ARCHIVAL RESEARCH
Here you can read about our research activities at the archives. How we do research at archival centers, look for and identify diaries with the help of archivists and digital tools.
Consultation at the USHMM
As part of the ANR–DFG project and with the support of a research grant from the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah,
Sarah Gruszka and Marie Moutier-Bitan conducted research at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in November 2025.
The objectives were multiple:
- to determine whether the methodology developed while working with the collections of the Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris was sufficiently flexible and well structured to be applied to other archival centers;
- to test the classification, indexing, and access systems for personal diaries at the USHMM;
- to understand the chronology of the formation of the personal diaries collection and the geographical scope it covers;
- to identify personal diaries outside digitization programs such as “Save Your Story”;
- to meet all the actors involved in the trajectory of the diaries, from their deposit in the archives to their availability in the reading room;
- to consolidate or revise the thematic categories of the inventory through the reading of newly consulted diaries.
The project of inventorying, mapping, and analyzing personal diaries was received with great enthusiasm by the USHMM teams.
Our exchanges with the archivists and curators of the Shapell Center were particularly fruitful.
While a large number of personal diaries are available online, we were also able to consult diaries that are
accessible only upon request, in microfilm or paper format.