A Historical and Archival Guide to Székesfehérvár (Székesfehérvár, 2003)

AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY WRITING OF SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR

third volume of the monograph. There are illustrations in the books as well, mainly photos about Székesfehérvár and the villages. Following the work of Károly the other distinguished historian of the town was Dr Gyula Lauschmann (1861-1918).

23 Early in his career he worked in the field of medicine; his writings, articles were published in Gyógyászat (Therapeutics) newspaper, later he wrote about epidemics, like cholera and tuberculosis. He also wrote a discourse about public health in Székesfehérvár.

24 Following this his interest turned to town history. In 1899 his book about the historv of acting in the town was published.

25 Just after the turn of the century his book on the history of the Cistercian church building was published.

26 In 1904 The Streets of Székesfehérvár, in the following year the Stones with Inscriptions in Székesfehérvár were published. A great part of his work concentrated on the history of civilian organisations.

27 He wrote his main work between 1908 and 1912 after 22 years of research under the title The History of Székesfehérvár. He dedicated his work to his native-town on 24 December 1912 writing: The never ceasing affection, the deep love that binds me to every bit of this soil asks the Honourable Mayor and the honourable Municipal Board to accept this work, which is prefaced by Dr Ottokár Prohászka ...I treated the past with affection, I'm offering the product of my work to my native town from the bottom of my heart. Please, welcome it.

28 For his positivist data collecting work, similarly to that of János Károly' he used the sources that were published earlier; when he had studied them thoroughly, he set about studying the documents of the archives of the town, the county, the Bishopric-, the chapter- and the Cistercian grammar school. He also used the precious sources of the Hungarian National Museum and the University Library. He was also greatly assisted by Gyula Szegfű, who was working in the royal archives in Vienna at the time and he provided the author with sources about Székesfehérvár. In the preface of the town monograph he expressed his appreciation for the active contribution of archivist. Viktor Juhász, who helped the author look up the files and prepare the documents. Benedek Virág s Hungarian Centuries served as the norm to Lauchmann as he says in the preface of his book; he described the events chronologically. Although he admitted that chronological type