Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1977 (5. évfolyam, 13-15. szám)
1977 / 13. szám
HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER BOOKS Horchler, Gabriel F. comp. HUNGARIAN ECONOMIC REFORMS: A Selective, Partially Annotated Bibliography. Hungarian Research Center, American Hungarian Foundation, P.0. Box 1084, New Brunswick NJ 08903, 1977. 190 pages. $4.95 paper, $8.95 cloth. It is quite difficult to comment without bias upon a volume that we have labored so hard to produce. This is the second independent bibliography in the “Hungarian Reference Shelf” series. (See advertisement on page 12.) It provides references to a wide range of sources concerned with the dramatic changes that have characterized the Hungarian economy during the past ten years. About one fourth of the 1,620 entries give evidence of sources published in English or at least with English language summaries. “The volume of literature on the new economic mechanism’is indicative of the interest it has generated. This bibliography attempts to bring together widely scattered literature, and to guide the reader to information on the manifold aspects of the reforms.” Both Eastern and Western sources are well represented. Hungarian and Slavic titles are translated, annotations are given to entries to which Horchler had access and which he felt needed elaboration or clarification. A name index completes the volume. Horchler is economic cataloguer at the Library of Congress. Antall, József and Géza Buzinkay, eds. NÉPI GYÓGYÍTÁS MAGYARORSZÁGON - ETHNOMEDICINE IN HUNGARY. Supplement no. 7-8 to Orvostörténeti Közlemények (Communications in Medical History), published by the Semmelweis Medical History Museum, Library and Archives, and the Hungarian Society for Medical History. Editorial office: 1023 Budapest, Torok-utca 12.1975.273 pages, illust. N.p., paper. In addition to a preface in Hungarian, this volume contains one major article in both English and Hungarian, and four minor papers in Hungarian with German summaries. The paper accessible to the monolingual English reader is on Folk Medicine in Hungary by Mihály Hoppál and László Törő (pages 13 to 126 plus 108 illustrations). The authors emphasize that their effort is preliminary to a planned comprehensive volume on Hungarian ethnomedicine. The focus here is on material culture and mostly discontinued practices, though several references indicate that tools and practices of certain kind were still in use in the 1950s. The article traces the evolution of ethnomedicine from pre- Conquest times to the mid-twentieth century. Then it devotes chapters to folk obstetrics, the use of superstitions in healing, medical practices involving the use of herbs, minerals and ADVISORY BOARD NAMED FOR RESERACH PROJECT ON HUNGARIANS IN AMERICA An advisory board has been named to guide the American Hungarian Foundation’s major research project on the history of Hungarians in America since colonial days. Members of the board are: A.L. Gabriel, Emeritus Director, The Medieval Institute, U. of Notre Dame; John Higham, Prof, of History, Johns Hopkins U.; Leslie Koltai, Chancellor, Los Angeles Community College District; Stephen D. Lockey, Sr., Allergist, Lancaster, Pa.; Paul E. Manheim, Investment banker, Lehman Bros., New York; Zoltán Merszei, President, The Dow Chemical Company; James A. Michener, Author, Pipersville, Pa.; Richard E. Quandt, Prof, of Economics, Princeton U.; George Szabó, Curator, Robert Lehman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Edmund Vasvary, Historian, Washington, D.C. The project is planned to run ten years with a total budget to exceed $250,000. The first phase of the project includes microfilming and cataloging the Edmund Vasvary Collection, a unique collection on Hungarian immigration and Hungarians in America. The collection was developed over a period of 50 years. For this initial phase of the project the Rockefeller Foundation provided a grant of $15,000. An additional grant committment of $15,000 has been made by Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick, N.J. Other grants of $1,000 each have been received from the William Penn Association, Pittsburgh, Pa., and the Bethlen Presbyterian Church, Union, N.J. The advisory board shall also consider the directions which shall be taken, insofar as the following items are concerned: (1) a scholarly history of Hungarians in the United States; (2) monographs, regional histories and other studies related to the subject: (3) popular treatments of the subject based on scholarly research; (4) the collection and compilation of archival, museum and library materials along with oral history to expand the present collections of the Hungarian Research Center and the Hungarian Heritage Center of the American Hungarian Foundation. other materials, the role of peasant healers, places of pilgrimage, folk veterinary practices, and concludes with the description of ethnomedical research and collections of resource materials in Hungary. A useful bibliography of Hungarian ethnomedicine is included together with a generous selection of pictures on impliments, their use, and reproduction of medical records, etc. It is a pity that the other four articles were not translated into English. Gábor Lökő writes of pictures placed on old chests (Continued on page 2)
