The European Diary Archives and Collections Network (EDAC) was founded in June 2015 in Amsterdam, with the aim of exchanging best practices, data and expertise between the different diary archives in Europe, and to promote scholarly research on diaries. These documents provide a fascinating insight into the lived experiences of past generations, and allow us to (re)hear forgotten voices from the past. At that first EDAC meeting in 2015, a mission statement was proposed and accepted: ‘The umbrella organization of diary archives and collections aims to exchange best practices, data and expertise between the different diary archives in Europe, and to promote scholarly research on diaries and other forms of life writing like letters, autobiographies, and memoirs.’
At the 2nd Biennial Meeting in Vienna in 2018, network members decided to rename the organisation the European Ego-Documents Archives and Collections Network (EDAC), still to be abbreviated as EDAC. This expands the network to include those who collected other materials recording life histories, including photographs, and other forms of life writing, such as letters, autobiographies and memoirs. EDAC members organise projects concerning the reading and researching diaries and other forms of life writing, scholarly and non-scholarly.
The EDAC network currently includes 11 member institutions in Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Hungary. The benefits of being a member is the opportunity for collaboration, increased online visibility, and the opportunity to share expertise at our EDAC meetings every two years. Since 2019, the EDAC Secretariat is managed by the Expatriate Archive Centre.
For questions and membership applications, please contact the current Secretariat at the Expatriate Archive Centre: info@edac-eu.org