Korespondenta

Korespondenta is a digital archive and platform that collects, preserves, and analyzes correspondence across cultures and eras. The word, combining roots associated with correspondence and exchange, signals a focus on letters, emails, diaries, and related epistolary artefacts.

Founded in 2015 by a consortium of universities, national libraries, and cultural institutions, Korespondenta operates as a non-profit network. Its mission is to democratize access to primary sources while safeguarding privacy and intellectual property. It aggregates both institutional holdings and user-contributed material, subject to consent and licensing terms.

Content and features include digitized manuscripts, printed letters, and digital communications. Materials are described with standardized metadata, TEI-encoded transcripts, and OCR where needed. The platform provides multilingual search, language detection, translation, and tools to visualize correspondence networks and temporal trends.

Access and governance emphasize openness and responsibility. Public-facing materials are generally open access, with restricted items available under agreements. Researchers may obtain expanded data access under data-use licenses. Korespondenta follows ethical guidelines, with consent management, privacy-preserving techniques, and an oversight advisory board.

Impact and reception highlight the project’s usefulness for scholars in history, linguistics, and media studies, as well as educators and public humanities enthusiasts. It faces challenges such as uneven representation, copyright constraints, and the technical demands of large‑scale digitization and data curation.