Thematic Guide - Central European University
HU OSA 13 Records of the Soros Foundation–Hungary (1985–2003)
The most reliable public source on the Soros Foundation–Hungary’s history, the fonds contains the Foundation’s digitized and open-access Annual Reports, published separately in Hungarian and in English. As part of the wide-ranging activity of the Foundation, the Annual Reports also cover programs and initiatives related to CEU, starting with 1989, when George Soros proposed "to establish a Central European University." Also contains audiovisual records related to the Foundation, with television programs, documentary films, and raw footage concerning CEU, or interviews with and speeches by George Soros.
HU OSA 101 Records of the Research Support Scheme (1991–2002)
The Research Support Scheme, initiated by George Soros and the Central European University, was set up in order to support research related to various scientific fields such as economics, philosophy, sociology, art, linguistics, European studies, education, human ecology, urban studies, social policy, politics, demography and law. The fonds contains records relating to the governance of the program, correspondence with the CEU Research Board, as well as final reports and publications by grantees.
HU OSA 203 Records of Central European University (1991–2006)
The Blinken OSA Archivum is the official archives of the Central European University. The fonds includes audiovisual records from the External Relations/Communications Office, administrative and financial records from the Secretary General's Office, diploma copies and correspondence from the Student Records Office, as well as administrative and student records from several departments (Department of History, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Department of Political Science, Legal Studies Department).
HU OSA 205 Records of the Open Media Research Institute HU OSA 300 Records of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute
The Research Insitute of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL RI) and its successor organization, the Open Media Research Institute (OMRI), have compiled enormous media archives on the domestic and international development and influential political-cultural figures of former Soviet Bloc countries, covering the years between 1949 and 1997. The Records of RFE/RL RI is arranged according to target countries and original subject terms, primarily comprising press clippings, news agency releases, radio transcripts, reports, analyses, and more. After RFE/RL RI was shut down in 1994, OMRI pursued a similar activity until 1997. Both fonds include, sorted by countries, so-called Subject Files like "Higher Education," "Education Policy," or, "Social Issues: Education," and Biographical Files on George Soros.
HU OSA 206 Records of the Open Society Archives at Central European University
Contains the documentation of the Blinken OSA Archivum's (formerly: Open Society Archives) exhibitions and public events, also including the Verzió Film Festival, several of which were curated by CEU faculty, students, or alumni, or were co-organized with CEU units.
HU OSA 211-0-1 Records of the Office of Bill Newton-Smith: Central European University (1989–1997)
William Newton-Smith, a Canadian philosopher of science, was one of the founding members and the first chair of the senate at the Central European University (CEU), and the executive director of the Open Society Foundations' International Higher Education Support Program (HESP). Besides various records related to HESP, the subfonds on the Central European University holds materials related to the establishment of CEU, on its Budapest and Prague campuses, and on several departments and programs, offices and boards of the university. The fonds also contains print copies of the CEU Gazette, and a press clipping collection.
HU OSA 305 Fekete Doboz Alapítvány Video Archive
The Black Box Foundation was launched, in 1987, to capture and promote the activity of the Hungarian democratic opposition, otherwise censored or marginalized by the mainstream state media, in the form of a "video journal." However, the crew did not stop documenting the Hungarian transition process in 1989, and, besides continuing to record political demonstrations as much as cultural events, produced video reports documenting contemporary developments. Hence, the subfond comprising raw, unedited footage contains materials related to the early years of CEU, including interviews with founders, faculty, and students, recordings of conferences, lectures, graduation ceremonies.
HU OSA 307 ''VIN'' Programs Broadcast at Studio B Television – Belgrade HU OSA 308 Monitoring of the Yugoslav Television HU OSA 309 Monitoring of Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina HU OSA 310 Monitoring of the Croatian Television
Graduate students from CEU (in information science, nationalism studies, international relations, law and political science and theory) coming from the former Yugoslavia and the United States participated in the Yugoslavia Archive Project. They contributed in critically re-archiving the above, previously processed fonds that contain newscasts aired, between 1993 and 1996, on independent and official television channels in the former Yugoslavia and the emerging successor states. Tasked with providing enhanced metadata and detailed content summaries to often biased and conflicting programs covering the Yugoslav Wars, the students highlighted silenced narratives and accentuated cases of stigmatization or false information.
HU OSA 367 Vera and Donald Blinken Papers (1988–2018)
Donald Blinken, the US ambassador to Hungary during the country’s accession to NATO, has also served as the Chancellor of the International Council of CEU, and as a member of its Board of Trustees. His ambassadorial files contain, among other things, his correspondence and confidential communications, and various documents on the NATO enlargement. The fonds also includes his wife’s, Vera Blinken's personal papers. Vera Blinken emigrated from Communist Hungary to the US in 1950, was member of the Board of Directors of the International Rescue Committee, and founded the first mobile breast cancer screening program in Central and Eastern Europe. The whole fonds is digitized and openly accessible, including the couple’s photo collection and a compilation of press clippings.
HU OSA 404 István György Tóth Personal Papers (1963–2005)
István György Tóth is a former professor of history at the Central European University. His personal papers contain his reference materials and notes, documents related to his teaching activity at CEU and lectures delivered other universities, as well as to his academic career in general, and his publications.
HU OSA 437 Digital Archive of Cultural Heritage (2016–2018)
Since 2019, the Archivum has been archiving the research work conducted by the students and faculty of the Cultural Heritage Studies Program (at CEU’s Department of Medieval Studies). This archival fonds is the result of the ongoing cooperation, providing online access to audiovisual and photo documentations of various research projects studying aspects of intangible cultural heritage, from Kyrgyzstan to Northern Iraq and to the Upper Indus Valley.
HU OSA 445 András Bozóki Collection (1997–1998)
Andras Bozoki is Professor at the Department of Political Science at the Central European University, whose main fields of research include democratization, de-democratization, political regimes, ideologies, Central European politics, and the role of intellectuals. His recent monograph is Rolling Transition and the Role of Intellectuals: The Case of Hungary (2022), in 1999 he edited the volume series A rendszerváltás forgatókönyve (The script of the regime change), a key work on the Hungarian transition period. His collection contains the audio recordings of interviews with participants of the Opposition Round Table Negotiations and its subcommittees. The interviews were conducted in the framework of a research project at CEU’s Political Sciences Department, led by Professor Bozóki.
HU OSA 462-0-1 Photographs of the Dialogue Peace Group (1983)
Donated to the Archivum by Professor Zsolt Enyedi, a photo series of 29 images documenting the October 1983 street performance and march of the Dialogue Peace Group in Budapest. Dialogue Peace Group was a grassroots organization, a unique actor in the 1980s political scene of Hungary. Established in 1982 with the intention to launch a conversation between Eastern and Western peace movements divided by the Iron Curtain, their activity mainly comprised organizing lectures and public discussions.
HU OSA 466 Péter Hanák Personal Papers (1945–2000)
Péter Hanák (1921–1997) was an influential figure in historical studies in Hungary from the late 1940s until his death, a researcher of the societies (and idea) of Central Europe, who played a crucial role in channeling Hungarian history writing into the international discourse. He founded the Department of History at the Central European University (CEU) in 1991, and served as its first chair until 1995. His personal papers include scholarly publications, conference lectures, and editorial works, and documents related to his role in the academic and the public sphere.
