Start to the Year in the Collection 2026

Our New Year’s event, connected to the Day of Hungarian Culture, is being held for the fourth time and once again offers an opportunity to provide colleagues working in the field of public collections, as well as our friends committed to the cause of museums, archives, and libraries, with an overview of the most important achievements of the past year and the growth of our Foundation’s collection.

The thematic focus of 2026 is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States. In this context, we intend to devote special attention to those Central European figures and intellectual impulses that significantly shaped the United States’ scientific life, economy, the arts, and various areas of public life. Within this framework, Otto von Habsburg and his extensive international network of relations constitute a fundamental point of reference, the presentation of which sheds light on the multifaceted presence of Central European intellectual heritage in America.

In this spirit, we will welcome two leaders of the Hesburgh Libraries and Archives of the University of Notre Dame, which house an impressive body of Europe-related materials: Erika Hosselkus and Rachel Bohlmann. They will present the collections under their care and offer insight into American institutional practices of archival processing, preservation, and access. Their presentations will be followed by a panel discussion, to which two scholars with extensive knowledge of the United States will also join: Balázs Balogh, Director General of the ELTE Research Centre for the Humanities, and Ágnes Fülemile, Senior Research Fellow and Head of Historical Anthropology Department at the Insitute of Ethnology of ELTE Research Centre for the Humanities.

During the afternoon, the Hot Jazz Band will demonstrate how transatlantic interactions have enriched both Hungarian and international popular music culture.

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in Hungarian and English.

We look forward to welcoming you!