A multitude of historical documents telling the story of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s culturally rich past will be captured and protected for future generations. Balkan experts from the Foundation for the Preservation of Historical Heritage (FPHH) have begun a multiyear project to digitize the endangered holdings of some of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s leading cultural institutions. Substantial support for the project has come from FamilySearch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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FamilySearch has provided FPHH with state-of-the-art proprietary digitalization equipment and software, along with technical expertise and training to facilitate the project. The Church has been actively gathering, preserving and sharing genealogical and other historical records worldwide since 1894.
“This project will help preserve the rich heritage of a multicultural, multireligious country that experienced three wars in the past 100 years,” said FPHH founder Dr. James Lyon, a renowned Balkan scholar and analyst. “These records might otherwise have been lost forever.” Dr. Lyon is both an associate researcher at the University of Graz's Centre for Southeast European Studies and a professor at the American University of Kosovo.
FPHH has already begun digitizing the archives of the National Library and the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s oldest daily newspaper, Oslobođenje.
The initiative has received much media attention. Among the news media reporting about the digitalization efforts are Reuters, The Bosnia Times, News Daily and numerous national and local media from the Balkans.