Dr. Péter Balázs: Guide to the archives of Hungary (Budapest, 1976)
Bács-Kiskun Megyei Levéltár (Bács-Kiskun County Archives)
Of the scarce ecclesiastical archival groups the archives of the Kalocsa High Chapter as a place of authenticity (1334-1894), the convents of the Cistercians at Baja (1874-1950) and of the Franciscans at the same place (1694-1950), also the Roman Catholic parish of Kecskemét (1657-1944) are the most valuable. They furnish irreplaceable data not only to the life of church organizations but also to the life of the respective city and its surroundings. We preserve the papers of a few families and of relatively numerous persons. Several of them did great service in the research of local, even national history. We mention the bequests of the Bánó (1724-1869), the Katona (1336-1949), the Szilády (1785-1910), the Gál (1588-1952), the Mészáros (1790-1862) and the Türr family (1798-1929), also those of the world-famed Hungarian dramatist József KATONA, the poet József MÁTYÁSI, the writer Elek KADA and Gyula KÁLDY as especially valuable. Among our collections (from the 1400s to 1950) the maps deserve the first place. They illustrate our cities from the mid-eighteenth century, our villages from the last third of the nineteenth century. The collection of posters begins with 1850, that of showbills with 1831. We also preserve the notes of János HORNYIK, János BALLA and Károly SZILÁDY made of the journals of Kecskemét city. Their value has been greatly enhanced by the destruction of the original journals in 1944. We have no copious records from the period of the Councils' Republic. But they deserve a wide interest,since the revolutionary actions on the area of the present county found a national, nay international echo in many cases. The records of the organs of popular power and those established for special purposes supply copious material on one of the most important periods of Hungarian history. Thus attention is focussed on the Baja and Kiskunhalas National Commissions, the Bács-Bodrog County Screening Commission and the Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County Land Tenure Regulating Council. The following more important guides and decription have been published on the archival material: József GARZÓ: Kecskemét th. város levéltárának tájékoztatója a Hirös Héten (Information on the Archives of the Municipal City Kecskemét on the "Hirös" Week). Kecskemét, 1934. — Gábor KOPASZ: Baja város levéltára (The Archives of Baja city). Baja, 1965. — A Bács-Kiskun megyei Levéltár fOndjainak jegyzéke (A List of the Archival Groups of the Bács-Kiskun County Archives). Budapest. 1974. More important source collections from our material: János HORNYIK:
