18
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200 years
of local history
in the “Ergani”
digital repository
“
The Historical Archive of the Aegean – Ergani- reflects
the everyday urban and business life of Lesvos
in the 19th and 20th centuries
”
‘Ergani’, the Historical Archive of the Aegean, now exists in digital form with over 1500 documents
and files which can be freely accessed by users. The repository is an integrated information platform
for the management and showcasing of the Ergani archival collections. It aims to facilitate historical
research of the socio-economic development of the Northeastern Aegean during the 19th and 20th
centuries emphasising in particular the early history of the middle - class of Lesvos as well as the
developing business and cultural life of the Northeastern Aegean
“
The archive got its name from
the olive collecting machine. ‘Ergani
”
Its archival material includes an impressive range of documentation: newspapers, letters, financial
records, photographs, advertisements, engineering plans,postcards,literature and films from the
period 1924-1929. Such a variety of sources gives a clear, informative overall picture of the everyday
life of the middle-class, the pioneering development of olive cultivation and entrepreneurship and
political developments not only on Lesvos but also in the Northeastern Aegean during this historic
period.
The repository is of interest and use to a variety of visitors including: historians, researchers,
students, those with a general historical, social and folklore interest and even local residents of
the Northeastern Aegean. All can browse and gain access to the files of the Archive. A number of
criteria such as, family name, date, type of content, or toponym can be used to find what is wanted.
Visitors can learn more about the archival material, print desired material or register as users and,
by so doing, receive personalised research services.
The archive gained its name from the olive collecting machine invented by the Mytilenian Mitsas
Kourtzis. It was a particularly successful innovation of 1924, winning international recognition at
conferences and in journals of the time. The Kourtzis family archive, dating from the early 19th
century to 1985, is of particular value as testimony to the gradual commercial separating of Lesvos
from the coast of Asia Minor and the general area of the Black Sea.
