THE MASARYK UNIVERSITY ARCHIVE

Head:
PhDr. Jiří Pulec

Veveří 70, 611 80 Brno
tel.: 42 21 48 53

In 1997 acquistion activities of the Archive were the highest in its history. All faculties - with the exception of the two youngest - supplied the Archive with written materials. After years of postponement the Faculty of Law commenced the handing over of basic documentation on this faculty's history since its reopening in 1969. The other faculties concentrated for the most part on the handing over of documentation of a general nature, such as study materials and papers from doctoral, postdoctoral and professorship studies. Inspired by the work of the MU Rector's Office, the receiving of important archivalia continued throughout the year. At the end of the year the Archive was enriched by the receipt of materials from the Sub-Department of the History of the University, part of which comprises valuable photocopies of archive sources on the establishing of the university. Materials from this now-defunct sub-department also include a library specialising in the history of science.

In March 1997 the Archive also took over the archive materials of the late MU Faculty of Pharmacy. These materials had previously been housed in the archive of Comenius University in Bratislava and are for the most part papers on pharmacy studies composed at the Faculties of Medicine of Charles and Masaryk Universities and the MU Faculty of Pharmacy (dissolved in 1960).

The Archive was successful in its attempts to obtain the documentary inheritance of leading figures in the university's history. The private papers of the anglist Josef Vachek, for example, include valuable correspondence. Also obtained was a part of the writings of Paul Garvin (awarded an MU honorary doctorate) and the personal papers of lawyer Hynek Bulín. Furthermore, the personal papers of philosopher Lubomír Nový are gradually being transferred to the Archive.

The filing and ordering of Archive materials continued. Throughout the year an inventory was conducted on the extensive personal papers of historian Josef Macurek, and a new inventory was carried out for many collections of personal writings which had hitherto been accessible to a limited extent only. This work proceeded within the framework of the creation of a nationwide computer database of archive documentation processed. A local MU Archive database contains more than 100 items, by far the most comprehensive amongst institutes of higher education in the Czech Republic. A second extensive inventory last year for the MU Archive was that of archive sources on the history of immigration to this territory from Russia and the Ukraine.

Since the dissolving of the Sub-Department of the History of the University the MU Archive is the only centre which concerns itself fundamentally with the University's past. The research activities of our archivists last year concentrated for the most part on the years after 1945, a key period in the history of the University. The ongoing results of their work continue to be published in the press. Archive staff took part in academic conferences on the history of science and theory and practice in archive work. The MU Archive has representation on the Academic Archive Board of the Ministry of the Interior and on editorial boards of professional and cultural journals.