The Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation and the Hungarian Roots & New World Dreams Heritage Program are launching a partnership to identify and ensure the long-term preservation of historically significant Hungarian documents held in diaspora communities.
Over the past years, the Hungarian Roots & New World Dreams Heritage Program has collected and shared the stories of several hundred Hungarian emigrants. Through the book series associated with the program, these stories have reached a wider audience, while the research behind them has also brought to light numerous original sources previously preserved in family collections, including letters, diaries, photographs, and other documents. One such example is the diary kept by István Béres between 1914 and 1918, which offers a personal account of his journey to America, his search for work, the challenges of settling into a new country, and everyday life in the Hungarian community of the time. Previously unpublished, the diary appeared as a standalone volume in 2026 under the title An Emigrant’s Diary: Pestu in the New World, while a digital copy was also deposited with the National Archives of Hungary. In this way, a personal document preserved within a family not only reached a wider audience, but its long-term preservation and accessibility for future research could also be secured.
It is at this point that the work of the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation and the Hungarian Roots & New World Dreams Heritage Program comes together. Over the years, a growing international network has developed around the program and its book series, bringing together descendants of Hungarian emigrants, members of local Hungarian communities, and researchers. This network can help bring to light documents and collections held by families or communities that were previously unknown to researchers. The Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation can provide professional expertise in assessing the historical significance of these sources and, in cooperation with their owners, experts, and public collections, help identify the most appropriate form of long-term preservation. Depending on the nature of the material and the wishes of its owner, this may include supporting proper preservation within the family, digitization, or placement in a public collection.
Réka Bakos, Program Director of Hungarian Roots & New World Dreams, said: “When we created the Hungarian Roots & New World Dreams community, one of our main goals was to document the stories of Hungarian emigrant families and preserve their memory for future generations. Alongside these stories, however, remarkable photographs, private correspondence, official documents, and even century-old handwritten diaries began to emerge. Within the first year of the community’s existence, it became clear that we needed to consider not only how these sources could be shared, but also how they could be preserved for the long term and made accessible to researchers. This is why our partnership with the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation is particularly important to us: it can provide the professional expertise needed to help ensure that historically valuable documents brought to light through our community are preserved for the future.”
The first joint preservation project of the Hungarian Heritage Archives Foundation and the Hungarian Roots & New World Dreams Heritage Program is already underway: we are working to digitize several thousand pages of handwritten diaries kept by a Hungarian emigrant. This remarkable source offers a personal perspective on an important period in 20th century Hungarian history, while also documenting in detail the experiences and challenges of emigration and building a new life abroad. We will soon share more about the preservation project and its results.