Blinken OSA resources accessible online to support CEU student research.
Donald Blinken, ambassador, philanthropist, and major sustainer of the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (OSA), is 95.
In the summer of 2018, OSA received a unique collection of over 200 propaganda and promotional films produced by the Hungarian Propaganda and Tourism Agency (Idegenforgalmi Propaganda és Kiadó Vállalat) before the regime change in 1989-1990.
Peter Pastor, professor emeritus of history at Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ., donated his personal papers related to the Atlantic Research and Publications, Inc. (ARP) to Blinken OSA. Professor Pastor is a prominent member of the 1956 Hungarian exile community in the US and a historian focusing primarily on diplomatic and military relations between Hungary and Russia/USSR, and on twentieth century Hungary. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of seven books.
Program series at Blinken OSA – November 2017
In October, a series of student outreach programs organized in conjunction with the Somewhere in Europe/ Gaudiopolis exhibition at Blinken OSA attracted close to 800 students from 38 different schools and institutions across Budapest. The exhibition explored the story of Gaudiopolis (City of Joy), a children’s republic founded in 1945 in Budapest by Lutheran pastor Gábor Sztehlo.
On September 24-25, a two-day workshop evoked the spirit of Gaudiopolis, the self-governing children’s republic, with the participation of children from Cseppko Children’s Home and Feszek Waldorf School in Solymar - under the creative guidance of Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop, Budapest (AUW).
Within CEU’s Open Learning Initiative Blinken OSA hosts a higher education program geared towards refugees and asylum seekers in Hungary.
In a joint initiative with the CEU Library to better serve the CEU community and the broader public, the records of the Donald and Vera Blinken Open Society Archives’ extensive collection of periodicals, films, and reference books related to the Cold War, Communism, international human rights and the archival profession are now available through the CEU Library catalog.
The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives launched its first Teacher Training Program for Hungarian high school history teachers, entitled Scopes and Constraints in 20th Century Hungarian History, with accreditation for five years granted by the Hungarian Ministry of Education.