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Abstract

This paper traces the transformations of a historical archival collection of personal wartime correspondence. Most of the records in this collection were created in the context of the German Occupation of the Netherlands during World War II (1940–1945) and/or the War of Independence in Indonesia (1945-1950). The collection was gathered and curated by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies in Amsterdam from 1945 onwards and was digitised between 2020 and 2023. We navigate the convergence of past and future transformations of the records and illuminate the intricate web of considerations and decisions of historical preservation, archiving, digitisation, research, and (re-)use. We focus on the initial creators of the records, but also on family custodians, professional record-keepers, and the digitisation project team. We address the implications and impacts of their actions, as they present important considerations in the selection, source criticism, and interpretation of such records as sources in historical scholarship.

We use a simplified version of the Records Continuum Model (RCM) as an analytical framework to enhance our understanding of this complex collection of varied historical ‘egodocuments’. By doing so, we evaluate the practical implementation of RCM as an analytical instrument in expanding current practices of source criticism in historical scholarship. We show how different dimensions of mutually interacting dynamic processes add new layers to the context and meaning of historical records, and how ‘egodocuments’ such as wartime correspondence are not only a reflection of the experiences, perceptions, and emotions of their initial writers, but are also influenced by contemporary cultural and social conventions and time- and location-specific contexts and various curatorial and record-keeping activities through time. To conclude, this paper emphasizes the value of collaboration between historical scholars and archivists and stresses the importance of accountability and transparency in record-keeping practices, both in the historical archive and the digital realm.

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