For the past few months, we have been packing up the VEMU collections for storage, in preparation for the upcoming archival renovations. The space was last renovated circa 2010, transforming one of the parking levels at Tartu College into a space to house our historical material. This has thus far served its purpose. VEMU has been able to collect and store artifacts that tell the stories of the Estonian diaspora. It has become clear, however, that in order to properly preserve and process our collections alongside the constant (and welcome) influx of historical material, the space needs to be renovated to meet museum-grade standards.
Packing up the current repository has given us the opportunity to come across items that have not yet been processed. I have stumbled upon a few treasures, including a small box labelled “A. Raudsepp 30 diapositiivi 30 slides”, which I found in a larger box carrying an old projector. My first assumption was that these were photos taken by known community member Andres Raudsepp (1937-2023), so I digitized the slides.
