A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historiae Literarum et Artium, 4. (Szeged, 2004)

Péter László: Miscellanea Vásárhelyiensa

Miscellanea Vásárhelyiensa László Péter A typical and unfairly forgotten scholar of the history of art of Hódmezővásárhely is Tihamér Szathmáry ( 1869-1934). He worked as a public servant of the city, a police superintendent from 1908 to 1918 and an ealdorman between 1920 and 1922. After resigning, he worked as a journalist and became editor of the Vásárhelyi Friss Újság in 1928, then editor-in-chief from 1933. He maintained remarkable relations with his elementarj' school peers including János Tornyai, who was supported by his father, and also Gyula Radnay, Ferenc Móra, Gyula Juhász, Zsigmond Móricz, and the famous local leg-puller Miska Pócsy. He also wrote a book entitled Történetek a Hód-tava partjáról [Stories from the shore of Hód Lake] (1929). This piece of work testifies these wide-spread relations on the basis of various documents (letters, long-forgotten prefaces, Móricz' novel inspired by Miska Pócsy and omitted from his compilation of works). One of Szathmáry's off-springs includes the Holies family in which Móricz' first wife was brought up. 60