Digital Archive for the 21st Century

Leadership 100 has committed support of a long-term project to digitize documents, photographs, resources and valuable collections of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America with a multi-year grant of $400,000 through 2009.

The historical archives of the Archdiocese and Greek American Community, consisting of more than two million documents and 50,000 photographs, will be digitized in a multi-phase project and will be accessible by database and via the Internet in a user-friendly format, while maintaining strict control over confidential and copyrighted materials.

“The Department of Archives believes it is essential to create a digital archive for the twenty-first century that accurately reflects this rich history,” said Nikie Calles, Director of Archives. The Department was created by the late Archbishop Iakovos in 1964 to address the historical development of both the Archdiocese, established in 1922, and the Greek American Community.

“The mission is to systematically collect, categorize and organize the vast collection of historical materials accumulated by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese over the years,” explained Ms. Calles. She said that the archival collection also records the growth of the Church and its institutions, as well as social, cultural and educational organizations of Greek American communities. “Future generations will be able to discover the unique heritage and history of the Greek Orthodox Church in America,” she added.

The project, through sophisticated search and cross-reference capabilities, will assist researchers and scholars from around the world. In addition to an exhaustive catalogue of Church, Community and political and governmental materials, the archives also include a vast collection chronicling the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, a library on Hellenism in America and information on a vast variety of cultural organizations and societies within the nation and around the world.