Importance of Acquiring Arranged Fonds in the Period of Transition : Experiences of the Archives of the Tuzla Canton

Abstract

In the transitional period, acquiring of archival material in the Archives of the Tuzla Canton has been intensified. Records of privatized legal subjects, records of companies in liquidation or bankruptcy, obsolete wartime administration, etc. were acquired by the Archives in large quantities. This new intake of fonds was not followed by the strengthening of personnel, which also increased the danger to change the balance between arranged fonds and unarranged ones in favor of the latter. This would directly influence the use of these fonds by users, thus negatively affecting their fulfillment of human, civil and other rights. Therefore, the Archives' Expert's council initiated and introduced many decisions related to increased activities in the field of preparation, arranging, listing and acquiring arranged fonds. In some cases, analytical inventories were made before records were transferred to the Archives, which made their immediate use easier. Therefore, this article aims to point out positive experiences of the Archives of the Tuzla Canton in the field of acquiring and use of archival material in the period from 1991 to 2017.