Early life, education and social contacts of the Czech-born Egyptologist Jaroslav Černý (who identified himself as a citizen of Czechoslovakia in his lifetime) are shown in the context of his family history, social expectations and developing academic practices in Austria-Hungary and early Czechoslovakia. Černý’s family aspired to be considered middle class in terms of social interaction, although they lived in straitened circumstances exacerbated by the economic austerity of the First World War era. Černý himself trained as a Classical scholar and later as an Egyptologist at Prague University, but did not fit the role model combining a teaching career (which offered sustenance) with a university Privatdozent role (which offered participation in the academic community), which was the practice accepted in his teachers’ generation. Instead, he embarked on a career in financial services, alongside pursuit of his academic studies that soon encompassed major European museum collections with Egyptian exhibits and put him in contact with the international Egyptological community. His solution was appreciated by his sponsors, including major political and financier figures of the then Czechoslovakia, as being practical as well as showing single-minded determination. It is also suggested that the skills developed during his years in portfolio work were later applied to his research. Translated by Hana Navrátilová and Paul Sinclair and Překlad redumé: Hana Navrátilová and Paul Sinclair
Ústredný archív SAV v súčasnej dobe spravuje vyše 80 osobných fondov vedcov. Pre tvorbu metodických postupov na spracovávanie osobných fondov boli pre náš archív dôležité konferencie zástupcov archívov akadémií vied socialistických krajín. Na tretej takejto konferencii, ktorá sa uskutočnila 29. júna až 07. júla 1971 v Berlíne vystúpil Zygmunt Kolankowski z archívu Poľskej akadémie vied s príspevkom o hraniciach archívnej pozostalosti. Ten sa stal základom, na ktorom je s malými úpravami postavená metodika spracovávania osobných fondov v ÚA SAV dodnes. Bol obsahovo definovaný pojem osobný fond, jeho časové a vecné ohraničenie a zavedený spôsob akvizície osobných fondov., The Central Archive of the Slovak Academy of Sciences currently holds more than 80 personal records of scientists. For the creation of personal records processing practices we found important conferences of representatives of archives of socialist academies. At a third such conference held between 29th June and 7th July 1971 in Berlin, the Polish archivist Zygmunt Kolankowski read a paper on the personal records, which is still the basis of the methodology for processing personal records in the Central Archive of the SAS with some modifications. It defined the terms personal records and their time and material definition and introduced methods for acquisition of personal records. A base structure for processing the records was soon established. It comprises eight groups of documents: I. Documents about scientific activities, II. Documents about positions, III. Biographical documents, IV. Correspondence, V. Photography, VI. Documents about the creator of the collection, VII. Other authors’ works, VIII. Family papers. The inner arrangement of these groups also has an established though not unchangeable structure. The content of a personal record poses a challenge. The Central Archive has not the capacity for holding large personal libraries together with the documentation. In some cases we extract from an originally personal record documents that become part of a collection of the creator’s workplace or completely new archive documents are or their fragments are detached. A standard procedure was not applied to the family documents. In most cases they remain in the collections as group VIII but there have been cases where the quantity and quality of the documents of a family member were so important that a separate personal record was created. Translated by Paul Sinclair, and Překlad resumé: Paul Sinclair
Edice korespondence karlínského lékaře Josefa Adolfa Bulovy (1839-1903) a T. G. Masaryka obsahuje 21 dopisů z let 1899 až 1903, přičemž jeden z těchto dopisů je psán manželkou J. A. Bulovy Josefínou. Korespondence zachycuje zejména problematiku Hilsnerovy aféry, v níž šlo o proces s polenským Židem Leopoldem Hilsnerem, který byl obviněn z rituální vraždy Anežky Hrůzové a bez přímých důkazů odsouzen k trestu smrti. Bulova s Masarykem se shodli na názoru, že se nejednalo o rituální vraždu a že došlo k chybám ze strany vyšetřovatelů, a snažili se o obnovení procesu. Bulova se o vraždu zajímal z lékařského hlediska a své postřehy psal Masarykovi. Navzájem se také informovali o svých studiích. Diskutována byla zejména brožura T. G. Masaryka Nutnost revidovati process Polenský, v níž se Masaryk s Bulovou radil o lékařských detailech, a spisek J. A. Bulovy Zum Polnaer Ritualmordprozess. Kromě polenského procesu byly tématem dopisů také náboženské a filozofické otázky. Edice těchto dokumentů představuje příspěvek k hlubšímu poznání Masarykových postojů týkajících se hilsneriády. V širších souvislostech korespondence odhaluje společenskou situaci té doby, protknutou silnými antisemitskými náladami., This edition of the correspondence between the Karlín physician Josef Adolf Bulova (1839-1903) and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk contains 21 letters dating from 1899 to 1903, and one of the letters was written by the wife of Josef Adolf Bulova, Josefína. The correspondence deals largely with the Hilsner Affair, which was a trial with a Jew, Leopold Hilsner, who was charged with ritual murder of Anežka Hrůzové and sentenced to death without direct evidence. Bulova concurred with Masaryk that it was not a ritual murder and the investigators had erred, and endeavoured to have the trial resumed. Bulova was interested in the murder from the medical perspective and wrote his observations to Masaryk. They informed each other about their studies. In particular, they discussed a brochure by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Nutnost revidovati process Polenský, in which Masaryk took Bulova’s advice on the medical details and a treatise by Josef Adolf Bulova, Zum Polnaer Ritualmordprozess. Apart from the Polná trial the correspondence concerned religious and philosophical questions. The edition of these documents is a contribution to a deeper understanding of Masaryk’s attitudes to the Hilsner Affair. In broader contexts the correspondence exposes the social situation of that time reflecting strong anti-Semitic moods. Translated by Paul Sinclair, and Překlad resumé: Paul Sinclair
This paper concerns a fragment of written inheritance left behind by professor of physics at the former German University in Prague Reinhold H. Fürth (1893-1979) acquired by the Masaryk Institute and the Archive of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague in 2016., Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy, and Překlad resumé: Paul Sinclair
Rokem 1945 začíná období velkých přeměn struktur vědy a vysokoškolského vzdělávání v Československu. Obnovuje se provoz na českých a slovenských vysokých školách, naopak německé vysoké školství v Československu je zcela zrušeno. Výrazně se za podpory regionálních politických elit rozšiřuje síť vysokých škol nebo alespoň jejich fakult i mimo tradiční Prahu a Brno. Zároveň se začíná diskutovat o nové úloze České akademie věd a umění (ČAVU), respektive o zcela novém uspořádání mimouniverzitní vědy a vědeckých společností. V období před svoláním Prozatímního národního shromáždění (první schůze 28. října 1945) měl i v oblasti vědní a vysokoškolské infrastruktury poměrně rozsáhlé pravomoci prezident republiky Edvard Beneš, který vydával tzv. prezidentské dekrety s účinností zákonů (byť podléhaly tzv. ratihabici, tedy zpětnému schválení, parlamentem po jeho svolání). K informaci prezidenta sloužil důvěrný materiál o stavu české vědy v ČAVU a na vysokých školách zachycující stav k 10. září 1945, který připravil kulturní rada prezidentské kanceláře a prezidentův osobní tajemník Mojmír Vaněk (1911-1992), působící v letech 1937-1945 jako prezidiální tajemník ČAVU. Právě tato zpráva je zde editována. M. Vaněk ji rozdělil na dvě části - první nazvaná vědecké ústavy se koncentruje na situaci v ČAVU, kterou považoval za instituci, kolem níž se měla soustředit všechna mimouniverzitní badatelská pracoviště. Stávající ČAVU ovšem kritizoval za nízkou aktivitu ve vědní oblasti i za výrazný pragocentrismus a faktické úzké provázání s Univerzitou Karlovou v Praze. V oblasti vysokých škol poté se soustředil na aktuální otázku zřizování nových vysokých škol a na problém akutního nedostatku vědeckého dorostu i na sociální problematiku zabezpečení přednášejících na vysokých školách. Materiál nabízí zajímavé svědectví o stavu české vědy v jakémsi bodu nula, kdy do její struktury ještě nedopadly bouřlivé změny následujících let. Již od října 1945 se situace kvůli novým dekretům prezidenta republiky a následně novým zákonům začala rapidně měnit., The year 1945 saw the beginning of a period of great transformations of the structures of science and university education in Czechoslovakia. Czech and Slovak universities began to resume their operations while German university education in Czechoslovakia was completely abolished. The network of universities or at least their departments was greatly expanded with support from regional political elites outside Prague and Brno. Debates were started about a new role for the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts (CASA), and completely new organisation of non-university science and scientific societies. In the period before the Provisional National Assembly was convened (first sitting on 28.10.1945) President of the Republic Edvard Beneš had considerable powers in respect of the scientific and university infrastructure, and issued presidential decrees with the effect of laws (though they were subject to ratihabitio, which is ratification by Parliament after its convention). The president was informed by a confidential report on the state of Czech science at CASA and at universities summarising the situation as of 10 September 1945 drafted by cultural counsellor and the president’s private secretary Mojmír Vaněk (1911-1992), working in 1937-1945 as the president’s secretary to CASA. This report is edited here. Mojmír Vaněk divided it into two parts: the first, titled scientific institutes, focuses on the situation at CASA, which he regarded as an institution around which all non-university academic institutions were to concentrate. He levelled criticism at CASA for a lack of activity in the field of science as well as significant pragocentrism and its close connection with Charles University in Prague. In the field of higher education he focused on the pressing problem of the establishment of new universities and acute shortage of junior scientific and lecturers’ social security issues at universities. The document is an eloquent testimony to the state of Czech science in a sort of ground zero, where its structure had not been affected by the momentous changes in the following years. As early as October 1945 the situation began to change rapidly as a result of new decrees issued by the president and followed by new laws. Translated by Paul Sinclair, and Překlad resumé: Paul Sinclair