|
Hungarica
Canadiana
(Archival Sources)
The material
known as Hungarica Canadiana goes back to the 1880s, when a group of
Hungarians in Pennsylvania, U.S.A., had expressed interest in immigrating
to Canada and settling in the Canadian prairies. The first documents,
mainly Cabinet discussions in Parliament, followed by extensive
correspondence between the Canadian Government and Paul O. Esterházy, a
settlement agent in New York, are housed in the National Archives of
Canada. During a century- and-a-half, the subject of Hungarian-Canadian
studies and its archival collections has grown into an extensive and
highly complex literature of print and non-print material; of official and
semi-official documents issued by the Hungarian and Canadian governments
and their related establishments; of societal and institutional records;
of the cultural and religious organizations; as well as the private and
family holdings of correspondence and photo-albums and handwritten
manuscripts. Because of the enormity of the material, this essay is
designed to focus on one aspect only: the archival records and their
sources.
As an ever-growing interest has occurred over the years in Hungarian studies in
Canada, the purpose of this survey is to make the
vast amount of
information on archival sources readily available to the student and the
information specialist. For further information the reader is advised to
consult this author’s bibliography Canadian Studies on Hungarians
1886-1986, published by the University of Regina Press, Canadian
Plains Research Center, 1987, and its 3rd supplement, put out by the
Hungarian Studies Review, 1998. Both publications have special
sections on archival sources and their organization. The Publications
listed at the end of this study should also be reviewed.
* * *
Official and semi-official
records on Hungarians are held by several establishments in Hungary and
Canada. The major repositories of documents are the national and regional
archives, certain government ministries, related public agencies, and
ecclesiastic as well as educational institutions in both countries.
Archival
Sources in Hungary
Official and semi-official records relating to Hungarian-Canadians are
held mainly by the National Archives of Hungary, but other regional and
ecclesiastical archives, such as those of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Esztergom and Kalocsa, and the archives of the Reformed Church of
Hungary, also contain relevant material. Non-government holdings and
literary archival material are collected by such establishments as the
National Széchényi
Library, the Library of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Petőfi
Literary Museum.
The
National Archives of Hungary (NAH), Budapest
This
is the national repository for the official and semi-official documents.
Perhaps the richest source of information on Hungarian-Canadians and their
community life are the records of the Hungarian consulate that existed in
Winnipeg from 1927 to 1941. These records are part of the holdings of the
Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that also include the records of the
Hungarian Consulate General of Montreal (which operated from 1922 to
1941), the records of the Ministry’s bureau in charge of the affairs of
Hungarians outside of Hungary, and the records of the Ministry’s Press
bureau.
Other
relevant record collections at NAH include the collection of the Prime
Minister’s Office (relating mainly to the pre-1914 period), those of the
Emigrants and Remigrants’ Protection Bureau, and those of the Ministry of
Agriculture – mainly documents pertaining to the emigration of
agricultural labourers from Hungary, and the efforts to curb this
out-migration. Some of the records of the World Federation of Hungarians (WFH)
– in particular, those generated between 1928 and 1980 – are deposited in
NAH, while those generated after 1990, and whatever records survived from
Communist rule – are still housed in the WFH’s headquarters in Budapest.
Before 1989, the Institute of (Communist) Party History – later renamed
the Institute of Political History – held extensive document collections
that included some Ministry of the Interior records as well as memoirs of
Hungarian communists living outside Hungary.
Archival
Sources in Canada
In
Canada, records on Hungary and Hungarians are held by the National
Archives of Canada (NAC), the various provincial archives, and the
archives of Hungarian church and community organizations and private
collectors.
National Archives of Canada (NAC), Ottawa
This is
the national repository for official and semi-official documents generated
by federal government departments and other government agencies. NAC also
houses Canada’s most extensive collection of private manuscripts. The most
voluminous documentation on Hungarian migration and settlement in Canada
can be found in the records of the government bureaus that handled
immigration. These agencies used to exist within one or another of
Canada’s government departments: the Department of Agriculture; the
Interior; and from 1936 to 1949, Mines and Resources. At times, the part
of Canada’s bureaucracy dealing with immigration existed as a separate
department: the Department of Immigration and Colonization (1917-1936),
the Department of Citizenship and Immigration (1949-1966), and simply, the
Department of Immigration, after 1966.
Other
parts of Canada’s federal government have also, on occasion, produced
documents relating to Hungarians in Canada and Canada’s dealing with
Hungary. These include the Governor General’s Office (Canada’s Governor
Generals played important public and even political functions in the first
half century of the country’s existence), the Privy Council (whose
holdings include the records of the Cabinet and its various committees),
the Department of External Affairs (which deal with Hungary and matters
concerning Hungarian aliens in Canada), the Department of Labour and the
Department of Justice – which was in charge of Canada’s chief of police
and intelligence agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) – most
of whose early records are also at NAC.
Still
another government-owned corporation whose records are also at NAC is the
Canadian National Railways (CNR) – which at times was also involved in
attracting immigrants to Canada and settling them here. Occasionally
information on Hungary and Hungarian-Canadians can be also found in the
papers of various Canadian politicians and other public figures, including
the Hon. W.J. Pickersgill, Minister of Citizenship and Foreign Affairs
during the 1950s, many of whose manuscripts are also held by NAC. One
private corporation some of those records are found in this archival
repository, and which had at times extensive dealings with Hungarian
immigrants and settlers, is the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Company.
From
1972 on, NAC has made an effort to collect archival material relating
directly to the history of Canada’s ethnocultural groups, including the
Hungarian. Although the quest to gather documentary evidence relating to
the Hungarian-Canadian evolution is far from comprehensive, the Hungarian
collection of NAC’s Ethnic Archives Section has grown over the years and
houses some very valuable record and private manuscript collections. These
include the records of the social organizations, such as the Canadian
Hungarian Association, the Rákóczi
Foundation and the Széchenyi Society;
of religious organizations, i.e., the Hungarian Reformed Church of
Montreal, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Montreal; the
Hungarian-Canadian press, amongst them the
Kanadai Magyar Újság,
which contain detailed information, among other things, on the
establishment and short life of the Canadian Hungarian Federation
(established in 1928, but
ceased to function in the early 1930s). The Ethnic Archives Section also
has most of the records of two other prominent (post-World War II)
Hungarian-Canadian newspapers: the Magyar
Élet
and the Kanadai
Magyarság.
The collection also includes the private papers of several individual
authors, namely George Faludy, Ferenc Fáy, Gyula Izsák, John Miska, Imre
Székely Molnár, Ferenc Thassy-Plavensky, Tamás Tűz.
In
addition to NAC holdings, the reader should also consult the National
Photography Collection located in Ottawa. Organized under the
headings, Immigration and Colonization
- Austrians-Hungarians, and Immigration and Colonization – Hungarians,
some of the photographs go back to the 1890s and the 1920s, showing
Hungarian agricultural labourers doing harvesting and threshing in
Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and
photographs of 1956-ers interviewed by Canadian officials.
Provincial
and regional archives
A wealth
of information is collected by the provincial archives. These are listed
in alphabetical order as follows:
Archives of Ontario,Toronto, ON
Formerly
known as the Public Archives of Ontario, which houses the records of the
Government of Ontario and its agencies, as well as numerous manuscript
collections. References to Hungarians can be found in such collections as
the records of the Prime Minister’s Office, those of the Ministry of
Economic Development and Trade (in particular the files of the Hungarian
Refugee Program, 1956-61). (For a much larger collection on Hungarians,
see the Multicultural Society of Ontario entry.)
Glenbow Archives,
Calgary, AB
Has a
large collection of documents, e.g. manuscripts, photos, sound recordings,
slides, films, videos. The bibliographic information is held on fonds.
Some of these are: (1) Canadian Paciphic Railway Fonds, incorporates
colonization files, Advisory Committee minutes and records related to 29
ethnic groups. Hungarian-related records are Land Holding Colonization:
Calgary Hungarian Colonization Co.; Milk River Hungarian Society; Raymond
Hungarian Colonization. (2) The Coyote Flats Historical Society collection
includes manuscripts, photos, sound recordings, slides, films and videos
on Hungarians. (3) The Csávossy Fonds hold reminiscences, manuscripts,
photos, sound recordings, financial and income tax return records.
(4) The Hungarian Cultural Society Collection, 1972-74, contains 110
slides, 1 audio cassette relating to Hungarian fashion show, embroidery
etc. (5) Peoples of Southern Alberta Oral History Project 1987-91.
Contents: 345 audiovisual cassettes. Hungarians interviewed were: Michael
Földessy, Károly
Forgács, Barbara Mátyás, Tom Pajkos, and Rose Pelyhe.
Multicultural History Society of Ontario,
Toronto, ON
MHSO holds
the largest collection of archival materials on Hungarians in Canada. Some
of the benevolent, social, political organizations whose
papers are in MHSO are: the Brantford Hungarian Mutual Benefit Society;
The Royal Hungarian Gendarmes Veterans’ Fraternal Benevolent Association;
the Canadian Federation of Democratic Hungarians; the Canadian-Hungarian
Federation; the Delhi Hungarian House, the Délvidék Club (Waterloo,
Wellington), the Hungarian-Canadian Cultural Centre (Toronto), the
Hungarian-Canadian Engineers’ Association, the Hungarian cultural
associations of Oshawa, St. Catharines etc. Educational, cultural:
Association of Hungarian Teachers in North America; Hungarian School
Board; Scout Movement; Hungarian Chair; Hungarian Art, Theatre; Kodály
Ensemble (Toronto).
Religious: Canadian-Hungarian Christian Association (Niagara
Falls); Church of the Ancient Magyar Faith; First Hungarian Baptist Church
(Toronto); First Hungarian Reformed Church (Windsor); Hungarian Greek
Catholic Church (Courtland, Hamilton, Welland); Hungarian Presbyterian
Church (Calgary, Delhi, Hamilton, Kipling, Toronto, Welland, Winnipeg);
Roman Catholic Church of Canada (Courtland, Toronto, Welland, Windsor).
National organizations: Rákóczi
Foundation (Toronto); Széchenyi
Society, Calgary);
World Transylvanian Federation. The MHSO also has an extensive oral
history collection, tape-recorded interviews with many hundreds of
immigrants to Ontario, including Hungarians.
Provincial Archives of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
Its
holdings contain photocopies of letters, documents and pamphlets from the
Immigration Branch Records, Ottawa, pertaining to Hungarian immigration to
Canada, including published letters from the Esterházy Colony, 1902-04.
Also includes photographs of hunters and their catch, photographs of
Hungarian women taken before immigration to Canada, c. 1890-1915.
Provincial Archives of British Columbia, Victoria, B.C.
Holds a
few publications on Hungarians entered under the subject heading:
Hungarians in British Columbia. It also houses a copy of the Strathcona
Project Collection, which includes 121 sound cassettes, interviews with
people, including Hungarians of B.C.
Provincial Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man.
This
archives has the following manuscripts and photographs on
Hungarian-Canadians: Emerich Duha: A Presentation of Hungarian-Canadians
to the Canadian Unity Council. 1943. 5 p. In: H.A.J. Brodhal Papers, Mg14,
C90, Box 2; Hungarian Protégés – Karl Nagy et al. 1957-1963, in:
Ralph Maybank Collection, MG14, B35, File 46. Some photographs included
are under the heading: Huns Valley.
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N.B.
This
archives includes records relating to post-1956 Hungarian arrivals
hospitalized with tuberculosis. For the time being these are closed, but
might become available to the researcher an undertaking of
confidentiality. Within the records of the New Brunswick county courts,
there are references to the naturalization of Hungarians, as these courts
exchange information with the Federal Court of Canada. The Premier
Flemming Records, the records of the Provincial Secretary and those of his
(or her) deputy, also contain references to Hungarians.
Saskatchewan Archives Board, Saskatoon, Sask.
Has a
sizeable collection on Hungarians, including the Records of Re-settlements
of Hungarian immigrants, generated by the Department of Interior, Dominion
Land Branch. Also, papers on the first Hungarian settlers in Saskatchewan;
the Rev. Frank Hoffman Papers, 1922-45; the Gabriel Szakács
Papers (Diary, 1953, 1961); Reminiscences, news bulletins of the
Békevár Presbyterian Church,
Kipling; Notes re:
Békevár settlement. Individual files by Imrich Immer, Rev. Jules J. Pirot,
Rev. Pál Sántha, Gabriel Szakács, etc.
Private Archives
Although
most of the Hungarian benevolent, cultural-educational, scientific and
religious organizations are known to have maintained their establishment
records, such as by-laws pertaining to operational and financial matters,
commemorations, annual and other meetings, very few of their holdings are
professionally organized and made available to the researcher. No attempt
has been made to conduct an extensive survey of the overall resources, and
there is no union list available to coordinate the large amount of
material to make the bibliographic information and location of material
available to the user. The Hungarian Canadian Heritage Collection is the
only professionally maintained private collection in Canada.
Hungarian
Canadian Heritage Collection, Ottawa, ON.
This
collection started in 1981. Its
funding director, Mr. George Demmer, an educator, now retired, started to organize a large collection of his audio
cassettes prepared with individual Hungarian folk singers across Canada.
As the collection grew, he extended the scope and nature of the holdings.
Today, the HCHC includes a sizeable collection of books by
Hungarian-Canadian authors and complete sets of several Hungarian-Canadian
newspapers. It also holds manuscripts of memoirs, newspaper clippings and
correspondence by scholars, clergymen, authors and common folks. The music
section, the largest of its kind in Hungarian-Canadian circles, contains
more than 3500 folksongs on audiotape. Special holdings are the Rev. Kálmán Tóth
archives, the Andrew Haraszti manuscripts, the Rev. Ferenc Mihály, the Joseph Hamvas and the Nicholas
Mattyasovszky-Zsolnay collections; some of the archival material of
the Toronto-based Krónika, and part of the
Kanadai Magyar Munkás documents.
* * *
Some years
ago, I have seen a display of archival collection in the National Library
of Canada relating to a Jewish minority group in China. It was inspiring
to notice that, although the community, as we came to realize, has hardly
exceeded over the centuries 500
souls at any given time, and yet its leaders were farsighted enough to
preserve and organize an archival collection showing their existence. In
fact, the collection was deemed to be significant enough to be put up on
display in the major national libraries and public archives throughout
Europe and North America. This accomplishment, I maintain to this day,
should serve as an exemplary model for all of us. It should inspire the
Hungarian communities outside and within Hungary in unearthing, gathering,
organising, and preserving for future generations the very perishable
archival documents relating to our history. As the existence of history,
without tangible records is unimaginable. And no nation can hope to
survive without the preservation of its history.
References
Dreisziger, N.F., and M.L.
Kovács. “A Note on Sources.” In: Struggle and Hope:
The Hungarian-Canadian
Experience. (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982):
pp. 232-35.
[See also the above
collection’s bibliography (pp. 236-239).]
Grenke,
Arthur. “Archival Collections on Hungarian Canadians at the National
Archives of Canada.’’ In: Hungarian Studies Review 17 (Spring,
1990): 3-12.
[For
further information on the subject, see the same author’s “Hungarian
Canadiana at the
Archives.” In: The
Archivist 18 no. 2 (July-September 1991): 12-13. ill., photos.]
Miska János.
„Hungárika-gyűjtemények Kanadában: statisztikai, tárgyi és bibliográfiai
felmérés. [Hungarica Collections in Canada: A Summary of Statistical,
Thematic and Bibliographic Evaluation]. A paper presented to the II.
Scientific Conference of HungarianLibrarians throughout
the World, Budapest, August 26-27, 1988. In: Magyar Könyvtárosok II. Tudományos
Találkozója. A konferencia előadásai
(Budapest, 1989) pp. 95-111.
Miska János.
„Magyarság-gyűjteményeink megőrzése”
[Preserving the Hungarian-Canadian Collections]. In the
same author’s book Többnyire magunkról.
(Victoria, B.C.:
Microform Biblios, 1996) pp. 74-77.
Miska,
John. Canadian Studies on Hungarians. A Bibliography. Enlarged
Supplement.
(Budapest: Nemzetközi
Magyar Filológiai Társaság, 1995)
pp. 211-367.
[It has a special section
on archival materials, entitled “Archival Documentation
of Material” on pp. 213-217.]
Miska,
John. “Hungarian Resource Collections. In: Hungarian Studies
(Budapest) 4, no. 1(1988): 118-23.
[An
extended version of the above paper has appeared in the same author’s book
Literature of Hungarian Canadians. (Toronto: Rákóczi
Foundation, 1991) pp. 41-50.
Patrias,
Carmela. Patriots and Proletarians: Politicizing Hungarian Immigrants
in Interwar
Canada.
(Kingston and Montreal: McGill Queen’s University Press, 1994) pp.
287-309.
[This book was based on the author’s Ph.D. thesis.]
Victoria, August 7, 2005.
John Miska
John Miska webpages
|
