Bárth János szerk.: Cumania 19. (A Bács-Kiskun Megyei Önkormányzat Múzeumi Szervezetének Évkönyve, Kecskemét, 2003)
Kürti László: A szabadszállási Csaplár István naplója. Naplók, feljegyzések önéletrajzok
A SZABADSZÁLLÁSI CSAPLÁR ISTVÁN NAPLÓJA 151 László Kürti THE DIARY OF ISTVÁN CSAPLÁR FROM SZABADSZÁLLÁS: DIARIES, NOTES, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES - Summary This article describes a rare hand-written diary of a farmer from Szabadszállás, a medium size town from the Felső-Kiskunság region in Bács-Kiskun county. István Csaplár (1838-1909) calls his diary „Logbook of the continual years" . He started to write in 1860 when he married Judith Ko váts (1838-1923). We do not learn anything from his childhood, only the years following his marriage as the family began working on its own household plots. What are interesting in this „logbook" is the plain and flavoured expressions of the author as he notes every year what happened with him, his family and the estate. He notes with a matter of fact voice the birth and death of his four daughters. Larger events, for example the 1848/49 War of Independence, do not concern him. He details all the expenses and incomes as well as the major sales that he managed. In addition, the author of the diary records major events in the life of his community: enormous floods, storms, famine, bad harvest, or, on the contrary, when harvest was excellent and prices were adequate. As a proud father of his only daughter, he cites her two marriages as well as the birth of the grandchildren. After the death of the peasant writer-author, the wife takes over and continues to detail daily life. However, a significant departure may be noted in the content: Judith Ko váts only mentions in passing the economic transactions and the family's finances. She is more concerned with intellectual and literary matters. She notes down several poems, a tale, and various greeting formulas. In particular, she writes about folk poems such as „New Year's greeting" and name-day verses. She includes a folk remedy as well as other lyrical genres. After her death the daughter, Judith Fördős, continues the family's preoccupation to note down the changes surrounding them however, she restricts herself to only names and dates. The significance of this diary, written between 1860-1929, is highlighted by comparing it to several coeval diaries and notebooks (Kunszentmiklós, Geszt, Kiskunhalas etc). What is remarkable is the combination of voices describing the personal and the collective as well as the way in which the author managed to create a unified narrative of notes, diary, and personal recollections. This diary is a valuable text from a community in transition from small-scale animal husbandry to entrepreneurial capitalistic agriculture.
