RESTORY
Recovering Past Stories for the Future: A Synergistic Approach to Textual and Oral Heritage of Small Communities
Premiere Orizont Europa – Instituții
PN-IV-P8-8.1-PRE-HE-ORG-2024-0170
1.07.2024 – 31.12.2026
Project Description Objectives H.U.B. Team Activities and Outputs Contact
Summary of activities carried out during the implementation period
Stage no. 1: 1.07.2024-31.12.2024
The project did not include activities categorized as fundamental research, such as academic investigations, scientific publications, or scholarly dissemination. Instead, the implementation period focused on establishing and enhancing the infrastructure of the Heritage Upcycle Base (H.U.B.) by equipping it with suitable tools and devices to ensure the efficient and sustainable use of theoretical resources developed by the RESTORY research team.
Conceived as a collaborative super-structure uniting three research centers at Babeș-Bolyai University [TRANS.SCRIPT: Center for Diplomatic and Medieval Documentary Paleography (TS), the Institute of Oral History (IOH), and the Research Center for Territorial Identities and Development (TIDRC)], the H.U.B. is designed to extend the project’s impact beyond its timeline. Its objectives include:
- Providing consultancy for managing local history and cultural heritage,
- Organizing educational campaigns and training programs,
- Assisting archives and libraries with implementing open access policies for cultural heritage,
- Supporting organizations in identifying and securing funding opportunities.
The H.U.B. plays a vital role in fostering sustainable collaboration between academic researchers and Romanian cultural institutions. However, achieving its mission requires additional investments in equipment and infrastructure, costs that were not anticipated in the initial project proposal. These enhancements will enable the long-term and effective utilization of the research outcomes generated by RESTORY.
Stage No. 2: 01.01.2025–31.12.2025
The second phase was designed to create a broader framework for development, both by diversifying the human resources involved in research activities and by expanding the project’s thematic scope.
The actions undertaken during this phase aimed at:
- attracting and integrating a new generation of researchers
- revising and extending the project timeline
- incorporating additional case studies
- strengthening research–development–innovation infrastructure with a strategic role
Activity 2.1 Strategic expansion of young human resources (“emerging scholars”)
Through the enlargement of the team, the primary objective was to diversify historical perspectives, and secondly to facilitate the integration of young researchers into the academic community.
Activity 2.2 Inclusion of additional case studies (“expanding and networking”)
The project team carried out a series of working visits dedicated to:
- documenting heritage resources
- assessing the state of conservation and the potential for valorization
- establishing institutional contacts
- identifying possibilities for integrating Saxon heritage into cultural, educational, or publishing projects with regional and national impact
In total, five team members participated in these research trips in order to achieve the proposed objectives.
Adinel C. Dincă
- 11–28.08.2025, Wolfenbüttel, Germany – Herzog August Library
- 07–26.09.2025, Rome, Italy and the Vatican – Vatican Apostolic Archive, Historical Archive of the Apostolic Penitentiary, German Historical Institute in Rome
Maria Frînc, Ștefania Ghișa, Livia Potop
- 23.11.2025–03.12.2025, Vienna, Austria – Austrian National Library
Călin Olariu
- 24.11.2025–04.12.2025, Sighișoara
Two members of the project team also attended conferences abroad:
Adinel C. Dincă
- 22–29.06.2025, participation in the international conference Readers, Makers, and Medieval Consumer Culture: Manuscripts and Books from 1350–1550. 19th International Conference of the Early Book Society, organized by New York University, with the paper: Shaping Clerical Professionals: Manipulus Curatorum and Parish Priests in Transylvanian Saxon Communities around 1500.
Maria Frînc
- 10.2025 – 11.10.2025, participation in the international conference Central and Eastern European Legal History Conference, organized by Faculty of Law and Administration at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, with the paper: Woman and her right to inheritance in Medieval Transylvania. Quarta filialis.
