Research conditions and facilities

The Budapest Bartók Archives is open to research only for scholars and Ph.D. candidates. The number of visitors is limited, so please make an appointment in advance.

Copyright-protected material can be studied only with previous consent of the copyright owners (Bartók’s publishers and heirs). Manuscripts which belong to the deposit “Bartók Hagyaték” (Bartók estate), owned by Béla Bartók Jr.’s heir, Mr. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. can be studied with previous written consent of the heirs. Photos of material housed in Peter Bartók’s collection can be obtained directly from the owner. – For a general list of the location of manuscript sources of the compositions, see Manuscripts, Primary Sources: A Guide to Research, for a more detailed list, see Somfai, Béla Bartók: Composition, Concepts, and Autograph Sources (Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, 1996), pp. 297–320 “Appendix: List of Works and Primary Sources.”

To study Bartók’s folk-music collections – primarily the Hungarian material (transcriptions, recordings) – you should also contact the Hungarian Folk Music Department and the Hungarian Museum of Ethnography.

In addition to the research library of the Bartók Archives, the Library of the Institute (in the same building) is open to our visiting scholars. The use of laptops is permitted.