Somogyi Múzeumok Közleményei 15. (2002)

Varga Éva: Történelem és fotográfia A Szent István emlékév kaposvári riportképei

255 History and photography The report photos of the St. Stephen memorial year in Kaposvár EVA VARGA The Historical Department of the Somogy County Museums houses a notable collection of archive photos. The computerised recording of the material started in 2001. Some photos bear with special actuality today. The 1000-year jubilee of the founding of Hungarian State brought forth the figure of King Stephen I., the founder, with great intensity. All festivities take place according to the age and community in which they are held. The author selected with intuition those photos from the archives, which define the national consciousness and self-esteem of this small group of people living in the Carpathian Basin. After the verification of the sources, the author gives an account of the wide range of usage of the photos. Accordingly, the special value of these report photos lies in the festivities, that is the innermost content recorded, which can be understood only by the historical knowledge attached to the given theme, with the simultaneous use of a number of sources. After the description and analyses of former events, the author stresses that during the 1938 festivities the emphasis was placed on 2 things - to retain the nation's liberty on one hand, and upon a nation-wide collaboration for a successful territory revision of the dismembered country on the other. The messages of the 1938 festivities were revaluated by history, which is summed up in the epilogue of the study.