IAA contains information about 16-18th century alba amicorum (German Stammbücher, in English also known as „friendship albums”, „autograph albums”, „books of friends”) entries of Hungarian relevance. The following entry types qualify as being of Hungarian relevance:

  1. All the entries in the album amicorum of persons in/from Hungary.
  2. All the entries from Hungarian inscribers in albums owned by non-Hungarians.
  3. Entries found on the same album page as an entry of either of the above two categories.
  4. Cases of „grata vicinitas”, i.e. those cases where an entry made by a Hungarian inscriber into the album of a non-Hungarian owner is associated, by the note „grata vicinitas” or „hae paginate jungunt amicos”, with an entry on a neighboring album page made by a non-Hungarian inscriber. In such cases entries by non-Hungarians are included in the database.
  5. Entries made „in Hungary”.
  6. Entries mentioning Hungary or Hungarians.

The database is continuously growing, and information related to previously processed entries is updated or corrected retrospectively also.

Whenever it is possible, we attach scanned images of the entries. These images are available through the Browse menu. Any further use of these images is prohibited unless sufficient permissions are obtained from the current owner of the album, which is the collection holding the album in question.

Data regarding the entries are divided into 9 sections in the database:

  1. Date section (all data related to the time when the entry was made)
  2. Place of dating section (all data related to the place where the entry was made)
  3. Motto section (the motto given by the inscriber and all data related to it)
  4. Illustration section (all data related to any illustrations pertaining to the entry)
  5. Posterior notes section (all notes made by the owner of the album or any later reader, and any information regarding these; also texts related to the instances of „grata vicinitas”)
  6. Dedication section (data related to the owner of the album and the dedication addressed to the owner)
  7. Signature section (data related to the signature of the inscriber)
  8. Inscription section (texts quoted and/or composed by the inscriber; related data)
  9. Bibliographic data section (all bibliographic data related to the album, the entry, the inscriber, and the owner)

Each section of the database has a separate help file. It is highly recommended to study these in order to achieve a more streamlined workflow.

Under Browse, all the information related to the entry can be simultaneously viewed. The 9 sections containing the details of the entry can be accessed by clicking on the links Date, Place, Motto etc. on the left side of the screen. By selecting the checkboxes next to the links, we can select the sections to be included in the query.

The Search menu enables simple and advanced searches within the material of the database. The Help of the Search menu contains more detailed information on searches.

The database contains the following indices:

  1. Index of Persons
  2. Index of Places
  3. Technical abbreviations (list of transcription symbols)
  4. Abbreviations for books of the Bible
  5. Bibliographical abbreviations
  6. List of album locations

If you want to refer to an entry processed in our database, we suggest that you include in your citation our internet address or our DOI number (10.14232/iaa), as well as the record number of the entry you are referring to (e.g. IAA, 123). Please feel free to contact us if you encounter any technical (or other) difficulties when using our database. We appreciate your comments and additions regarding the processing of the entries in the database.

The list of supporters on the Home page also includes those collections and individuals who provided us with digitised copies of the processed albums free of charge, dispensing with the copyright fees they would have been entitled to.