Part of National Széchényi Library’s World War I Collection can be regarded as one of the earliest thematic Hungarian photo archives among the photo collections of Hungarian public collections.

World War I Collection was created exactly 100 years ago, in 1914, almost at the same time when several central, municipal and provincial World War I collections were established in German-speaking territories across Europe. No wonder that the concept of the operation and structure of NSZL’s World War I Collection is rather similar to that of the corresponding German collections. World War I Collection of Hungary’s national library included a wide range of documents such as printed documents, books, newspapers, leaflets and postcards. Photography has also played an important role as a means of documenting this important period of history.

Bad and good times followed one another in the history of the collection. Almost a century elapsed until, in 1994, an exhibition entitled “Human in Inhumanity” could be opened, organized jointly with the Hungarian Museum of Military History. Back then, NSZL’s photo collection played only a minor role in the realization of the exhibition.

World War I photo collection of National Széchényi Library currently includes as much as 6,000 images being in various conditions. Parts of the collection, which were in the best shape, have been processed and published. Approximately on third of the photo collection, some 2,000 photographs have been included in the Library Catalogue and can be accessed online via the website of the Hungarian Digital Image Library at any place across the globe.

During the processing of these photos, a group of Hungarian photographs (taken mainly in Budapest) emerged. Although these photos were found in a rather bad condition, they are unique and a good selection of them gives a special flavor to “Photo Fates” exhibition. The photos of János Müller taken during World War I were not unknown: several of them had been published in the newspapers of the period. National Széchényi Library’s new photo exhibition does not focus on revelation, nor on World War I or on the photographer’s persona. Instead, taking into account all three aspects, “Photo Fates” lets its visitors have a glimpse into the fate of a photo archive living through difficult as well as bright periods.