A Historical and Archival Guide to Székesfehérvár (Székesfehérvár, 2003)
THE HISTORY OF SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR TOWN ARCHIVES
In May 1848 on the re-election of officials there were three applicants for the archivist position. János Mihalik 50 won by overwhelming majority outvoting István Hiller and Elek Farkas. 51 Mihalik applied for one of the councillor posts, but he was defeated by the well-connected János Niczky, who had been deputy chief justice before. The archivist was one of the town functionaries in this period too. 52 As a result his position included other duties as well. The council meeting appointed him the commissioner of the butcher- and weaver guild on 1 8 May 1848. 53 During the events of the revolution and war of independence of 1848-49 Mihalik' s name appeared several times in the sources. On 6 October 1848 he took part in taking an inventory of the executed count Ödön Zichy 's property in Székesfehérvár. As it is known the town attached the former administrator's property in Székesfehérvár in accordance with the family extinction law. Councillor György Baur, municipal attorney Vilmos Linzer, archivist János Mihalik and representative István Peresztegi Nagy were sent in order to seize, take an inventory and actually take possession of the properties. 54 The elected staff of civil servants and general assembly functioned till 29 December 1848. Then, under the leadership of József Orsetti a 19-member "standing committee" was formed for "the maintenance of public peace and order"; the committee was co-opted twice in the following days. Mihalik, being a town functionary was appointed new member on 29 December 1848 at the amplification of the standing committee. 55 It was the committee's task to act as the substitute of the general assembly; the committee was managing the town during the state of war. The committee was dissolved by the town's Austrian commanding officer, baron János Petricsevich Horváth on 7 January 1849. Mihalik's activity in politics continued in the following year as well. Eduárd Gaál, royal commissioner struck the Hungarian-side officials off the staff of civil servants, and appointed others. As a result he appointed archivist János Mihalik, a councillor, as the oldest official of the staff. A scribe, János Nagy was appointed to the archivist position. 56 Mihalik took his position again on 10 May 184 9. 57 Not much later, however, he left the town 58 , and the staff of civil servants pro-
