The National Archives has entered into an agreement with the Nobel Institute to digitize historical nomination letters in the Digital Archives. Researchers from around the world will now no longer need to travel to Oslo to access these unique letters.
Who is awarded the Peace Prize depends on nominations from selected social groups. This is an exciting story, where nominations have been submitted in everything from letters written in the form of diaries to scribbles on napkins and hotel menus.
Out into the world through the Digital Archive
The Digital Archive is Norway's shared solution for storing and publishing archive material, developed by the National Archives. All organizations that store archives and historical data can now publish in the Digital Archive. The website is under development and will eventually offer many more services than it does today. Uploading is self-service, and the Digital Archive handles both digitized paper archives and audiovisual archives.
"For us, it was natural to choose Digitalarkivet as our solution now that we are about to start digitizing and making the nomination letters available," says Bjørn Helge Vangen, chief librarian at the Nobel Institute.
"We look forward to working with the Nobel Institute and their decision to use the shared solution Digitalarkivet to make the nomination letters available," says the National Archivist. Inga Bolstad.
It is a highly sought-after material that is now to be digitized.
"We have researchers from all over the world coming to Oslo to browse through the nomination letters, which are now quite worn out. With digitization, we are preserving the letters for eternity, while giving researchers around the world easy access to the sources. It's an important social mission," says Vangen.
The Nobel Institute has strict requirements regarding who is granted access. No one is allowed to see nomination letters that are less than 50 years old.
– Letters older than 50 years will be available for research. However, access must be requested, Vangen explains.
The nomination letters that will soon be published in the Digital Archive are therefore from the period 1901-1971.
Facts about nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize
Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize must be submitted by midnight on January 31 of the same year as the award ceremony. All nominations submitted by this date will be considered by the Nobel Committee, but not just anyone can nominate candidates for the Peace Prize.
These individuals and organizations are entitled to nominate candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize:
- Members of national assemblies and governments (e.g. all members of parliament) and heads of state
- Members of international courts
- University rectors
- Professors in social sciences, history, philosophy, law, and theology/religion
- Directors at the Peace Research Institute and the Institute of Foreign Policy
- People who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
- Members of the international boards of organizations that have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
- Members of the International Board of WILPF
- Current and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
- Former consultants at the Norwegian Nobel Institute
- The Nobel Committee does not publish the names of any of the nominees, but speculation sometimes arises, or those who have nominated someone may publish their proposal.
See the complete list at The Nobel Institute's website.
The Nobel Committee usually receives between 300 and 400 different nominations, and they conduct research on each candidate. The winner is announced on the Friday of the first full week of October.
