In Romania the development of recent history studies proved more difficult than it was previously thought. After the collapse of the regime in December 1989, it turned out that there were not many those university professors who could provide professional training to the new generations of students interested in recent history. The reluctance of the post-communist regimes to open the archives for historical research also hampered a rapid development in the field of recent history.

Considering the above, part of the Bucium programme is dedicated to the development of a collection of documents (private diaries and memoirs, photos, documents related to the private gold mining etc.) and oral history interviews referring to the private and public life of the Bucium community in the last century. The scholars and students will be offered free access to the Bucium Programme's archives and a co-operation agreement will be made with the Romanian Institute for Recent History (Institutul Român de Istorie Recenta - IRIR) in Bucharest.