H-DIARIES BLOG
The H-Diaries Blog shows our research activities. How we do research at archival centers, our contributions at conferences and many more activities.
Working in the Abbey: The H-Diaries Team Meeting at IMEC in Caen
In May 2026, the H-Diaries team gathered for a two-day working meeting at the Institut mémoires
de l’édition contemporaine (IMEC) near Caen. Located in the historic Abbaye d’Ardenne, a former
twelfth-century abbey, the setting offered an atmosphere of calm concentration and continuity
between past and present. Surrounded by the quiet of the monastery grounds and the historic architecture
of the site, the meeting created a particularly productive environment for collective reflection and
focused work: discussing workflows, refining research structures, and developing shared approaches for
the next phases of the project.
A central topic of discussion concerned the organization and long-term management of digitized diaries and archival metadata. Particular attention was given to the ongoing development of the project’s nodegoat database. The conversations once again highlighted that diaries cannot easily be reduced to stable categories; rather, they often combine multiple forms of writing and documentation within a single object.
The meeting also provided space to coordinate future archival work. Team members exchanged experiences
from previous research stays and discussed strategies for identifying relevant ego-documents in collections
whose classifications do not necessarily correspond to the project’s definition of diaries. Plans for
future archival visits and collaborations were reviewed, alongside questions concerning multilingual
materials and the challenges of working with diaries written in less familiar languages. These discussions
emphasized the collaborative nature of the project. The identification and interpretation of diaries
frequently depends on shared expertise, informal exchanges, and collective decision-making processes.
Alongside research coordination, the team also discussed future public activities and formats of communication. This included plans for workshops, conference participation, collaborations with memorial institutions, and educational outreach.
At the same time, the stay allowed the team to engage more closely with IMEC itself as a remarkable research
institution. Founded in 1988 to preserve and make accessible archives related to twentieth-century publishing,
literature, and intellectual life, IMEC today holds extensive collections from publishers, writers, philosophers,
and cultural actors. The team was particularly impressed by the quality of the library and archival holdings,
housed within the carefully restored abbey complex.
Especially fascinating for the project were materials connected to the French edition history of Anne Frank’s diary, which offered further insight into the
transmission, editing, and reception of one of the most widely read diary texts of the twentieth century.
The team would like to extend warm thanks to the IMEC staff for their generous support and for providing such an inspiring setting for our work.
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