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HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
The Historical Archive of the Foundation contains important primary sources that shed light on the political history of Greece mainly for the period after the Second World War.
At the core of the Historical Archive is the Konstantinos Karamanlis Archive, donated by Konstantinos Karamanlis himself.
The Foundation also hosts the papers of major political figures and close colleagues of Karamanlis, which shed light on their political work and add to the information contained in the main body of the Archive.
The archive collections of Evangelos Averoff-Tositsas, Nikolaos Martis, Konstantinos Papakonstantinou, Panagis Tsaldaris, Konstantinos Tsaldaris, Ioannis Boutos, Gerassimos Apostolatos and Lina Tsaldaris have already been donated to the Foundation, together with that of Georgios Spendzas, a close personal colleague of Konstantinos Karamanlis. The papers of Anastasios Kanellopoulos, which refer principally to Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, have also been donated and the collection of Dionissios Flabouras as well. In addition, the archive holds files containing useful information received from named donors and covering specific subjects.
This archive material is available for study by researchers in accordance with the terms of the special regulations. A basic condition for use of documents is that they must not fall under the confidentiality rules of the Greek state, which cover public papers of the last thirty years. Material belonging to the Historical Archive has already been used by a number of academics and young researchers to elaborate their work.
Apart from the collections of papers, the Foundation's Historical Archive also contains valuable audiovisual records, including 375 video cassettes (in Beta, Umatic and VHS formats), and 16mm and 35mm films which are digitalized in 371 DVDs. These focus on the political achievements of Konstantinos Karamanlis, and also highlight the major events of the period during which he played a leading role on the political stage. These documentaries provide a more complete picture of post-war Greece, and give a fascinating insight into international events. The aforementioned material is being constantly enriched by donations and by the activities of the foundation.
A rich collection of photographic material, comprising around 20,000 images, has also been amassed. These refer to the political life and work of Konstantinos Karamanlis and mainly cover the period between 1955 and 1995. This material has been digitalized in the framework of “Digitalization, Documentation and Promotion of the Archive of Konstantinos G. Karamanlis Foundation”.
Finally the collection of 500 mementos, which is also digitalized, is kept in the Foundation. It includes, among others, personal souvenirs, paintings and sculptures which are of a great historic and artistic interest. The personal souvenirs of K. Karamanlis (medals, awards etc) are directly related to significant events of his political career.
For the first time in Greece, the Historical Archive has already effected a systematic collection of verbal witness accounts of those who had a close working relationship with K. Karamanlis or played a significant political role in the longer duration of his presence in public life. The application of that programme is based on the selection of a great number of people mainly in Greece but abroad as well.
Constant efforts are being made to protect and maintain the aforementioned historical works as well as making them more directly accessible to the research centres both in Greece and abroad as well as by the ordinary researcher by following the development of technology.
The Historical Archive continues in its efforts to adopt laws and specific guidelines which are formulated by the International Council of Archives in an effort to find a uniform strategy at world or local level and which are then applied in practice.
The Head of the Historical Archive is Marietta Minotos, Lecturer at the Ionian University.
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