Civic Associations, 2024

Civic Associations 1867–1949 is an interactive data visualisation platform developed for the Hungarian National Archives. The aim was to create a clear, accessible, map‑based overview of approximately 24,000 civil society associations that operated mainly between 1867 and 1944 in the territory of present‑day Hungary (excluding Budapest).

The database—compiled from uncovered archival documents held in county repositories and prepared by the National Institute of Culture—provides detailed information for each association: its name, location, years of operation, purpose, activities, and links to surviving archival records.

The visualisation presents this extensive material through an interactive timeline, allowing users to follow the historical development, regional patterns, and temporal trends of these organisations. The spatial interface enables intuitive exploration of distribution, density, and thematic categories, with results filterable by time and custom queries.

Users can navigate a continuous geographic and temporal space to gain a rich overview of how civil society shaped the social fabric of the era.

Visit the platform:
https://egyesuletek.mnl.gov.hu