Blinken Open Society Archives, Research archive and community center in central Budapest, Hungary.
The Blinken Open Society Archives is a research archive attached to Central European University in Budapest, holding documents that cover Eastern European history from the second half of the 20th century onward. The building also has a publicly accessible library and event spaces used for exhibitions and talks throughout the year.
The archive was founded in 1995 in connection with Central European University, shortly after the end of communism in the region, when many organizations began opening their records to researchers. It received its current name in 2015 in honor of Vera and Donald Blinken, long-time supporters of the institution.
The reading room is open to anyone curious about Cold War history, not just professional researchers, and the staff are used to helping first-time visitors find their way through the holdings. Many of the documents come from Radio Free Europe, which broadcast news into Eastern Europe when independent reporting was forbidden.
The archive is in central Budapest and easy to reach on foot or by public transport. For visits that go beyond a casual look around, it is worth checking the access conditions on their website in advance, as some holdings may require accreditation to consult.
The building that houses the archive was originally a textile warehouse built in 1911 and later served as a dollar shop in the 1980s, where goods could be bought only with foreign currency. That history layers the building itself into the story of late 20th-century Hungary.
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