A Békés Megyei Múzeumok Közleményei 30. (Békéscsaba, 2007)

S. Turcsányi Ildikó: Election campaign songs from Békés (1896–1905), from the historical collection of the Jantyik Mátyás Museum

S. Turcsányi Ildikó nificant, the election songs reported in detail hold loads of information beyond measure upon the manners of the country elections, the social affiliation of people behind the candidates, the life of the epoch and the political relations. In addition to the election songs, there are also placards, parliamentary speeches, drawings and news reports in the background material of the parliamentary elections of 1896, 1901 and 1905 being discussed here. We supplement the representation of the election songs from the millennium year with the articles of the Vasárnapi Újság (Sunday Paper) and the drawings of Mátyás Jantyik painter the eponym of our museum, which were published in the newspaper and illustrate the provincial campaign. After dissecting the election districts of the county we manage to find time here to deal with writing down the methods influencing the election (e.g., 'electoral geography'). The signers of placards and leaflets are the well-known local fellows of the period. Our brief survey of local history examines the support behind the candidates by social classes. We preserve also parliamentary speech from the representative elected. From 1901, in connection with the document containing the division of electors of Békés by district, we examine the elective franchise of the epoch in detail. In addition, the political party life went on differently. We mention it at making known a candidate setting up minutes. We quote the press comments of the elections from the columns of the county newspaper entitled Békés. Apart from the election songs, we have parliamentary speeches from the representative elected. We preserve the most election songs from the election of 1905. Sometimes these were made giving answers to one another. At making known the poems we tried follow some kind of order. Because of its importance of local history, we give full details of the course of life of Ferenc Kecskeméti reformed pastor having won the election. The work is supplemented with picture pages with the drawings of Mátyás Jantyik painter and the photocopy of one election song per every candidate of all elections discussed. S. Turcsányi Ildikó Jantyik Mátyás Múzeum H-5630 Békés, Széchenyi tér 4. E-mail: turcsányi. ildiko@freemail.hu 278