Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 2000 (17. évfolyam, 58-61. szám)
2000 / 58-61. szám
HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER No. 58-61 ISSN 0194-164X Winter-Spring-Summer-Autumn, 2000 Published quarterly by the Hungarian Research Center of the American Hungarian Foundation: Winter, Spring-Summer (double issue), Autumn. Editor: Andrew Ludanyi; Managing editor: August J. Molnár. Contributors: Julianna Puskás, George Dózsa. Communications concerning content should be addressed to the Editor: Department of History, Political Science & Criminal Justice, Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH 45810. Communications concerning subscriptions, advertising, and circulation should be addressed to American Hungarian Foundation, Hungarian Heritage Center, 300 Somerset Street, P.O. Box 1984, New Brunswick, N| 08903-1084,Tel.: 732-846-5777, Fax: 732-249-7033, E-Mail: info@ahfoundation.org. Annual subscription in the U.S.A. $10.00. Abroad $12.00. Current single copy $4.00; back issues $5.00 each. EDITOR'S CORNER Since 1974 when I first helped organize a Hungarian Summer Studies Program at Portland State University I have come to realize how difficult it is to recruit students. The major obstacle is not a lack of interest, but in most instances a lack of money. Students need the summer to earn those extra dollars for the coming school year. Others can simply not afford to take off longer periods of time to study the Hungarian language and culture. It seemed like a luxury in a very practical, money driven world. Even at P.S.U. I remember that most of our students were either regularly matriculated P.S.U. students, school teachers (who had the summer off) or retired persons. Only in a minority of cases could we recruit Hungarian American students from other parts of the country. Even when we succeeded, it was only the generous help of organizations like the Hungarian American Foundation, that made such language study feasible for a small handful of students. Now the conditions have changed and new incentives exist for such language and cultural studies. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of democracies in East Central Europe, American and Western investors have become prominent in the region. They are looking for people who have the language and cultural skills that will enable the corporations to expand their influence and networks. From the Hungarian direction there are also positive signs on the official level. The Hungarian Ministry of Education has just established a scholarship fund (Collegium Hungaricum Juventutis Occidentalis) for study in Hungary beginning with the 2000-2001 academic year. In this first year twenty scholarships were offered to college students of Hungarian descent. The scholarship covers two-semesters of academic work, including instruction in college courses of the participant's major field, plus Hungarian language study and courses in the history and culture of Hungary. Even the first competition was lively, with 50 qualified applicants for the 20 scholarships. This is a major break-through. Corporations with investments in the region should be inspired by this to set up their own scholarship opportunities as well. What a way to start the next millennium! a.l. FOUNDATION NEWS AND NOTES Bethlen Archives Collection cataloging is in progress at the Archives of the American Hungarian Foundation in New Brunswick, NJ. The Bethlen Collection is a major archival collection about American Hungarians, their churches and organizations in America. Earlier, the Bethlen Collection had been housed in Ligonier, PA. The process of organizing and cataloging the Bethlen Archives Collection is continuing under an agreement between the Bethlen Archives and Museum, Inc., and the Foundation. In 1999-2000 two Hungarian Fulbright fellows began the process of cataloging the Collection: Zsolt Bánhegyi, a systems librarian at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, and Dr. András Csillag, research archivist and professor of English and American studies at the Teachers' College of the University of Szeged, Hungary. In 1997 the American Hungarian Foundation signed a long-term agreement with both the Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission and the National Széchényi Library to initiate a technical and professional management program of cooperation for the processing and preservation of the holdings of the American Hungarian Foundation and those collections deposited with the Foundation. For the fellowship program under the agreement the Foundation has awarded grants totalling $24,350 to the Hungarian-American Fulbright Commission. Stephanie S. Dolan (George Mason University) and Stephen L. Pellathy (University of Pittsburgh), in 2000 were awarded a research fellowship grant by the American Hungarian Foundation for an eight week, summer research project in Hungary: “In Search of Identity: The influence of Democracy on Young Hungarian Artists in the 1990’s". They formally interviewed twelve persons directly involved in the young Hungarian art scene: six leading contemporary painters, two directors of museums of modern art in Budapest, an art historian and critic, the president of the Academy of Fine Arts and two gallery owners. The main theme of the interviews was the question of identity among young artists. Birmingham International Festival in Alabama received a major grant from the American Hungarian Foundation to support the Teacher Education Workshop on March 3, 2001, and its Educational Resource Kits program, which is a part of the 51st Birmingham International Festival for the 2001 Salute to the Republic of Hungary. The Festival has developed curriculum materials, which includes a student booklet and teacher resource guides for grades K-12. The major events of the Festival are scheduled for April 20-26, 2001, in Birmingham. Institute of Museum and Library Services of the American Association of Museums has awarded the Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation a grant to support MAP 2, Museum Assessment Program. The Foundation's Museum completed the AAM assessment program under MAP 1 and now shall be engaged in the continuing self-study and peer review for Foundation Museum's collection management assessment. The assessment shall take place between September 15, 2000 and September 15, 2001. The Museum collection of the Foundation continues to increase each year through major gifts and bequests. Since 1989 when the Foundation Museum facility opened, the Museum has presented 39 exhibitions. For the annual meeting of the American Library Association in Chicago on July 9, 2000, Professor August J. Molnár, president of the American Hungarian Foundation, was invited to present a paper before the Ethnic Materials and Information Exchange Roundtable and to speak on: "How Did We Do It? The Establishment of the American Hungarian Foundation." The American Hungarian Foundation provided a major grant in 2000 for the special production of a CD recording of Bela Bartók’s opera Bluebeard's Castle by the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor János Kovács and performing are Ádám Horváth, Márta Lukin and Imre Sinkovits. (Continued on page 5) 2 NO. 58-61, WINTER/SPRING/SUMMER/AUTUMN 2000, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER
