2017 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Hungarian poet János Arany. To celebrate this occasion, National Széchényi Library will digitize manuscripts of Arany’s works owned by NSZL and will also restore and digitize part of the bequest kept in Nagyszalonta.
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One of the main tasks of János Arany Memorial Year 2017 [3] is the preservation of the manuscript bequest related to Arany. In order to realize this aim, a major manuscript-related project including processing, value preservation, restoration and digitization was started, with the coordination of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the participation of National Széchényi Library and Petőfi Literary Museum.
[4]In the framework of this complex project, lasting for months, National Széchényi Library will digitize manuscripts of Arany’s works kept in its own collection. At the same time, the Library takes on the organization of restoring all of the manuscripts and books – some 3,000 documents of various types and conditions – kept in Nagyszalonta. NSZL will also control and perform a significant amount of the work, and it will digitize the items.
Part of the digitized items will serve as a basis for a thematic content service to be compiled and launched during the memorial year.