Lehel Molnár B.

(Transylvanian Unitarian Church Collecting Archives

Cluj/Kolozsvár, Romania) lmolnar@unitarian.dntcj.ro

Deborah J. Youngman

(Developmental Studies & CounselingSchool of Education

Boston University, USA) drdjy@bu.edu

UNITARIAN HERITAGE IN TRANSYLVANIA.

DIGITIZING DOCUMENTS IN UNITARIAN ARCHIVES AND LIBRARY IN CLUJ/KOLOZSVAR

Abstract. In the first part  I discuss the general European trends in digitising as attempts at the creation of an e-Europe. At the same time I would like to point out the striking passivity in the field of digitisation in Romania. Then, along with the digitisation projects already started in libraries, I will deal with the advantages the creation of digital archives may bring about. In a longer thematic unit I am going to outline the history of the Unitarian Church in Transylvania, setting it in the context of the wide-ranging spiritual movement spread all over 16th century Europe that is called Reformation. Subsequently, I will briefly discuss the major importance of the Main Library and the Central Archives of the Unitarian Church, the unique value of the manuscripts preserved there, as well as our project, which proposes to digitise the most important manuscripts.