The Work Method

The parish archives can be explored in various ways and also in various levels. An exploration with complete organization of documents in the archdiocesean level – for an institution like ours, staffed by two people only – would provide work for several decades. Therefore, we have tried to divide this gigantic work to smaller tasks. In 2009 we decided that as the first step we concentrate on exploring and photographing manuscript kept in the parish archives. These volumes (vital records, censuses, protocols, visitations, historia domuses) are generally unique, and events and information considered the most important had been noted in them. The volumes-booklets can be easily recognized by their shapes and can be distinguished easily, this way the exploration of a parish, preparing a catalogue of documents can be done in a few hours. Each manuscript, that is each document, recieves a short description (containing few fields-data groups) and following this, in Kalocsa, in the archive’s workshop digital pictures are taken to reproduce a picture copy of the original manuscipt. According to our calculations, with similar work method – assuming the same workspeed as in the first year (about one thousand photos/workday) – all manuscipts kept in the parishes of the Kalocsa-Kecskemét can be processed within two years.