This poster presents an ongoing citizen science campaign, The Family History Repository, launched in Latvia in spring 2026. The initiative is developed within the framework of the Latvian State Research Programme project Navigating the Latvian History of the 20th–21st Century: Social Morphogenesis, Legacy, and Challenges (2023–2026, No. VPP-IZM-Vēsture-2023/1-0003) and responds to historians’ growing interest in bottom-up perspectives on historical knowledge production.

The campaign aims to collect data on which events, individuals, and issues from 20th- and 21st-century Latvian history are considered meaningful within family experiences and narratives. Such bottom-up data are crucial for counterbalancing long-standing scholarly assumptions and biases regarding what constitutes “central” or “research-relevant” historical issues and knowledge. By foregrounding family narratives, the project seeks to illuminate how Latvian history functions within society and is embedded in family practices.

The digital survey platform developed for the campaign is designed to be openly accessible, with a primary target group consisting of primary and secondary school history teachers, their pupils, and the pupils’ family members. The Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia builds on extensive experience in public engagement and citizen science initiatives, including projects involving schoolchildren in manuscript transcription, poetry recording, and an educational game related to Latvian folk song stylistics (Eglāja-Kristsone and Raudive 2020; Pērle-Sīle and Reinsone 2022).

A key technical and ethical challenge of the campaign lies in integrating the Institute’s digital archival infrastructure with a campaign-specific survey tool so that submitted family narrative units can semi-automatically form a new, structured archival collection. This requires balancing established archival practices—such as the provision of rich metadata—with the protection of personal data in compliance with GDPR, particularly Recital 38 and Article 8 concerning children’s data. Ensuring anonymity and accounting for the potentially sensitive nature of family narratives are central concerns. In this way, the campaign foregrounds the methodological, ethical, and legal dimensions of collaborative research involving vulnerable groups and cultural data.

References

Eglāja-Kristsone, Eva, and Signe Raudive. 2020. “Sabiedrības iesaistes akcija ‘Lasi skaļi’: estētiskie un izglītojošie dzejas ieskaņošanas aspekti” [Public Engagement Action “Read Aloud”: The Aesthetic and Educational Aspects of Recording Poetry]. Letonica 42: 66–83. https://doi.org/10.35539/LTNC.2021.0042.E.E.K.S.R.0005.

Pērle-Sīle, Ginta, and Sanita Reinsone. 2022. “Transcription as a Tool for Deep Reading and Teaching of Folklore.” Digital Humanities in the Nordic and Baltic Countries Publications 4 (1): 390–400. https://doi.org/10.5617/dhnbpub.11316.