History of Everyday Life Database

The Database of the History of the Everyday (HELD) is intended for lay scholars, students, scientists, and anyone with an interest in the history of the everyday. It contains hundreds of sources of a personal nature, such as correspondence, diaries, memoirs, etc. The goal of the project is the digitization of individual egodocuments and their preliminary preparation in the form of a brief summary as well as the provision of basic information about each text. The sources are available online at https://ddvd.kpsys.cz/ and may also be borrowed in the reading room of the library of the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The Database of the History of the Everyday (HELD) is one of the outputs of a long-term international scientific research project undertaken by the Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Vienna, the Institute of Czech History at Charles University, and the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The collection that served as the foundation for the database dates to the beginning of the 1990s, and its creation was primarily the work of sociologist Jana Losová and historian Milan Hlavačka. Today, the collection is institutionally anchored within the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where it is curated by Vojtěch Kessler.

Currently, a collection campaign is underway to expand the original collection with new texts. Should you be interested in making a contribution to the database, please contact the team by email at ddvd@hiu.cas.cz.

Contact

Mgr. Vojtěch Kessler, Ph.D.
email: ddvd@hiu.cas.cz

Project team members

Are you a student of history or a related field? Are you interested in the history of the everyday? Would you like to join our team? Don’t hesitate to get in touch. We enjoy meeting new people.

  Prof. PhDr. Milan Hlavačka, CSc.
Head of the Department of Modern Cultural and Social History; he specializes in the political, social, and economic history of the Czech lands and Habsburg Monarchy 1740–1918 as well as in transportation history and the history of self-governance.

  Mgr. Vojtěch Kessler, Ph.D.
Researcher at the Department of Modern Cultural and Social History; he specializes in the history of the second half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century as well as in historical memory, memorial culture, and the question of collective identities.

  Mgr. Veronika Kršková
Postgraduate student at the Institute of Czech History of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University; she specializes in the history of the everyday, the role of women in politics, and the transformation of self-governance after 1918.  

  RNDr. Jiří Martínek, Ph.D.
Research assistant at the Department of Biobibliographical Studies; mainly involved in biographical studies, history of Czech natural sciences (especially geography) and popularization of science. Occasionally appears on television.

  Mgr. Bc. Lenka Křížová, Ph.D.
Postdoc – Department of Biobibliographical Studies and Library; her research interests include cultural history of the second half of the long 19th century, historical demography, the history of gender and regional history of the central Pojizeří region.

  Mgr. Libor Denk
Doctoral student at the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts of UPOL; focuses on research on the history of business and entrepreneurship by the nobility in the 19th and 20th centuries. Historian of the Horácké Museum.

  Mgr. David Smrček
Postgraduate student at the University of Vienna, Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies, and the Institute of Czech History of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University; he specializes in the social and political history of the end of the 19th century, Czech-German relations, nationalism, and the phenomenon of street politics.

  Mgr. Jan Bouška
Graduate student at the Institute of Czech History of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University; he specializes in the political history of aristocratic society in the second half of the 19th century and the history of death and mourning in the aristocratic milieu.

  Bc. Anežka Kubáčová
Graduate student at the Institute of Czech History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague; the Jewish history at the end of the Second World War and childhood in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

  Bc. Marek Melša
Graduate of the Institute of Czech History, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague; the history of the interwar period in the Central European context, the issues of resistance, collaboration and everyday life in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the history of Czechoslovak diplomacy.

  Mgr. Barbora Dietrichová
Ph.D. student at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, UPOL, deals with the history of the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century with a focus on the research of municipal self-government and German politics in the Czech lands.

  Bc. Tereza Pecková
Graduate student at the Institute of World History of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University; she specializes in medieval history with a particular focus on the history of Scotland and the Christianization of the British Isles.

  Bc. Berenika Čejková
Student of BA in Art History and graduate of BA in History at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague; the Czech History of the 20th century, specifically on everyday life and leisure activities of youth and their relationship to the establishment.

  Bc. Jarmila Šebková
Graduate student at the Institute of World History of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University; she specializes in the history of the interwar period, the history of international relations, and nobility in the 20th century.

  Vjačeslav Glazov
Undergraduate student pursuing a dual degree in history and English and American studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University; he specializes in questions of ethnicity in the Soviet Union and societal transformations in the period of de-Stalinization.

  Anežka Lindaurová
Undergraduate student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and history at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University; she specializes in environmental ethics and gender history.