Szolyák Péter - Csengeri Piroska (szerk.): A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 56. (Miskolc, 2017)
Történettudomány - Bodnár Mónika: Üvegnegatívok. Bódvavendégiből 2 - Péchy Gáspárné Bartóky Mária élete és munkássága
Üvegnegatívok Bódvavendégiböl2... 199 GLASS NEGATIVES FROM BÓDVAVENDÉGI THE LIFE AND WORK OF MÁRIA BARTÓKY Keywords: the town of Torna, 19lh—20th century Hungarian authoress, Hungarian Slovak newspaper editor, Nagyasszony, József Veres The Herman Ottó Museum acquired a collection of glass negatives in 2012, followed by additional pieces in 2013. These were made by József Veres, born in Bódvavendégi (currently Host’ovce, Slovakia), in the 1930s—1940s. During the identification of the photographs it became apparent 6—7 of them feature Mária Bartóky, wife of Gáspár Péchy, and her relatives. Gáspár Péchy (1871—1929) was the chief constable of Toma district in Abaúj-Torna county. Mária Bartóky (1867—1944) is remembered as a writer and editor in the memories of the people of Torna even today. The following essay presents her personage and work through letters, archival and other research as well as recent collections. Mária Terézia Bartóky was born on March 29,1867 at Békéscsaba. Her father, István Bartóky was a wealthy Augustine (Evangelist) landowner, while her mother, Jolán Szulimán was a Roman Catholic. Their daughter was baptized as a Catholic after her mother. We know of two brothers of hers, of which József was renowned nationwide, serving as secretary of state between 1910 and 1918 as well as a member of the era’s known literary societies. The Bartóky and Szulimán families were well known figures in (Békés)Csaba at the time. An interesting detail in Hungarian cultural history is the fact that both families are mentioned in the biography of Csaba carpenter apprentice Mihály Lieb, later known as celebrated painter Mihály Munkácsy. On November 17, 1885, Mária Bartóky became the (second) wife of smallholder Géza Geyer from Gyula. Two children were born from this marriage, Erzsébet (May 1, 1888) and Imre (October 28, 1889), who died young. The marriage presumably ended with a divorce after a few years with “Mariska Bartóky” moving to Torna (currently Túrna nad Bodvou, Slovakia). In 1897, she is mentioned under the pseudonym Barna Tornái m one of the issues of the newspaper Békésmegyei Közlöny; however this name also appeared in 1896, used by Lajos Ries, publisher and editor in chief of the paper Kassai Szemle, to warmly address his dearest colleague and columnist. During the turn of the 19th century, pursuing the path of a teacher or educator were the most obvious career paths for a (single) middle class woman. There was a Roman Catholic school in Torna, and it was during this time that they expanded the number of educators but her name is not present amongst known teachers. However, plenty of signs point towards the fact that Mária Bartóky came to the town to take the job of postmaster. Her daughter, Erzsébet Geyer accompanied her, and she also accommodated her mother Istvánná Bartóky for her twilight years. In addition to her job as postmaster she was also writing to supplement her income. This was likely necessary as at the time most rural postmasters also worked as teachers or insurance agents for a better overall income. She came in touch with Gáspár Péchy following her arrival to Torna, but they only got married later, on April 25, 1908. As far as we know, no childbirth came after the marriage. Due to his medical condition, her husband retired early in the mid-1920s, devoting the rest of his life to literature. Mária Bartóky first and foremost became known as the editor of the literary and informative periodical titled Nagyasszony, which was published during 1926—1938. As part of the editorial process, Mária Bartóky was conducting mail correspondence throughout the entire Carpathian Basin with representatives of the Hungarian literary scene, including politician, literary historian and writer Károly Szász (1865—1950) from Budapest, poet Sándor Reményik (1890—1941) from Kolozsvár and reformed bishop László Ravasz (1882—1975), just to name a few. She asked for poems or other writings from all of them to include in the periodical as well as in the book she was editing, titled A magyar nö könyve (Book of the Hungarian woman, Losonc, 1926). The editing of the periodical was aided columnists and featured writings of such well-known authors as Virág Móricz, Marcell Jankovich, László Mécs, József Bartóky, Lola Réz, Ferenc Sziklay, the wife of Rezső Limbacher and so on. She had strong Christian beliefs and represented a nationalist path, which led to the tea parties organized by her and herself being under surveillance by the authorities. She was not only known as an editor but a writer as well. Her essays and shorter writings were also published in papers outside of Nagyasszonyom the Békéscsabai Közlöny, Új Idők, Felsőmagyarország— Kassai Szemle, as well as in the weekly journal Magyar Tányok. Her writings focused on the fates women and the question related to female education. We know of some of her standalone publications as well: her collection of novellas, Felhők (‘Clouds’) was published by Corvina in Békéscsaba either in 1896 or 1897; her other novella collection, Élethajók utasai (‘Passengers of lifeboats’) was published in Bratislava in 1929. Mónika Bodnár
