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The former county of Sătmar is one of the oldest of the country. It was a geographical, economic and cultural unit that for a millennium provided the framework of local history. The unity of these territories can be is felt even after their division between Romania and Hungary. Over the last century, the region was marginalized, and the state borders divided the archaeological sites, ethnographic areas, and archival units. A significant part of the historical documents are kept, besides Satu Mare, in collections of Nyíregyháza, Cluj-Napoca and Budapest, but relevant sources can also be found in almost all archives and libraries of Romania and Europe.
It is not easy to resume and reintegrate the old links, it may not be possible in its entirety, but the possibilities given by the digital world provide us with an additional tool to establish benchmarks for common dialogue. This is, first and foremost, to facilitate the direct access to historical sources. For this purpose, the Identitas Foundation Satu Mare created the Virtual Encyclopedia on the History of Satu Mare as an online database, with the generous support of the Bethlen Gábor Fund. The main partners in the creation of the database are the institutions, holders of the documents, which also provided professional support: Satu Mare County Museum (Satu Mare, Romania), Jósa András Museum and the County Directorate of National Archives Szabolcs-Szatmár Bereg (both from Nyíregyháza, Hungary). The documents presented here will be supplemented with relevant resources available through the web, and through expanding the cooperation with new partners, owners of historical sources, so that the integrated database can develop as comprehensive as possible.
We are happy to receive support and advice, and you are welcome to contact us with comments or questions.
Dr. Szőcs Péter Levente
President of Identitas Foundation
szocs[dot]peter[dot]levente[at]szatmaritudastar[dot]ro