The National Collection and the Regional Collections of Manuscript Materials in the Republic of Slovenia

Mihael Glavan

Grundeintrag 1999

[3/ S. 210:] Slovenia has never had legislation stating which institutions should keep manuscript materials of important literary and other authors in the field of culture and humanities. As a rule, personal archives are owned by either authors or their heirs, who make their own decisions on who they will donate or sell them. However, common practice is that the materials of nationally important authors are collected in the Manuscript Collection of the National and University Library (NUL). Since 1991 there has been an informal agreement among the National Museum, Archives and the National Library that literary materials are placed in the NUL Manuscript Collection, those of general archival character in the National Archives of Slovenia, and objects in the National Museum. Nevertheless, every owner of a private collection has a right to give his / her materials to anybody of his / her choice including regional archives, libraries or museums.

The NUL Manuscript Collection

The NUL Manuscript Collection has an actual function of the national literary archives. Its funds are the richest by far in this field (see »Manuscript Collection of the National and University Library in Ljubljana«, S. 267). The materials have been processed by specialised librarians according to the established standards ever since mid 19th century. The collection is gaining new funds continuously through purchases, donations or exchanges. The department staff consists of four librarians (specialists), the average of 2.800 visitors and 3.000 units for (supervised) reading room usage and lending for exhibitions [3/ S. 211:] of other institutions. Our basic activity is recording, acquisition, processing, lending, and informing expert public on our funds. Additional tasks include expert-scientific publication of articles, discussions in papers and magazines, publishing printed catalogues of our manuscript materials, taking part in research projects, preparation of exhibitions etc.

The central Slovenian literary archives, the Manuscript Collection, functions as an expert linkage in its field in the framework of Slovenia; however, it does not have any organisational or other formal authorisations to other collections. Our employees are also active as advisers in processing manuscript and old book materials in other (mostly special) libraries. The distinguishing feature of the collection is that it has a linked fund of incunabules (509 units) and rare prints, about 1.000 units of the most precious old Slovenian and other prints.

Other significant manuscript collections in (the libraries of) the Republic of Slovenia

The manuscript collection of the Maribor University Library (Univerzitetna knjižnica Maribor, Gospejna 10, 2000 Maribor). It contains 850 manuscript units, printed catalogue Ms 1-Ms 850, three volumes.

The manuscript collection of the Central Library of Celje (Osrednja knjižnica Celje, Muzejski trg 1a, 3000 Celje). It contains about 300 manuscript units, printed catalogue Ms 1-Ms 250, one volume.

The manuscript collection of the Slovene Academy of Arts and Sciences, Ljubljana (Novi trg 3, 1000 Ljubljana). Relatively rich collection, no published catalogues.

Several groups of archival literary materials are also kept by the following regional libraries: Novo mesto (Knjižnica Mirana Jarca, Rozmanova 26, 8000 Novo mesto), Nova Gorica (Goriška knjižnica, Kulturni center, 5000 Nova Gorica) and Ravne na Koroškem (Koroška osrednja knjižnica, Na gradu 1, 2390 Ravne na Koroškem).

The Library of the National Museum in Ljubljana (Narodni muzej v Ljubljani, Prešernova cesta 20, 1000 Ljubljana). It contains manuscripts of Sigismund Zois, France Prešeren, Valentin Vodnik, Janez Evangelist Krek etc.

The National Archives of Slovenia (Ljubljana Arhiv Republike Slovenije, Zvezdarska 1, 1000 Ljubljana). It contains a few personal archives.

[3/ S. 212:] Archbishop Archives in Ljubljana (Krekov trg 1, 1000 Ljubljana). It contains mostly personal archives of clergymen.

The Private Archival Collection of Dr. Janez Arnež in Ljubljana (Studia Slovenica, p. p. 28, 1210 Ljubljana-Šentvid). It contains mostly archives of Slovenian emigrants.

Note: Catalogues of legacies and autographs are made and published by individual institutions; there is no uniform base of the whole country.

Planning for the future arrangement

Ever since 1991 there have been efforts to reach an agreement about a uniform policy in the field of written cultural heritage among archives, libraries, and museums; however, no directions or legal regulations have been adopted yet.

Mihael Glavan

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