Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents at the Second Western European Specialists International Conference which took place in Florence, Italy, April 1988. The second conference aimed to carry the dialogue further and in a new direction by fostering an exchange of information between Western European specialists in North America and their European counterparts about the activities at their respective institutions to collect, organize, and preserve materials that support research. The book examines the documentation available about fringe political and social movements including the emigre question and questions of marginality. It discusses some frequently neglected genres such as personal narratives and women’s memoirs and women in the First World War. The book looks at special efforts in Europe to document and collect materials in such specialized areas in documentation centres as well as in other special research collections and archives.