William Penn Life, 1989 (24. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1989-10-01 / 10. szám
October 1989, William Penn Life, Page 3 A room with a view A brief history of the Hungarian Classroom at the University of Pittsburgh The following is a transcript of the remarks delivered by John C. Miller, historian, scholarship coordinator and past treasurer of the Hungarian Room Committee, at the dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Classroom at the University of Pittsburgh. By John C. Miller Director E. Maxine Bruhns of the Nationality Rooms Programs, reverend clergy, members and friends of the Hungarian Room Committee, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to be designated as the historian of the Hungarian Room for this great occasion. In preparing this report I found two most important qualifications were necessary for this assignment. The first was the easy part — you had to be old enough to have worked for the first committee. The second challenge was the more difficult one — to be as brief as possible — since there is so much to report on over 50 years of activities. For me, this is a great invitation to nostalgia. In the fall of 1930,1 was a freshman at this university. By the second week of September I found myself in Mrs. Mitchell’s office with student volunteers of ethnic backgrounds, sorting and filing material connected with the fund raising activities for the proposed nationality rooms. Here, I learned that the nationality committees had their beginnings in 1925. At that time the University of Pittsburgh was engaged in erecting the soaring Cathedral of Learning. Leaders of various ethnic groups expressed the desire to contribute to the finishing of the Cathedral by building and furnishing classrooms to represent the culture and history of their countries. These rooms now circle the great vaulted Commons Room of the Cathedral. In 1927 the Hungarians were the first to present a $2,000 check to Chancellor Bowman. The major portion of this gift was raised on Hungarian Day at Kenny wood Park in the August of 1926. For many years this was an important fund raising activity. Miss Magyar was also crowned on these occasions. The Rev. Odon Vasvary was the chairman of this first committee that represented every Hungarian church and society in the Pittsburgh area. In 1928 a smaller committee was formed under the chairmanship of Dr. Samuel C. Gomory, a graduate of the University of Budapest and member of the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. In 1930 Dr. Gomory went to Budapest and was able to attract the attention of the Ministry of Education for our project. They not only accepted the patronage by giving the committee $5,000 but also provided funds for a design contest. The award went to Denes Györgyi, professor at the Budapest School of Industrial Arts. He was an internationally known architect for designing the Hungarian pavilions at the Barcelona Fair in 1929, the Paris Exposition in 1937 and the New York World’s Fair in 1939. The 1930’s were the Depression years. School teachers were paid $600 a year; steelworkers, about $120 a month. The hourly minimum wage was 25 cents. But this did not stop the committee’s fund raising activities. Eleven ladies’ subcommittees were organized in the Pittsburgh area. In addition to these were the "Pro- Hungaria” group in Cleveland and one in Beaver Falls. The ladies had monthly luncheons at Rosenbaum’s Restaurant for 50 cents where they formulated plans for bake sales, raffles, picnics and card parties. Informal social evenings were held at the university and in area church halls. These helped talented young Americans of Hungarian extraction to develop their talents. Julia Miller Mellman grew from a child prodigy to a gifted violinist. Dr. Gomory, with Mrs. Mitchell, went everywhere — churches, picnics, and social halls — at any time to answer questions, receive donations and encourage the Hungarians to give more and more donations. In 1936, with better times ahead, the committee was re-organized and enlarged. The officers at that time were: Dr. Gomory, chairman; Mrs. Joseph Urban, secretary; and George Zimmerman, treasurer. Other members of the executive committee were: Mrs. Louis DeMarkus, talented music critic; the Rev. Louis Varga, reformed church clergyman; Dr. Albert Soltész, pastor of St. Margaret Church in Homestead; Mr. F. J. Fuleytar, businessman; and Mr. John Bencze, secretary of the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association. In the winter of 1936 a fund raising concert was held at the Syria Mosque featuring the famous Budapest University Chorus. The following spring the internationally known violinist Francis Aranyi gave a recital. Both events played to standing room only audiences. All through the 13 years of fund raising activities, the committee always received generous contributions from the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association and the Hungarian Reformed Federation. The room was finished in Budapest ahead of schedule. The Hungarian government shipped the room to an industrial arts exhibition in Barcelona. At the close of the show the room was dismantled, crated, readied for shipment to Pittsburgh. Somehow, the crates disappeared. Dr. Gomory once again went to Budapest to expedite the construction of a duplicate room. Since the dark clouds of political unrest were settling over Europe, the newly constructed room was shipped without the carvings on the frieze and the inside of the beautifully carved door panel. These were finally completed in New York by master craftsmen, some of Hungarian background. A plaster cast of the original door panel was used as a guide. On September 29, 1939, the room was finally dedicated. The ceremony was held in the Commons Room. Among the contributors listed in the program, I found 61 Hungarian societies in the Pittsburgh area, including eight branches of the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association. In addition to these societies, there were 400 individual John C. Miller donors that gave major contributions. As the years went by, the original hand-embroidered lace curtains that were executed by needle women in the Budapest studio of Bodrog Erszebet began to deteriorate. The slate blue velvet drapes were badly faded. The decision was made to replace these with stained glass windows. At this time we were fortunate to have Mr. Lewis Diera as a member of our committee. Mr. Diera studied the art of designing stained glass windows in Budapest. His artistic talent developed the drawings for the five stained glass windows depicting the history and culture of Hungary. On October 28, 1956, the five historical windows were dedicated. Looking over the program I found that the number of Hungarian societies in the Pittsburgh area had dropped from 61 to only 15 and the individual donors from 400 to 210. The Rákóczi window was the gift of the Rákóczi Aid Association of Bridgeport, Conn. In 1955 they merged with the Verhovay Fraternal Insurance Association to form the William Penn Association. The committee’s cultural and fund raising programs continued at the Stephen C. Foster auditorium twice a year: the first Sunday after Easter, and a fall program in October. On October 15, 1960, Dr. Gomory established a scholarship endowment fund with a $500 check. On October 2, 1962,1 was appointed treasurer. Finally, by 1964, the concerts were changed to one a year. In spite of the one dollar admission, support from the Hungarian community began to drop off. If it wasn’t for the continuous support from the William Penn Association, we would have been in the red most of the time. Besides the concerts at the Syria Mosque, I can recall only three successful programs that drew capacity crowds. In 1964 the Gyöngyös Bokréta Dance Group from Cleveland performed here. The William Penn paid the group $250 plus their travel and meal expenses. Cleveland came back with a theater group in 1968 with a played called "Petőfi Mező Be Renyen.” Again, William Penn picked up the cost of $240. The third concert that packed the Stephen Foster auditorium to the rafters was Zelecki Zita. Dr. Gomory paid her with a personal check. From private contributions and sales of artifacts that we could not use in the room, plus annual donations from the William Penn Association, we were slowly building up towards the $10,000 scholarship endowment fund. On Tuesday, April 29, 1975, our loyal chairman Dr. Gomory died. He served the longest continuous term of any nationality room chairman. Attorney Geza Banes was appointed as our new chairman. On March 28, 1977, the title of the scholarship was changed to the Dr. Samuel C. Gomory Scholarship Fund. A significant date is April 21, 1985. After 25 years of fund raising for a $10,000 scholarship fund, the profits from the Budapest Brass Quintet concert held that day put us over the top. This concert was totally underwritten by the William Penn Association. In 1985 we gave a scholarship to Simon Erszebet to pursue her studies in Hungary. In 1987 Mrs. Elizabeth Mazura gave a scholarship in memory of her husband Stephen. This was awarded to Kathy Csornán. Last year our devoted member Mrs. Mazura died. A scholarship was given this year in her name from a memorial fund contributed by her friends. This was awarded to Rene Segaty, a student at the university. Mrs. Mazura left funds in an insurance policy for an Elizabeth Denes Mazura Scholarship, which will be awarded in 1990. In February of this year, at the university’s request, we had a reorganization meeting. For the first time in 61 years, we had an open election. Chairman Banes, our longtime Auditor Margaret Kérészi, and I chose not to run for re-election. At our first meeting Mr. Joseph P. Arvay from New Brunswick, N.J., gave us a $1,000 check to add to our scholarship fund. Mr Arvay is the chairman of the Board of the William Penn Association. Also, our membership drive gave us 78 paid-up members. Next year we are giving our first $2,000 scholarship in memory of Dr. Gomory to a university student, to be selected by three judges, to study in Hungary for the summer of 1990. I would like to close by quoting from Dr. Gomory’s address on the dedication of the Hungarian Room on September 29, 1939: "Now we have a place in the University as part of the universe. If we would be just happy, thankful, and contented, we would be a part of the past, like any piece of historic stone in a memorial; but we want to live, and it is our resolution to learn, to cooperate, and to be a creative part in the future of the University’s great work for humanity and science — to make this world a better world. So help us, our God. Az Ur.” (Time has a way of erasing details and dates from one’s memory. Dates and some details of the material collected for my presentation came from original drafts of speeches and articles written by Dr. Samuel C. Gomory. —John C. Miller, 1989)
