To preserve the heritage of national movements NISE carries out projects generated by itself or on behalf of other organisations.
Structural Archival Care programme (2017-…)
The Structural Archival Care programme (SAC) offers advice and assistance on archival care and (digital) document management for political parties that don’t have the capacity to organise this on their own. The programme is co-funded by the Coppieters Foundation and is carried out in close collaboration with ADVN. The goals of the programme are raising archival awareness, creating sustainable storage, well organised and accessible archives, etc. More details can be found on the programme website.
Archival Awareness roadmap (2014-2016)
In collaboration with the Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organisation (UNPO) NISE developed a roadmap to raise archival awareness amongst UNPO members. Following a successful Archival Awareness workshop in 2014, the State of the Archives questionnaire was launched and presented in 2015. This survey aimed to create a situational overview of the archives of stateless nations and indigenous peoples in order to initiate tailor-made strategies for the safeguarding of their heritage. Due to a lack of funding no further actions were taken.
Ambulant Archival Services (2013-2015)
The Ambulant Archival Service project (AAS), nicknamed the ‘Flying Archivist’ project, was designed to offer advice and assistance to political parties on safeguarding and managing their archives. It was co-funded by the Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC) and carried out in close collaboration with the ADVN. During the project three party archives in Moravia, the Basque country and Sardinia were visited. Sharing archival knowledge and skills and assisting in the arrangement of archives, as well as, in one case, offering material help, made a difference for future safeguarding. The final report of the project is available online.
Guide to the Archives (2009-2011)
The Guide to the Archives project (GTA) was conducted on behalf of the Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC) and researched the status of the archives of the parties assembled in the European Free Alliance (EFA). In this project NISE conducted a survey alongside the development of a guide to the archives of the EFA member parties. The analysis and synthesis of the data acquired through questionnaires, interviews and visits led to recommendations on the management of the archives. The report was published as The need for and the needs of archives. Guide to the archives of the member parties of the European Free Alliance (EFA) in the NISE Proceedings series (PDF).
At the conference in Skopje in 2010, it was agreed that the NISE network of institutes with an archival and/or custodial task related to collections and documents regarding national and regional movements, should facilitate the exchange of knowledge related to the filing of documents and archival collections.
Participating institutes should cooperate to realise an online tool that gives access to the archival collections and documents related to regional and national movements in Europe (18th-20th centuries) and preserved in one’s own and other national institutes for research purposes.
NISE has initiated a working group of NISE network members that will develop an online Archives Guide in collaboration with Archives Portal Europe.
At the conference in Skopje in 2010, it was agreed that the NISE network of institutes with an archival and/or custodial task related to collections and documents regarding national and regional movements, should facilitate the exchange of knowledge related to the filing of documents and archival collections.
Its members should try to realize the means in order to facilitate the exchange of all relevant information related to the material conservation of their archival collections and documents and to exchange information about the conservation of their digital collections.
NISE has therefore initiated an online Expertise and Information Centre (EIC). Its first contents are the best practices that were formed during the Guide to the Archives and Flying Archivist projects and the Structural Archival Care programme.
