Abstract:

The topicality of the problem is determined by the fact that in parallel with the expansion of political and economic integration, with the changes in traditional geopolitical thinking, the idea of written heritage, its scope and content is evolving. Authenticity criteria and the methods for protection, conservation, use and management are changing. The mass penetration of integration and communication technologies in the organization and management of modern societies turns over and raises the role of libraries, archives and museums, transforming them into public institutional structures, working in cooperation with each other, in order to ensure unimpeded access to documentary written heritage, to form a common information area and raise the level of culture of civil society.

The significance of the issues is related to ensuring opportunities for future generations who will be able to read the texts and adopt the knowledge preserved today. Based on that they can create new knowledge that will enrich the cultural heritage of mankind. Thus, the endless cycle of perception, creation, recording, protection and transmission of knowledge will continue to enrich society and serve the progress of civilization.

The topicality is also determined by the growing danger of losing valuable archival and library collections, which determine the identity, knowledge and history of mankind. In the new dynamically changing environment, through the improvement of management technologies and the introduction of advanced, new environmental methods and standards, cultural institutions should be able to guarantee access and protection of the written cultural heritage of Bulgaria, constantly identifying the factors on which these diametrically opposed but mutually conditioned missions depend on - access and protection.

The preservation (restoration and conservation) and access (digitization) of "Trakia" newspaper is the main topic of this article. Conservation and protection of archival newspapers is a major challenge because they are printed on paper, which is inherently unstable. Effective preservation of newspapers presupposes understanding of the meaning of protection in general, as well as understanding of the specific approaches, methods and techniques that are included in the concepts of newspapers’ protection.

The management of the process of protecting archival newspapers is explained by some examples of good practices in this field. The report aims to describe and analyse the approaches to preserving these archival materials of vital importance to society, to outline the main developments and to place Bulgarian initiatives in the general context of managing the process of "preservation" of archival newspapers.

Keywords:

Protection, conservation, restoration, digitisation, archival newspapers.