Department of Auxiliary Sciences of History and Archival Studies

Department of Auxiliary Sciences of History and Archival Studies

The department provides a Bachelor's degree and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Archival Science, also in the follow-up Master's and PhD programme. The Department also provides the internal study with the title PhDr. before the name. Both specializations offer both full-time and combined forms of studies.

In the field of Archival Science – History, the emphasis is placed on acquiring knowledge and skills from the archival, auxiliary-scientific and historical fields, as well as on systematic education in the field of foreign languages (Latin, German), which also takes into account absolute beginners.

The aim of the Bachelor's degree programme in Historical Sciences with a specialization in History and Archival Science is to prepare students to work in a wide range of cultural, memory and educational institutions, such as museums, galleries, offices in case of the History specialization, and especially in archives, registry offices and offices in case of the Archival Science specialization.

The field Computer Aided Archival Science combines the teaching of traditional historical sciences with modern information technologies and the latest knowledge of other exact sciences. A specialized, technically very well equipped laboratory was established for this field. At the same time, students complete professional practice in selected archives, institutions and companies. This attractive study is desirable in the labour market as it educates professionals who, on one hand, are well versed in classical archival science and in other historical sciences, on the other hand, are able to react adaptively to the latest technical procedures and regulations in administrative services and to transfer them into everyday practice.

Teaching in both fields is provided by the department's teachers as well as by members of the Historical Institute of the Philosophical Faculty of the UHK, teachers from the departments of the Faculty of Science of the UHK, experts from the Czech Academy of Sciences and other institutions, and also highly erudite practitioners from museums and archives of all types.

The department includes:

The Section of Regional Ecclesiastical History, which successfully cooperates with the Bishopric of Hradec Králové and participates, among other things, in organizing lecture cycles for the public, in organizing international and domestic conferences every year and publishing professional literature.

The department’s staff also focuses on the interdisciplinary research of Czech and Moravian towns from the 16th to 20th centuries. Centre of Urban History (CUH) founded in 2018 under the leadership of doc. PhDr. Jana Vojtíšková, Ph.D., focuses on interdisciplinary research of urban issues with an overlap into the Central European space.

Currently, CUH members are working on a five-year project called NAKI II entitled Dowry Towns of the Czech Queens (A Living Part of the Historical Consciousness and its Support by Tools of Historical Geography, Virtual Reality and Cyberspace).

Historical Sciences (Bc.)

Characteristics of the Field

Study program: Historical Sciences with specialization in Archival Science and History

Standard duration of studies: 3 years

Degree Acquired: Bachelor (Bc.)

Form of Studies: full-time, the combined form is possible only in Archival Science

Full-time students choose the study specialization at the end of teaching in the first year of their studies at the time of the enrolment in the second year of their studies, i.e. during the examination period of the first year of the summer semester. The choice of the specialization is fully within the competence of each student, there are no capacity constraints. Each student will have the possibility to continue his/her studies in the chosen specialization. It is not possible to change the selected specialization in the further progress of studies.

Graduate Profile

The graduates of the Bachelor's degree in Historical Sciences are oriented in history in a long time perspective from antiquity to the present. They are able to incorporate individual historical phenomena into the historical process, to capture them in their causal and spatio-temporal context and in other relations. They are able to interpret them and are aware of the multiplicity of interpretations from different perspectives of the historical events and contemporary approach to them. They are able to analyze and interpret historical sources and professional literature.

The graduates of the specialization in history are able to critically access information about (not only) historical events, they can interpret historical phenomena and capture their essence and wider context, inter alia with an overlap with current events; they are able to motivate interest in important topics especially with regard to the area of their interest, reflected during the studies and in the Bachelor’s thesis.

The graduates of the specialization in archival science will acquire an overview of all auxiliary scientific disciplines, archival theory including knowledge of valid legislation, new trends in contemporary archival science. They will learn to work with a wide variety of sources, especially with written and material sources, to archive them and to make them available to the public. They will acquire the language knowledge necessary for this professional work with sources. The acquired knowledge and especially skills are the prerequisite for admission to the follow-up Master's degree programme of History or Archival Science. However, the graduates will find wide application not only as professional workers in archives, museums, state administration and self-government but also in all types of cultural and educational institutions, in contributory organizations, in offices, and in state and private companies.

Computer Aided Archival Science (Bc.)

Characteristics of the Field

Study Programme: Computer Aided Archival Science

Standard duration of studies: 3 years

Degree Acquired: Bachelor (Bc.)

Form of studies: full-time, combined

Graduate Profile

The graduates of these studies are specific as they are able to perform some basic tasks of an archivist and at the same time of an employee of the Hardware and Software support in the relevant institution. They can perform tasks related to the creation of the databases of monuments and access to them, to their presentation with modern technologies but also to the construction and operation of the digitization lines, etc. The graduates are equipped with the latest knowledge from the humanities as well as from the applied informatics and many other disciplines, which in their entirety create a comprehensive education and provide them with a sufficient overview and necessary insight into the performance of expertise.

Archival Science (NMgr.)

Single-subject study. It is realized in two modules - A/ module of The Auxiliary Sciences of History and Archival Studies, B/ module of The Modern Systems in the Archival Studies.

Module A/ - The graduates of this module of Master's studies will gain deep knowledge of auxiliary sciences of history and archival studies and classical archival science, administration history and relevant legislation.

Module B/ - The graduates of this Master's studies module, as specialists in the field of records management and modern technologies in archival science, find unlimited employment in the field of the state administration and self-government, in all types of the cultural and educational institutions, contributory organizations, offices and state as well asrivate companies. There is a constant demand for such oriented workers.

Admission Procedure

Applicants for studies are admitted on the basis of the results of the oral entrance exams. Module A/ Entrance exams will be an oral interview. The prerequisites for the studies of the chosen module, any interest in the field of auxiliary sciences of history and archival studies, including orientation in the branch legislation, in the records service and in the basic professional literature will be evaluated. Module B/ Entrance exams will be an oral interview. The prerequisites for the studies of the chosen module, any interest in the field of modern systems in the archival studies, and the archival studies themselves, including orientation in the branch legislation, in the records service and in the basic professional literature will be evaluated.

Archival Science (Ph.D).

The Archival Science doctoral programme, which was accredited in 2014, offers students in full-time and combined form a module focused on auxiliary historical sciences and a module focused on modern system in the archival studies. The four-year course provides students with space for professional/academic and research growth, especially in the areas of auxiliary historical sciences, administration history and modern trends in archival science. The specialization of the department's staff in the field of urban and ecclesiastical history also enables interdisciplinary research of this type. Doctoral students have the possibility to solve grant projects and to publish in Czech and foreign periodicals under the guidance of their supervisor. Mobility for studies and for traineeships abroad, which can be arranged according to the student's research focus, is significantly supported. The Department of Auxiliary Historical Sciences and Archival Science, which regularly cooperates with leading research institutes in the Czech Republic (e.g. the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences or the Faculty of Information Technology of the Czech Technical University), is not a large workplace but its great advantage is truly family environment, which enables individual and systematic work with students, which is reflected in the quality of publications and graduate thesis.