The Vasvary Collection of the History of Hungarian-Americans opened in Szeged, Hungary’s Somogyi Library, in 1978.


The founder of the Collection, Edmund Vasvary (1888-1977) was a Protestant priest from Szeged. He went to the United States in 1914 to help the pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Pittsburgh and its vicinity. Shortly after his arrival to the U.S., he became an avid researcher and chronicler of the history of Hungarian-Americans. In addition to a great number of articles, he wrote a bilingual (English and Hungarian) monograph on Lincoln's Hungarian Heroes (Washington, D. C., 1939), which contains biographies of the Hungarian participants of the Civil War.


The Vasvary Collection in Szeged consists of 437 loose-leaf volumes containing press clippings, manuscripts, booklets, letters, photos, and over one thousand books, including rarities that were published in the middle of the last century, when Louis Kossuth, leader of the 1848-49 revolution and Governor of Hungary lived in the United States (December 1851 to July 1852).




The Collection contains data about the activities of Hungarian-Americans in various walks of life, including literature, religion, sciences, arts, politics, film, music etc., as well as information on several American Hungarian organizations.


New materials (articles, books, newspapers, printoffs, manuscripts, etc.) are continually contributed to the Collection by institutions and individuals both in the United States and in Hungary. The Library of Congress also made a significant donation in 1994. Their donation contains biographical data of 930 American Hungarians, collected by the Hungarian Reference Library of New York (1937-1942) for a Hungarian American Lexicon.


An indispensable source for researchers and students of Hungarian-Americans, the Vasvary Collection of Szeged’s Somogyi Library is open for visitors in the non-circulating area.


Summer open hours: July 16 - September 1:

• Monday - Friday: 10 AM – 5 PM
• Saturday: 10 AM – 4 PM

The rest of the year:

• Monday - Friday: 10 AM – 7 PM
• Saturday: 10 AM – 4 PM
• Every first Thursday of the month: 1 PM – 7 PM

Address:
Somogyi Karoly Varosi es Megyei Konyvtar
6720 Szeged
Dom Square 1-4.

E-mail: korasz@sk-szeged.hu
Phone: 36-62-425-525
Fax: 36-62-426-521


Interested in seeing whether one of your ancestors is listed in the Vasvary Collection?




Where else is this collection available?

Two microfilmed copies were made of the Vasvary Collection in 1975, and they can be accessed at the following locations:

• The American Hungarian Foundation in the U.S.: 300 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ
  

• The Manuscript Division of the National Szechenyi Library in Hungary: Budapest, Budavari Palota, Building F.

To sign up for the Collection’s semi-annual (June and December) Newsletter,
e-mail Maria Korasz: korasz@sk_szeged.hu

Source: The Vasvary Collection Home


Links

American Hungarian Foundation