The Open Society Archives

The Department of History is working closely with the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, offering jointly a number of courses and research opportunity for students.

OSA actively collects, preserves, and makes openly accessible documents related to recent history and human rights. It also experiments with new ways to contextualize primary sources, developing innovative tools to explore, represent, or bridge traditional archival collections in a digital environment. Its approach to acquisition is increasingly proactive and inclusive, and it actively seeks out non-traditional material, material previously marginalized based on its content, social origin, or form. At OSA, professional archival work is integrated with public programs, and its exhibition space, Galeria Centralis serves as the focal point of exhibitions, performances, film screenings, lectures, and seminars. Through all of these endeavors, OSA advocates: open access and transparency in public administration; equal rights to information; the ethical use of private data; open formats and open standards; and broad access to cultural heritage.