AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1978. Budapest (1980)

IV. Könyvtörténeti és művelődéstörténeti tanulmányok - Kovács Ilona: Adatok az amerikai magyar könyvtári gyűjteményekről - Some data on American Hungarian Library collections

( State, in Ohio, in New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, in Connecticut, in Michigan and in Illinois. Their conditions are also dependent on the employment pattern. In industrial areas, where concentrated ethnic communities exist the libraries are more developed then in agricultural areas with scettered population. The two largest Hungarian collections in public libraries are the Cleveland Public (CPL) and the New York Public Library (NPL). Among the East European collections in the NPL the Hungarian is the fifth largest and in CPL the first. The history of both collections goes back to the turn of the century and their development was dependent on the waves of immigration of Hungarians to the US. In the 1970's in Cleveland the average was one book per 4 Hungarian inhabitans, in Chicago one book per 13 Hungarians and in Los Angeles one book per 100 Hungarians. The Library of Congress (LC) has special status among all libraries. It has the largest and oldest Hungarian collection in the US. Already in the founding collection of the LC there were books concerning Hungarians. As a result of the collection development policy of the LC by the 1960's the library owned one sixth of the books, one fourth of the periodicals and one third of the newspapers concerning East European ethnic groups, included among them Hungarians. The Hungarian collection was developed step by step from the middle of the last century. Since 1867 it has had contact with the National Széchényi Library (Budapest). Since 1906—1907 the LC has had an exchange program with the Library of the Hungarian Parlament. Since 1950 it has had regular funds for collection development of Hungarian publications. Its collection in 1972 contained 55,000 volumes books, 2,000 periodical titles (in 20,000 volumes) and 40 old and rare books, 300 manuscripts, 3,150 items of music, 100 newspaper titles; all together about 80,000 volumes. In 1976 the National Széchényi Library joined the shared cataloguing programme of the LC. In the framework of this contract the LC has acquired more than 1,800 works published in Hungary in 1977. Special libraries: for research on Hungarian immigration are the Immigration History Research Center (IHRC) in St. Paul and the library of the American Hungarian Foundation (AHF) in New Brunswick. In 1975 the IHRC had 24,000 volumes of books, 2,000 rolls of microfilms 3,000,000 leaves of manuscripts and 1,625 periodical titles. This number covers all ethnic groups. Out of this particularly the manuscript collections have great value for research concerning American Hungarians. The library of AHF owned 30,000 volumes (catalogued 8,000) pertaining only to Hungarians in 1975. Libraries sponsored by Hungarian societies and churches: little is known about them although they have probably played an important role in serving the primary reading interests of American Hungarians. They are usually dependent on the life of the institutions by which they are supported. They are usually smaller collections between 500 and 10,000 volumes. Private collections: are very important because the collector provides not only the fund to cover the expences but also the expertise in the field collected which is rare even in large collections. The private collections mentioned by the sources are or have been owned by Charles FELEKY, József REMÉNYI, Lajos SZATHMÁRY, Béla VÁBDY, Jenő PIVÁNYI, Edmund VASVÁRY, István HXJZIÁNY. Conclusions The development of ethnic, particularly Hungarian collections seems to be divided into two periods. From the beginning until the middle of the 1960's there was a spontaneous era. Different isolated efforts have been made by federal, public, university, special and research libraries and by different ethnic groups. Since the middle of the 1960's a new era has began. First new trends have started in American library policy to support collections serving ethnic groups and research and information needs concerning them. Second the Hungarian immigration became more active and cooperative in this question. Third, Hungary and the National Széchényi Library took steps for supporting cultural needs of Hungarians living abroad. All three factors contribute to the collection development in American libraries concerning Hungarians through these studies and research can be performed and information can be provided on a higher level and can be based on collections having more standard publications and more up-to-date information. 618