COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY

The Digital Collection for the Virtual Belarusian Jewish Museum serves as an online archive dedicated to preserving, researching, and providing public access to the rich history and cultural heritage of Jews in Belarus. This Collection Policy establishes the framework for systematic collection development, ensuring the creation of a comprehensive digital repository that serves researchers, educators, communities, and the general public, and supporting Museum projects through the responsible use of collection materials in exhibitions, educational programs, and cultural collaborations.

1.1 Mission Statement

To collect, preserve, and make accessible digital materials that document the multifaceted history of Jewish life in Belarus, thereby ensuring the preservation of this knowledge and heritage for current and future generations.

1.2 DIGITAL COLLECTION OVERALL DESCRIPTION

The Virtual Museum’s Digital Collection and its catalogue bring together metadata related to two sets of materials:

1. Materials already digitised and available in open access on various institutional websites (of libraries, archives, museums, heritage institutions, and, in some cases, individual websites). Additionally, where permission and cooperation agreements are in place, institutional sources not available in open access may be included. The Virtual Museum catalogue will create its own metadata following the principles outlined below, and aiming at presenting it in a decolonised way. The catalogue will provide a link to the website where the digital copy of the item can be found. In most cases, the Digital Collection will not store the digital copy itself. For materials not available in open access, the catalogue will indicate the holding institution, collection or archive as agreed with the partner institution.
2. Digital copies deposited in the Museum collection by contributors. The verification and acquisition procedure is described in Section 4. The items will be added to the database, with their metadata and digital copies made available through the catalogue in accordance with the applicable access and use conditions. 

1.3 Institutional Values

Preservation: Safeguarding cultural heritage from loss and oblivion through its digitisation where possible.
Accessibility: Providing open access to collections while respecting ethical and legal constraints.
Authenticity: Preserving the integrity of digital materials and accurately recording their provenance, source, and any changes made to metadata or digital files.
Inclusivity: Representing diverse voices, experiences, and perspectives within Belarusian-Jewish history.
Collaboration: Working with individuals, communities, families, experts and institutions as partners in the gathering, preservation, representation and interpretation of sources.
Sustainability: Ensuring, to the reasonable extent, the long-term maintenance of the database and consistency in the management of the digital collections. 

*If the Belarusian-Jewish Cultural Heritage Center (BJCH) is unable to continue maintaining the resource, responsibility for its preservation and access will be transferred to a trusted partner institution, such as a museum, archive, or university, to ensure its continued availability for research and public use.

The BJCH recognises its responsibility to ensure due diligence in relation to intellectual property rights and data protection. It will ensure that ethical considerations govern the use and publication of materials.

2.1 Geographical Scope

Primary Focus: Present-day Belarus.

Exceptions: Materials may be included if they:

- Relate to particularly valuable items with strong connections to Belarusian Jewish history and fall within the borders of the former Pale of Settlement (e.g., Białystok).
- Document migration patterns or diaspora connections originating from Belarusian territories2.2 Thematic Focus.

In the long term, the Digital Collection shall cover all themes and aspects of the Jewish experience in Belarus, including but not limited to social, religious, cultural, economic, political and daily life. Relations with other ethnic, religious and national groups, memorialisation, heritage, as well as the experience of emigrants or their descendants are also relevant to the collection.

Ad-hoc projects might have a narrower thematic, chronological or geographical focus.

2.2.1 PRIORITY FOR THE PILOT (MAY 2025 - June 2026): SHTETL LIFE AND CULTURE, INCLUDING:

- Small towns and mestechko communities
- Trade, crafts, and economic activities
- Religious and cultural practices
- Social structures and community organisations
- Daily life and family traditions
- Interethnic relations.

Exclusions: Materials primarily focused on major cities (Minsk, Vitebsk, Hrodna, Mogilev, Mozyr) unless they demonstrate significant connections to shtetl culture or represent underrepresented aspects of urban Jewish life.

Priority Locations (initial focus for catalogue):

- Vowpa
- Slonim
- Bykhaw
- Ashmyany
- Shklow.

2.3 Chronological Scope

Period Coverage: Early modern period (15th century) to the present day.

For the sake of search and filter tools, periods are defined as follows:

- Early Modern: 01/01/1400 - 04/08/1772
- Tsarist period: 05/08/1772 - 14/03/1917 (Abdication of Nicholas II, New Style)
- Revolutionary period: 15/03/1917 - 18/03/1921 (Riga Treaty)
- Interwar Period: 19/03/1921 - 31/08/1939
- Second World War: 01/09/1939 - 08/05/1945 (V-E Day)
- Post-war period: 09/05/1945 - 26/12/1991 (Dissolution of USSR)
- Post-communist period: From 27/12/1991.

Priority Periods:

- Interwar period (1921-1939) 
- Second World War / Holocaust period
- Post-war reconstruction and Soviet period
- Post-Soviet period.

2.4 Material Types

The collection may include or reference digitised copies of all types of documents, including but not limited to:

- Unpublished and published written documents (manuscripts, letters, official records, newspapers, memoirs, literature, poetry)
- Photographs and visual materials
- Audio and video recordings
- Religious artefacts and ceremonial objects
- Personal items and family heirlooms
- Maps and architectural documentation
- Oral histories and testimonies
- Artwork.

2.5 Language Policy

Materials in any language are accepted, with particular focus on documents in Yiddish, Hebrew, Belarusian, Russian, and Polish. Documents in any other languages reflecting the multicultural and transnational nature of the Belarusian Jewish community are accepted (eg, English).

To reflect this multilingual diversity, the database catalogue will record:

- All the information related to the document (if existent) in its original language and according to the linguistic conventions of the time of creation/publication. For example, if a document was written in classical Belarusian orthography  (‘Tarashkievica’) or in non-standard Yiddish spelling, it should be kept unmodified.
- Yiddish will be transliterated using the YIVO standard orthography.
- Hebrew will be transliterated using the Jewish Encyclopedia rules.
- Slavic languages will be transliterated using the Library of Congress romanisation system (ALA-LC) without diacritics.
- Provide an English translation of the title of the source.

2.6 Database entries

All fields in the database can have multiple entries, reflecting the multiplicity of voices and perspectives inherent to Belarusian Jewish history. For example, an object can be known under different names in the Belarusian, Polish or Jewish context. A person’s name can also be spelt differently in the same document. The entries in the database should reflect the information provided in the original document. The use of square brackets [] around titles indicates that the material didn’t have a title in its original form and that the [title] was created by the Digital Collection team (eg. a photograph without title will be titled [Oszmiana, typy ludowe]).

2.7 Reliability of digital sources

In the process of aggregating already digitised open access primary sources, we will consider the sustainability and reliability of the websites where digital copies are kept. We will prioritise websites and digital projects that are associated with an established institution (eg, higher education institution, national museum, library, archive) or receive funding that is conditioned to due diligence in relation to ethics, intellectual property and long-term sustainability (eg, from the European Commission, national research councils or established charities and trusts). We will not include digital sources not available in open access (eg, placed behind a paywall) unless the host institution gives us full access.

3.1 High-Priority Materials

- At-risk items: Materials facing imminent loss or deterioration.
- Unique or significant artefacts: Items with distinctive characteristics or stories.
- Underrepresented and excluded voices: Materials documenting historically underrepresented or marginalised individuals and communities, including women, children, people with disabilities, and other groups insufficiently represented in existing documentation.
- Geographical gaps: Materials from underrepresented locations within the collection scope (eg, from Western Belarus if the majority of the material comes from Eastern Belarus; or from villages if most of the collection relates to cities and towns).
- Rare formats: Unusual or uncommon types of documentation.

3.2 Diversity and Inclusion Priorities

The Museum acknowledges historical imbalances in documentation and seeks to address them by prioritising:

- Women’s perspectives and experiences
- Working-class and artisan narratives
- Rural and agricultural community documentation
- Interfaith and multicultural interactions
- Minority voices within Jewish communities.

The Digital Collection of the Virtual Belarusian Jewish Museum will include digital copies of materials sourced by the BJCH team or under project team supervision. The decision to include new digitised materials in the collection, and the conditions of their use, will be determined by an evaluation process that will assess the materials’:

1. Historical Value
2. Provenance and Authenticity
3. Copyright and Legal Status
4. Ethical and Data Protection Considerations
5. Physical Condition.

Details on the criteria of assessment and acquisition process can be reviewed and updated in the ‘Artefact evaluation framework and questionnaire’. 

The Museum is committed to providing the broadest possible access to collections while respecting legal, ethical, and cultural constraints.

Access levels and use permissions for the digital copies we hold will be specified in the database. Copyright information for the already digitised information will be included in the database. 

6.1 Stakeholder Involvement

The Museum actively engages with:

- Jewish communities worldwide
- Academic institutions and researchers
- Galleries, libraries, archives and museums
- Cultural heritage organisations
- Local communities in Belarus and internationally
- Descendants and heritage preservation groups.

6.2 Collaborative Collecting

The museum seeks partnerships with other institutions to avoid duplication and ensure comprehensive coverage of Belarusian Jewish heritage.

This Collection Policy is reviewed annually and updated as necessary to reflect:

- Changing institutional priorities
- New legal requirements
- Technological developments
- Community feedback and needs
- Academic scholarship developments.

All staff, partners and volunteers involved in the collection activities must familiarise themselves with this policy and receive appropriate training for its implementation.

Document Version: 1.1
Effective Date: [27/08/2026]
Next Review Date: [30/08/2027]
Approved by: [BJCH & Digital Collection Academic Curator]

This policy serves as the foundational document for all collection development activities undertaken for the Virtual Belarusian Jewish Museum, led by the Belarusian-Jewish Cultural Heritage Center, and should be consulted in conjunction with relevant legal requirements and institutional procedures.