Integration and synergy in church memory institutions – the Evangelical National Collection 2017–2022

Abstract

The three national collections of the Evangelical Church of Hungary – the Evangelical National Archives, the Evangelical National Library and the Evangelical National Museum – preserve and provide about 90% of the evangelical collection assets. The needs related to collections in the 21st century have presented evangelicals with various challenges, so from 2014 onwards, not only renovation and relocation was initiated, but also the renewal of infrastructure and the search for answers to internal and external public collection challenges. At the end of 2016, the Evangelical Church’s leaders finally saw an opportunity for renewal in the integration of the national collections. At the end of 2016, the maintenance authority established the Evangelical National Collection, which began its operations as an internal ecclesiastical legal entity under the leadership of a director on 1 February 2017. The article describes the initial steps of the integrated operation, the strengths and potential of the cooperation between the three collection units, and the experiences of the past years.