files Related to Samizdat; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Biographical Files

Абдулладжанов, А., 1987-1994; HU OSA 300-80-9:2; Kraus Biographical Files; Soviet Red Archives; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Boabă, Alexandru, card 11; HU OSA 205-4-72:2; Romanian Biographical Card Files; Information Services Department; Records of the Open Media Research Institute; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Subject Files

"Huge setback in Soviet grain is indicated by CIA’s figures" by Dan Morgan, HU OSA 300-80-1:918; Сельское хозайство: урожай 1973-1975; Old Code Subject Files; Soviet Red Archives; Records of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń, card 6-7; HU OSA 300-50-3:17; Subject Card Files; Polish Unit; Records of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Microforms

When citing microforms from other sources, cite the repository where the accessioned microform is held.

"The Main Lines of Soviet Wartime Propaganda", 6 September 1945. [Microfilm publication]; OSS/State Department Intelligence and Research Reports, Part VI., The Soviet Union. Part XI., The Soviet Union, 1950-1961. Reel 1. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America; Special library collections; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Photographs

"Photographs of life in Camp Kilmer", 1957. HU OSA 412-0-1:1; Documents and photographs; Gary Filerman Collection on Hungarian Refugees of 1956; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Audiovisual materials

"Fekete Doboz: a Nagy Imre és társai elleni per fellebbviteli tárgyalása" [Black Box: The Trial Proceedings of the Appellate Procedure Against Imre Nagy and Others at the Highest Court], 1989. [VHS]; HU OSA 306-0-1:37; Audiovisual Materials Relating to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Film Library

"Panj pun olova" [Bad Blue Boys], 2007. [DVD-ROM]; Editor: Branko Schmidt. FL1542; Film Library; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Samizdat collection

Referring to a published samizdat document:

"Обращение 82-х советских евреев к "братьям-евреям" по случаю Дня солидарности с еврееями Советского Союза" [Перепечатка с фотокопии оригинала в Архиве Самиздата], 1974; HU OSA 300-85-11; AC 550; Sobranie dokumentov Samizdata, vol. 8; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Referring to the original copy of a samizdat document:

"Обращение 82-х советских евреев к "братьям-евреям" по случаю Дня солидарности с еврееями Советского Союза" [Перепечатка с фотокопии оригинала в Архиве Самиздата], 1974; HU OSA 300-85-9; AC 550; Published Samizdat; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

"An Outline of Some Characteristic Attitudes of the Various Social Strata of Soviet Society" [by Yakushev, Aleksandr], 26 June 1969. HU OSA 300-85-48:20; Analysis Report #4-69; Intelligentsiia; New York Office Files Related to Samizdat; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Records of the Open Society Foundations

Grant records

"Itogovyi tvorcheskii otchet po realizatsii proekta LOOSH (Lichnostno-orientirovannoe obuchenie shkol’nikov)" Grant B95-11-1010-13, 20 May 1996; Education Program Seminars: B95-11-1010-13/B95-11-1010-2 [1of 3]; HU OSA 4-3-3:2; Education Program Files; Programs; Records of the Belarusian Soros Foundation; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest

Project files

"Subject: Bosnian Women’s Initiative: related programs sponsored by OSI in Bosnia" To: Arthur Helton, Ex: Kathleen Hunt, 18 May 1997; Bosnian Women Initiative, 1996-1997; HU OSA 124-2-1:1; Projects Files; Programs; Records of the Forced Migration Project; Blinken OSA Archivum @CEU, Budapest