Flanders
by Eline Van Hoye
The start of the research in local history
In the Romantic Period, the interest for the culture and local history
of Flanders was raised together with the Flemish Movement. This Movement
fought for the rights of the Flemish community in Belgium which was being
oppressed by the French speaking part of the community.
In the Interbellum period several small organizations for local history
were founded. Mostly, their research was restricted to their village,
town or region. In 1939 the Association for Flemish local history
was raised. This organization differed from the locally bounded organizations
in their main aim: to study and support the evolutions and the practice
of the local history in Flanders. The Second World war obstructed their
working and this organization disappeared and was split up in different
organizations. In continuation of the earlier, split up association, Jozef
van Overstraeten founded a new organization in 1941. The organization
wanted to be a clusterorganization for all the local and regional initiatives
for local history. For years the organization could successfully work
on their two most important objectives: the publishing of a periodic called
Ons Heem (= our local heritage) and the organization
of an annual conference. In 1991, the organization was officially supported
by the Government and received financial support. This organization knew
several ups and downs but by the end of the millennium it got in serious
problems. This caused that the financial governmental support was almost
withdrawn. To avoid this catastrophe, the only solution left, was a complete
reformation of the organization, among others by appointing a totally
new board of directors.
A new organization with a whole new vision and identity was born: Heemkunde
Vlaanderen (Local History Flanders). In 2002 the renewed organization
received extra financial support from the Flemish Gouvernement to develop
their working. Recently, a new interest in local history is born and the
growing public is the best indicator for the importance of the preservation
of our history.
How the practice of local history in Flanders is organized
In Flanders, most villages and towns have their own organization
for local history. Thousands of volunteers see to it that their
organization is being kept alive. They organize small exhibitions, lectures,
meetings, courses, festivities, fairs and so on. This way they preserve
the habits of the Flemish people in the earlier days. This is very important
if you want to keep the history of your village or region alive. Besides
these social events, almost all of these small organizations publish a
periodical or a yearbook for which they write articles on the local history
of their village. Some of the organizations, run a small museum where
they exhibit the historical valuable objects of their region. In some
of these museums, you can find small treasures. Others keep an archive
of the history and documentation on their region. There are over 400 of
these organizations in Flanders and they each form a small, but very important
and solid part of the practice of local history in Flanders.
Every province (there are 5 provinces in Flanders) has a larger organization
for local history. They serve to coordinate and support the local organizations.
They all publish a periodical in which they study the
history of their province. Heemkunde Vlaanderen (Local History Flanders)
serves as the umbrella organization for all these smaller and larger organizations.
The main aim for our organization is to support and develop the sector.
So we don’t conduct any historical research ourselves, but we do
organize, support and participate in events on local history. We organize
all sort of events that provide information on how to improve the working
of a small organization. We see to it that local history stays alive by
stimulating and educating those who work in the field.
Local History Flanders wants to manifest itself as an umbrella organization
for the sector of local history in Flanders. We offer support and education
by publishing, by informing, by organizing conferences en by participating
in large events on (local) history. The organization wants to connect
people who care for their local history and popular culture. The exchange
of ideas and information takes a central place in our working. We want
to inform about the evolutions that take place in the field and to rapport
about the governmental policy on the subsidizing of the sector.
Every three months, we publish a magazine, Ons Heem
(=our local heritage). Ons Heem contains scientific articles on all kind
of subjects dealing with local history and/or popular culture. The articles
strive for more global research and for a general knowledge on local history.
Because we think it is very important to emphasize that the present is
an even large study area for our sector, we also try to publish articles
on the actual practice and evolutions in local history. We also inform
about oncoming large events that are in one way or another connected with
local history or cultural heritage.
The website of Local History Flanders
wants to ameliorate the contacts between the organizations on local history
and the individual researchers. In a world that is strongly influenced
by multimedia, the website makes an actual approach of local history possible.
On our site, there is also room for the announcements of events, publications
and so on. We also offer a platform for questions and appeals. The site
can also being used to surf to related organizations, libraries, archives,…
Recently, Local History Flanders set off with a project around leadership.
The Flemish Centre for Popular Culture, a related organization,
conducted an investigation that created a clear image of the sector. One
of the things that came out of the research was the large gap between
the individual capacities of the volunteers that work for a local organization
and the individuals that ‘lead’ the organization. Those who
are the most capable to lead the organization, often aren’t member
of the board of directors. And of all the volunteers who work in the sector,
only 3% of them are women. We thought it was time to bring a change in
this actual situation.
Our project is subsidized by the Flemish Government and is coordinated
by the consultant of our organization. The first step is to locate the
individual capacities that are present in the local organizations. In
a next stage we will organize several events that are focused on conversation.
The objective is to get people (the volunteers) to talk about their experiences
on all kind of matters related to the ‘leadership’ of an organization
for local history. In these two phases we shall stimulate the presence
of women.
In the end we shall create an on-line databank where an inventory will
be made of the experiences and of the most current problems and how to
solve them. There will also be a platform on which individuals can keep
discussing their experiences with each other.
Popular culture and local history need to be restored in their true value
and this is the message Local History Flanders tries to carry out toward
a larger public and toward the Flemish Government. We want to play a leading
role in this well deserved and too long delayed expansion of our sector.
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