Agria 42. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2006)

Bodó Sándor: A Múzeumok és Könyvtárak Országos Főfelügyelősége és a túrócszentmártoni múzeum a XX. század elején

Sándor Bodo The National Museums and Libraries Inspectorate and the Túrószentmárton (now Martin, Slovakia) Museum at the Beginning of the 20th Century Historians are now gaining an ever clearer understanding of the politics which related to the nationalities within the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. As early as the Hungarian nationalities legislation of 1868, a state of complete individual autonomy had already been outlined whereby everybody was free to use their native tongue in the civil sphere and to organise national cultural societies in their capacity as citizens. Collective rights stipulated that within the legal-cultural domain the language of the majority could be used in the communities in question, opening the way for the establishment of mother-tongue schools and other institutions. After 1890 the members of a middle class, who had long since emphasised the importance of their mother tongue, increased in number in Hungary's peripheral regions. It was a development which became a basic precondition of nationhood, and an important station in the process leading to it. In Hungary the different nationalities found themselves at varying stages of economic and cultural development. Within Slovak society there was a significant petit bourgeoisie and industrial working class alongside what was predominantly an agricultural population. At this time decrees referring to the right of association banned the formation of political organisations, with the result that national initiatives were forced to operate within the framework of cultural (and economic) organisations. It was a time when a large number of reading circles, scientific and literary societies, choral societies etc. came into being, together with country-wide cultural associations, like the "Matica Slovenska" active from 1862. By the 1870s the Slovak national movement had withdrawn from the political domain completely. In 1875 Matica Slovenska was outlawed and the centre of Slovak national - cultural endeavour became the small town of Túrószentmárton. Post1867 dualist Hungary witnessed the foundation of a significant system of scientific and cultural institutions. The successful regional museum associations, and their accumulation of historical sources and public property helped to raise an historical awareness. It was in such a context that The National Museums and Libraries Inspectorate (Múzeumok Könyvtárak Országos Főfelügyelete) was founded in Budapest in 1897. Its aim it was to bring about closer ties between the state, local governmental, denominational and social collections, enabling materials spread in collections all over the country, to 631