Archival History Research Articles

Красный спортивный Интернационал в отечественной и зарубежной историографии

This article examines the main approaches and assessments that were given in Russian and foreign scientific literature to the Red Sports International (Sportintern, RSI). The author shows the context of mentioning the organization in scientific literature and identifies controversial issues in its history. The article analyzes the source base of existing works on the his-tory of Sportintern in the context of the archival revolution of the 1990s. and documents from the Sportintern fund in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI). The author shows the differences between Russian and for-eign approaches to the history of Sportintern, differences in assessments of its activities. The author traces how the per-ception of RSI has changed in Soviet and Russian historiog-raphy, notes the peculiarities of the views of individual au-thors on the factors of the creation of the Sport International, the goals and objectives of its activities, the role of individual historical characters in the activities of the Sports Internation-al. Particular attention is paid to the issue of the initiator of the creation of Sportintern and the role of N. I. Podvoisky in the formation and development of the organization. Special attention is paid to the activities of the RSI in Latin America and the Latin American historiography of the work of Sportintern in the countries of the region.

Demystifying oral history with natural language processing and data analytics: a case study of the Densho digital collection

PurposeThis study aims to explore the applications of natural language processing (NLP) and data analytics in understanding large-scale digital collections in oral history archives.Design/methodology/approachNLP and data analytics were used to analyse the oral interview transcripts of 904 survivors of the Japanese American incarceration camps collected from Densho Digital Repository, relying specifically on descriptive analysis, keyword extraction, topic modelling and sentiment analysis (SA).FindingsThe researchers found multiple geographic areas of large residential communities of ethnic Japanese people and the place names of the concentration camps. The keywords and topics extracted reflect the deplorable conditions and militaristic nature of the camps and the forced labour of the internees. When remembering history, the main focus for the narrators remains the redress and reparation movement to obtain the restitution of their civil rights. SA further found that the forcible removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during Second World War negatively impacted and brought deep trauma to the narrators.Originality/valueThis case study demonstrated how NLP and data analytics could be applied to analyse oral history archives and open avenues for discovery. Archival researchers and the general public may benefit from this type of analysis in making connections between temporal, spatial and emotional elements, which will contribute to a holistic understanding of individuals and communities in terms of their collective memory.

When the Archives Speak for Themselves

The first published text book on the history of the Bulgarian archives is presented. In the two volumes of the "Archive of the Bulgarian Archives" there are 523 authentic documentary evidence of the long way from the birth of archival thought and practice from the Middle Ages to the normative documents in the mid-50s of the 20th century that led to the establishment of the Bulgarian state archives.

Teaching Black Diaspora Stories with Digital Archives in the Classroom

One of the prime difficulties in the current teaching environment is educating students to make use of research skills that teach them not only how to be good historians but also how to be critical thinkers who can engage and evaluate sources. This piece focuses on the use of well-managed digital archives, which provide students with a focused set of research materials that help build a foundational point of historical inquiry. In addition to discussing the pedagogical benefits of such research, emphasis is also placed on specific assignments centered on several online databases, including “The Land Act Legacy Project Collection” of the South African History Archive (SAHA), the African Activist Archive of Michigan State University, and the “Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936 to 1938” of the Library of Congress. If these current times have taught anything, it is that digital literacy and proper research methods are essential components in understanding information during times of political and cultural change. By engaging with the stories in these digital archives, students learn about the diversity of opinions and opportunities that defined these stories of the Black diaspora throughout the twentieth century and beyond.

Revealing the Veil of the Past: History of the Establishment of the Makassar Arts Council

This study aims to document the establishment process and role of the Makassar Arts Council. This study uses a qualitative content analysis. This analysis enables researchers to construct a coherent and comprehensive historical narrative, and ultimately yields a conclusion. The results show that DKM was established in response to the challenging and conflict-ridden dynamics of the arts in Makassar, especially concerning the politicization of the arts. This situation prompted artists to form a more neutral venue to encourage artistic expression free from political intimidation, which ultimately crystallized in the establishment of DKM on July 25, 1969. Since then, DKM has grown into an institution that continuously supports and nurtures the arts, making Makassar a center for dynamic and sustainable artistic activities. Therefore, it is recommended that historians thoroughly document the historical phases of DKM in the social and political context to enrich the archives of Indonesian art history. Meanwhile, artists are encouraged to actively collaborate with DKM in creating innovative works and promoting their works more broadly. The Makassar Municipal Government is recommended to enhance financial support and infrastructure for DKM, making it a strategic partner in developing cultural policies. Lastly, the general public is encouraged to become more involved in DKM activities, supporting artistic initiatives that can enrich local cultural life and ensure the sustainability and dynamic growth of the arts in Makassar.

The first six propositions of Archimedes' on equilibrium of planes 1

ABSTRACT Modern commentators have doubts about the authenticity and cogency of the early propositions of Archimedes’ On Equilibrium of Planes Book 1. Ernst Mach famously said that the proof of Prop. 6, the so-called law of the lever, assumes what is to be proven. Comparing the initial text in Heiberg’s modern edition (1881, 1913) to the first propositions in Eutocius’ commentary on EP 1, J. L. Berggren ([1976]. ‘Spurious Theorems in Archimedes’ Equilibrium of Planes: Book I’, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 16.2 (1976), 87–103.) claimed that the propositions up through Proposition 3 of the standard modern edition are schoolbook additions written by an ancient author inferior to Archimedes. The present paper argues for the logical connectedness of Postulates 1–5 to Props. 1–6, by means of a detailed examination of the course of the argument and a re-examination of Eutocius’ remarks. The paper reinterprets the role of the empirical in the early propositions and offers a reading of the contribution of Archimedes’ mechanics to the method of EP 1.

ON THE HISTORY OF THE SECRET POLITICAL POLICE OF RUSSIA IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The article is a publication of and extended commentary on Mikhail Kirillovich Gribovsky’s text. He was in charge of the Guards Corps’ secret military police service organized in the early 1820s, after the “Semenovsky history”. In 1822, he compiled a note which is kept in the Russian State Military History Archive. The commentary describes the prehistory of the creation of the secret police: Gribovsky’s activities, his brochure On the State of Landlords’ Peasants in Russia and its perception by contemporaries. The article provides general information about the service created by Gribovsky and peculiarities of its financing. It refers to Gribovsky’s note on the Decembrist Union of Prosperity (thanks to it Alexander I had information about this society) and his three more notes, published in the last decades. The author concludes that Gribovsky writes in his note about the attempts to find the Brief Instructions to Russian Knights by M.A. Dmitriev-Mamonov, which were published in 1816 in limited edition and have not been preserved. He gives a brief history of the organization, the Order of Russian Knights, for which this brochure was compiled, and implies that this Order did not exist. Celebrities involved in the project of the Order of Russian Knights are listed. Despite the fact that the note is not signed, the author attributes it to Gribovsky on the basis of handwriting analysis and identifies the likely person behind the abbreviation. The note shows how political police worked in Russia at the end of Alexander I’s reign. For example, the Gribovsky’s interest in the Order of Russian Knights was caused by the assumption that M.A. Dmitriev-Mamonov’s Brief Instructions to Russian Knights were, in fact, a charter of the Union of Prosperity.

ОБЗОР АРХИВНЫХ ИСТОЧНИКОВ, ПОСВЯЩЕННЫХ ИЗУЧЕНИЮ КРЕСТЬЯНСТВА ПРИАНГАРЬЯ В 1920-е ГОДЫ

The purpose of the study is to review archival sources devoted to the study of the Angara peasantry in the 1920s, their classification and characteristics. The State Archive of the Irkutsk Region (GAIO) and the State Archive of Contemporary History of the Irkutsk Region (GANIIO) have deposited a large array of archival materials that highlight state policy and the history of the development of the agricultural sector of the Angara region during the NEP period. Documents are divided into orders, instructions, orders, certificates, reports, extracts, reports, notifications from the field (complaints of the population), reports from OGPU employees. Archival materials allow us to analyze the effectiveness of all state measures of the Bolshevik government in relation to the peasantry. In addition to successes, they reveal the failures of Soviet government policy in the agricultural sector. Documentary data often records cases of abuse by Soviet workers, as well as the class nature of the ruling party's policy towards peasants throughout the entire period described. Documents from the Irkutsk archives provide an opportunity to see how agriculture was restored after the Civil War and how it developed during the NEP period, and also show what problems the peasantry faced. The facts set out in these documents are predominantly reliable, since their compilers had no reason to mislead the higher party authorities. Thanks to historical sources, the researcher can draw up a detailed picture of the development of the Angara village in the 1920s. However, as the author of the article notes, the documents of the Irkutsk archives are of a one-sided politically biased nature, since their compilers often labeled different categories of peasants based on signs of disloyalty to the Soviet government, and also did not question the legality of the implemented soviet policies and did not try to understand the peasantry in any way. Archival documents reflect only the economic development of the village and the state policy towards peasants, and leaving the way of life of farmers unaffected.

The implications of handwritten text recognition for accessing the past at scale

PurposeThis paper focuses on image-to-text manuscript processing through Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR), a Machine Learning (ML) approach enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI). With HTR now achieving high levels of accuracy, we consider its potential impact on our near-future information environment and knowledge of the past.Design/methodology/approachIn undertaking a more constructivist analysis, we identified gaps in the current literature through a Grounded Theory Method (GTM). This guided an iterative process of concept mapping through writing sprints in workshop settings. We identified, explored and confirmed themes through group discussion and a further interrogation of relevant literature, until reaching saturation.FindingsCatalogued as part of our GTM, 120 published texts underpin this paper. We found that HTR facilitates accurate transcription and dataset cleaning, while facilitating access to a variety of historical material. HTR contributes to a virtuous cycle of dataset production and can inform the development of online cataloguing. However, current limitations include dependency on digitisation pipelines, potential archival history omission and entrenchment of bias. We also cite near-future HTR considerations. These include encouraging open access, integrating advanced AI processes and metadata extraction; legal and moral issues surrounding copyright and data ethics; crediting individuals’ transcription contributions and HTR’s environmental costs.Originality/valueOur research produces a set of best practice recommendations for researchers, data providers and memory institutions, surrounding HTR use. This forms an initial, though not comprehensive, blueprint for directing future HTR research. In pursuing this, the narrative that HTR’s speed and efficiency will simply transform scholarship in archives is deconstructed.

Traumatic brain injury and occupational risk of low-level blast exposure on adverse career outcomes: an examination of administrative and medical separations from Service (2005-2015).

Although traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been linked with adverse long-term health, less research has examined whether TBI is linked with non-clinical outcomes including involuntary job loss. Symptoms associated with TBI may influence one's ability to maintain gainful employment including employment in the U.S. military. That influence may impact military service members with exposure to repetitive low-level blast (LLB). Understanding the association between TBI and involuntary job loss outcomes among military populations is particularly important as it may be associated with differences in eligibility for post-service benefits. The purpose of the present research was to determine whether (1) TBI and related conditions are associated with involuntary job loss (i.e., medical and administrative separations from service) among military personnel, and (2) occupational risk of LLB is associated with involuntary job loss in both the presence and absence of clinical diagnoses of TBI and related conditions. This research leveraged population-level data from the Career History Archival Medical and Personnel System for enlisted personnel who served on active duty between 2005-2015. Risk of LLB exposure was categorized using military occupational specialty as a proxy. Medical diagnoses were identified using ICD-9 codes. Separations for medical and administrative reasons were identified. Risk for administrative separation differed across medical diagnoses of interest, but those who worked in high-risk occupations were more likely to be administratively separated than those working in low-risk occupations. Risk for medical separation was associated with occupational risk of LLB and each of the diagnoses of interest, though significant interactions suggested that the effects of certain diagnoses of interest (e.g., concussion, cognitive problems, postconcussive syndrome, migraines) on medical separations was greater among those working in high-risk occupations. Taken together, the present research suggests that TBI and associated medical conditions, as well as occupational risk of LLB, are associated with long-term involuntary job loss for medical reasons. This study is the first to demonstrate involuntary military job loss outcomes associated with TBI, mental health conditions, and conditions associated with blast exposure using both inpatient and outpatient population-level data and may have important implications for civilian employment and post-service benefits.

Reflection on 60 Years of Psychiatric Advancement: from Alcoholism to Archives of Psychiatry Research

An editorial on the first 60 years of history of Archives of Psychiatry Research.

Neglected Agents and the Cultural Nexus of Power within Protestant Churches and Associated Institutions in the Latter Half of the Twentieth Century in Hong Kong

In the latter half of the twentieth century, Protestant churches in Hong Kong and institutions associated with them played a significant role in the daily lives of the people of Hong Kong. However, the role of ordinary people in the social functions of Protestant churches in Hong Kong during this period has rarely been explored in the previous literature. Interpreting several cases from written archives and oral history archives, this study aims to demonstrate how Protestant churches in Hong Kong held special significance as a public place for the ordinary people of the local community, who played an active role in these churches to serve the local community and derived self-satisfaction from doing so. This study also reveals how these local Protestant churches and the associated institutions emerged as a cultural nexus of power along with individuals who contributed to them to provide different types of welfare and social services to the community, which the colonial government in Hong Kong failed to provide.

Uncovering the Past Through Voices: Exploring Oral History as a Primary Source: A Case Study of the National Archives of Republic Indonesia [ANRI

This research explains the use of the oral history collection of the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) to optimize historical information as a primary source. Sources of information with this primary category relate to information from historical actors or eyewitnesses and witnesses to an event. Oral history archives are the main content of this research. The method used is descriptive qualitative, focusing on observing the content of oral history information published on websites and various social media platforms affiliated with ANRI. This research aims to analyze the oral history collection owned by ANRI and the historical information content contained in the collection. The results of this paper describe the content of oral history, which has primary information specifications based on the information needs in the archives. This information is helpful to complement information originating from textual sources. Open access to ANRI’s oral history collection helps fulfill information needs that primary textual information sources cannot fully meet.
 Keywords: ANRI, archives, information services, oral history, primary sources, website

Islamic monuments in Azerbaijan in the XVIII-XIX centuries (based on the documents of the Russian State Military History Archive)

The article presents the history of Islamic religious monuments in the territory of Azerbaijan in the 18th and 19th centuries. The presented scientific article includes research on the mosques and religious beliefs of the population in the territory of Azerbaijan in the 18th and 19th centuries based on the documents of the Russian State Military History Archive. From the documents in the archival materials, it is clear that the most of the population are Muslim and Islamic religious monuments are the majority. The article relies on the drawings of the master plans of Azerbaijani cities kept in the funds of the Russian State Military History Archive. It is clear from the archive materials that economic and cultural life in Azerbaijani cities revolved around the mosques, especially the Friday mosques. Thus, the cities were erected not only around the palaces of khans and rulers, but around the Friday mosques, too. Also, at the end of the study, it is possible to come to the conclusion that Juma mosques functioned not only as the religious places of worship, but also as economic, cultural and social centers. In addition, the significance of the study of the documents stored in the Russian State Military History Archive is that it is possible to restore the historical appearance of Friday mosques in the present period from the drawings stored in its funds.

Ritual as image

AbstractDrawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the central Indian cotton belt, I examine two historical moments: (1) the expansion of agrarian capitalism and absorption of market logics into the peasant household in the colonial period; and (2) changes in seed technology and gendered labor required for cultivating hybrid cotton in the postcolonial era. Through these transformations, cotton farmers have maintained a harvest ritual in the fields. Through a comparison of contemporary and historical versions of this ritual, a new theory of ritual emerges, one that displaces the primacy of the linguistic sign, instead considering the semiotic force of the image. Ritual, in this rendering, is not only a material archive of social history but also an aesthetic and creative practice through which women farmers sacralize their own labor. Amid transforming regimes of cash‐crop agriculture, the ritual situates regimes of cotton growing in the bodily and affective labor of the female farming body.

Meaning Across Context: Oral Histories, Big Data, and Climate Change

Abstract The use of oral histories in social scientific approaches to climate change has enabled richly detailed explorations of the situated, meaning-laden dimensions of local experiences and knowledge. But “big data” approaches have been increasingly advocated as a means to scale up understandings from individual projects, through better utilizing large collections of qualitative data sources. This article considers the issues raised by such secondary analysis, using the NOAA Voices Oral History Archives, an online database with a focus on coastal communities and groups thought especially vulnerable to climatic changes. Coupling larger-scale methods such as text mining with more traditional methods such as close reading reveals variations across time and space in the ways people talk about environmental changes, underscoring how memories and experiences shape understandings and the subtlety with which these differences are articulated and culturally inscribed. Looking across multiple collections illuminates those shared understandings, points of contention, and differences between communities that might be obscured if decontextualized, showing the importance of “small data” approaches to big data to fully understand the deeply cultural understandings, perceptions, and histories of environmental changes such as climate change.

AVIATION PLANT IN THE MARI ASSR IN 1941–1944: PROBLEMS OF EVACUATION, ACCOMMODATION AND PRODUCTION

The topic of industry evacuation, including aviation, the problems of locating enterprises and organizing their production in the rear regions remains relevant. At this stage, it is worth paying attention to the problem of locating specific enterprises and other problems they faced during evacuation. The purpose of the study is to study, based on the analysis of sources, one of the regional aspects in the history of the Great Patriotic War – evacuation of aviation plant No. 168 in Volzhsk, the Mari ASSR. Materials and methods. The sources were identified in the State Archive of the Republic of Mari El, the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History. The main methods were the analysis and systematization of documents. Study results. According to the resolution of the Evacuation Council dated November 11, 1941, Plant No. 168 of the People’s Commissariat of Aviation Industry of the USSR, which had arrived from Ryazan, was located on the production areas of the Volga (Lopatinsky) Woodworking Plant. 10 main workshops were located on the territory of the woodworking plant. The assembly of KC-20 troop-carrying gliders began immediately. In accordance with the decision of the State Defense Committee dated September 13, 1942, plant No. 168 began serial production of UT-2MV light bombers, which required an increase in space and the number of workers, and creation of new production facilities. Special difficulties were caused by the issues of locating two large enterprises on the same territory – plant No. 168 and the Volga (Lopatinsky) woodworking plant: lack of production facilities, living space, problems with provision, construction deadlines, etc. By the decree of the State Defence Committee of the USSR dated October 1, 1944 and by the order of the USSR People’s Commissariat of Aviation Industry and the USSR People’s Commissariat of Railways dated October 31, 1944, Plant No. 168 was relocated to Rostov-on-Don. All production buildings and structures, including unfinished construction of the production building, were transferred to the Volga (Lopatinsky) woodworking plant. Conclusions. Evacuation of enterprises is one of the main issues in the history of the rear regions during the Great Patriotic War. The common problems for all industrial enterprises during this period were the lack of production facilities, electricity, fuel, raw materials, manpower, transport, etc. Despite all the difficulties, plant No. 168, being evacuated to the Mari ASSR, was able to organize the production and output of aircraft.

Soviet Federal Project and the Collisions of Nation Building in the 1920-1930s

The author examines the collisions of the Soviet nation-building which are actively debated in modern historiography. The source base for the research is the published materials, as well as the archival documents of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. There are analyzed some specific historical subjects and the contribution of modern historiography to the understanding of the current problems and the formulation of new ideas and approaches to the analysis of the designated set of issues including the tools of Soviet socio-political engineering, the role and significance of ethnopolitical elites in the creation of the USSR as a complex hierarchical structure. It is concluded that the contradictions in the implementation of ethnonational policy were directly related to the formation of the Soviet federation, which became a concession to the ethnopolitical movements of the early XX century; and managing diversity was the central task of the state as an alternative to previous political systems for culturally complex societies.

Cooperation Between the USSR and India in the 1950-1960s: The First Youth and Student Visits

In the 21st century, the Russian Federation and the Republic of India have great scientific and educational potential. The particularly privileged strategic partnership between the two states is aimed, among other things, at the development and innovations of scientific and educational cooperation, which has stable traditions laid down in the second half of the last century. It was during this period that the first connections were established between students and youth of the two countries. The VI World Festival of Youth and Students, held in Moscow in 1957, was the starting point for building youth cooperation, the activities of the International Youth Tourism Bureau “Sputnik,” and the first tourist trips of Soviet students to India. The relevance of the article is determined by the appeal of the interuniversity team of authors of the RUDN University, MGIMO University and Lipetsk State Pedagogical P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky University to the topic that had not previously been the subject of comprehensive research either in Russia or in India. The purpose of this study is to analyze the goals, forms of organization and significance of the Soviet-Indian youth and student partnership in the late 1950s - early 1960s on the basis of materials from the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History that were not involved in scientific circulation. The authors use a constructivist approach demonstrating the connection between society and politics and revealing the impact of international cooperation on the institutionalization, development of scientific and educational partnership between the USSR and India at the interstate and interinstitutional levels. The Khrushchev “thaw” period laid the foundations for Soviet-Indian cooperation between the two states in the field of higher education, youth and student academic exchange and tourism. In the 21st century, the experience of the world festivals of youth and students, the work of the “Sputnik” bureau is relevant, since the Republic of India is one of the important and priority partners for the Russian Federation. Students of Modern Russia also face the task of establishing and developing academic and cultural ties with India, increasing the prestige of the country in the eyes of Indians and the whole world.

Ethical considerations in utilizing artificial intelligence for analyzing the NHGRI’s History of Genomics and Human Genome Project archives

Understanding “how to optimize the production of scientific knowledge” is paramount to those who support scientific research—funders as well as research institutions—to the communities served, and to researchers. Structured archives can help all involved to learn what decisions and processes help or hinder the production of new knowledge. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs), we recently created the first structured digital representation of the historic archives of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health. This work yielded a digital knowledge base of entities, topics, and documents that can be used to probe the inner workings of the Human Genome Project, a massive international public-private effort to sequence the human genome, and several of its offshoots like The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE). The resulting knowledge base will be instrumental in understanding not only how the Human Genome Project and genomics research developed collaboratively, but also how scientific goals come to be formulated and evolve. Given the diverse and rich data used in this project, we evaluated the ethical implications of employing AI and LLMs to process and analyze this valuable archive. As the first computational investigation of the internal archives of a massive collaborative project with multiple funders and institutions, this study will inform future efforts to conduct similar investigations while also considering and minimizing ethical challenges. Our methodology and risk-mitigating measures could also inform future initiatives in developing standards for project planning, policymaking, enhancing transparency, and ensuring ethical utilization of artificial intelligence technologies and large language models in archive exploration.Author Contributions: Mohammad Hosseini: Investigation; Project Administration; Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing. Spencer Hong: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Thomas Stoeger: Conceptualization; Investigation; Project Administration; Supervision; Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing. Kristi Holmes: Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Luis A. Nunes Amaral: Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Christopher Donohue: Conceptualization, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Kris Wetterstrand: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration.