Irene Iarocci

Italian civil society is rich in research and cultural institutions concerned with the preservation of documents and the promotion of historical research related to them. One example of these institutions is the Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna (FSCIRE), established in the early 1950s as a ‘documentation centre’ to promote research in religious studies. Over its seventy years of activity, the institute has increasingly defined itself as a specialised research centre on Christianity and its relations with other religions, promoting from the very beginning a preservation and conservation policy that has allowed for the formation of two specialised libraries, a newspaper and periodicals library and an extensive archive which was recognised as of notable historical interest by the Italian Ministry of Culture in 1995. The project retraces the formation process of the FSCIRE Archives, highlighting the relationship with the personalities, research projects, and activities that have defined the institute, with the aim of providing a new access tool in the form of a general guide to the fonds.