Blinken Open Society Archives

The Blinken OSA Archivum (abbreviated as the Archivum) is a dynamic archival institution that aims to explore new ways of assessing, contextualizing, presenting, and making use of archival documents both in a professional and a consciously activist way. It was founded by George Soros in 1995, and opened in 1996 as a department of the Central European University. Originally called simply Open Society Archives (OSA), in 2015 it was renamed Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives after receiving a major donation from the couple. The Archivum changed its name once again in 2024, and assume the current one, together with a new look and new websites.

Its archival holdings relate to post-war European history, the Cold War, the history of the former Eastern Bloc, samizdat, the history of propaganda, human rights, and war crimes. The Archivum is also the archive of the global activities of the Open Society Foundations.

The Archivum also functions as a teaching and research department of the Central European University and offers MA and PhD courses on the theories and methods of archives, evidence, human rights, documentary cinema, twentieth century history, and the politics of the Cold War.

The institution is located in central Budapest, in the Goldberger House, which was originally built in 1911 as a textile warehouse, and later functioned in the 1980s as the "dollar shop" in Budapest, where goods could only be purchased with hard currency.

The building now also incorporates a gallery space, the Galeria Centralis, which hosts the Archivum's public programs, exhibitions and conferences.