The Kistelegdi Collection – making public treasure from a private collection

Abstract

The Forum Hungaricum Nonprofit Kft. (successor of the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute) and the Csorba Győző Library( seated in Pécs and responsible for library supply in Baranya county) undertook a co-operative value saving work to process the private collection of István Kistelegdi, architect, winner of the Ybl Prize, Professor Emeritus of Pécs University who had donated his photo collection created during his career to this library. Forum Hungaricum provides the tools and human resources required for digitization and processing for the library’s Local Knowledge Department within the national scheme of cultural digitization, as a co-ordinator of public employment. The article presents how the private collection of Professor Kistelegdi, stored by him in shoeboxes, was turned into a public collection which is now online accessible to anyone. Processing work is also described, including how the photos in question got to „The Hague”, i.e. to the public interface of Europeana.