Quantitative analysis of the Viktor D. Sonnenfeld legacy at the City and University Library in Osijek

Historical and regional collections as well as private libraries of famous people play an important role in raising awareness of our national library treasure and cultural heritage. Legacy is legularly a rich source of information on social history of a city, region or wider area. In this sense we aslo view the presentation of a private library of the Osijek and Croatian translator, journalist and philosopher Viktor D. Sonnenfeld. Reconstruction of a private library of that kind and the selection of material about it are of great help to the research of cultural and historical circumstances in wich the collector lived, they reflect the spirit of the former owner, bibliophile, reader and the spirit of the time in wich this library emerged. This paper deals with the Sonnenfeld legacy on informational level of the collection and techniques focusing on the collection. On the basis of the most important collected data on units of library material in the legacy and holdings content analysis the collection has been estimated according to its size, area, importance and informational value. Since Viktor D. Sonnenfeld was a representative of the Osijek 20th century intellectauls, and based on the content analysis and analysis of his person as a reader, collector and owner of a private library, the paper contributes to drawing conclusions on informational, educational and cultural relationships and needs of Croatian intellectual circles in the early and mid 20th century. The selection of books in the legacy witnesses of Sonnenfeld's strong connection to German culture. He followed the trends and tried to introduce them in Osijek in his everyday life (speech and notes on books in German) and work (translation activities, publishing and journalism) but the very fact that his private collection was posthumously donated to the local library spekas in favour of the benefit of promoting German-Croatian ideas in the local community. For the purpose of more qualitative legacy management the aim of the research has been legacy structure, legacy information content and its features. The aim was also to establish a more qualitative legacy management model since legacy makes a special sort of collection in libraries so as to make the model applicable in future similar legacy collections. The Sonnenfeld legacy processing, organisation, protection and presentation are necessary in sense of holdings preservation as a part of cultural and social identity and heritage. Thus, the library as a factor of cultural, social and scientific development plays a great role here. Legacy has a paricular value (educational, scientific, regional, artistic, ethnographic etc.) and can serve as a testimony of the time and space in which it emerget both for the institution in which it is kept, the city and the region. Quantitative analysis of the Viktor D. Sonnenfeld legacy raises many questions and in necessary for any further research and further quantitative collection analysis. Special contribution of the Viktor D. Sonnenfeld legacy lies in scientific, research and educational needs as well as in historical and cultural heritage of Osijek, Slavonia and Croatia. The legacy Sonnenfeld collection is a small contribution to the history of private libraries in Osijek, Slavonia and Croatia

Quantitative analysis of the Viktor D. Sonnenfeld legacy at the City and University Library in Osijek

Historical and regional collections as well as private libraries of famous people play an important role in raising awareness of our national library treasure and cultural heritage. Legacy is regularly a rich source of information on social history of a city, region or wider area. In this sense we also view the presentation of a private library of the Osijek and Croatian translator, journalist and philosopher Viktor D. Sonnenfeld. Reconstruction of a private library of that kind and the selection of material about it are of great help to the research of cultural and historical circumstances in which the collector lived, they reflect the spirit of the former owner, bibliophile, reader and the spirit of the time in which this library emerged. This paper deals with the Sonnenfeld legacy on informational level of the collection and techniques focusing on the collection. On the basis of the most important collected data on units of library material in the legacy and holdings content analysis the collection has been estimated according to its size, area, importance and informational value. Since Viktor D. Sonnenfeld was a representative of the Osijek 20th century intellectuals, and based on the content analysis and analysis of his person as a reader, collector and owner of a private library, the paper contributes to drawing conclusions on informational, educational and cultural relationships and needs of Croatian intellectual circles in the early and mid 20th century. The selection of books in the legacy witnesses of Sonnenfeld’s strong connection to German culture. He followed the trends and tried to introduce them in Osijek in his everyday life ( speech and notes on books in German) and work (translation activities, publishing and journalism) but the very fact that his private collection was posthumously donated to the local library speaks in favour of the benefit of promoting German-Croatian ideas in the local community. For the purpose of more qualitative legacy management the aim of the research has been legacy structure, legacy information content and its features. The aim was also to establish a more qualitative legacy management model since legacy makes a special sort of collection in libraries so as to make the model applicable in future similar legacy collections. The Sonnenfeld legacy processing, organisation, protection and presentation are necessary in sense of holdings preeservation as a part of cultural and social identity and heritage. Thus, the library as a factor of cultural, social and scientific development plays a great role here. Legacy has a particular value ( educational, scientific, regional, artistic, ethnographic etc.) and can serve as testimony of the time and space in which it emerged both for the institution in which it is kept, the city and the region. Quantitative analysis of the Viktor D. Sonnenfeld legacy raises many questions and is necessary for any further research and further quantitative collection analysis. Special contribution of the Viktor D. Sonnenfeld legacy lies in scientific, research and educational needs as well as in historical and cultural heritage of Osijek, Slavonia and Croatia. The legacy Sonnenfeld collection is a small contribution to the history of private libraries in Osijek, Slavonia and Croatia

Legacy of the Pinterović family in the collections of the City and University library Osijek

Private libraries in possession of the City and University Library Osijek are witnesses of life in Osijek as an artistic, cultural, and political centre, but they also help us reconstruct the social attitudes and citizens’ customs. They are the legacy of intellectuals and profiled readers from Osijek in the beginning and the middle of the 20th century, of active cultured citizens, fellow translators, writers, historians, politicians, mayors, who contributed to the development of Osijek with their work. By leaving a part of her private library to a public institution (that is not the Museum), Danica Pinterović showed how much she cared for conserving the printed legacy and passing it to new generations. Her legacy in the City and University Library Osijek is a living trace in the culture and a contribution to the fund of local history and monumental collection. The legacy of Danica and Ante Pinterović was received in the fund of Local History Collection of the City and University Library Osijek in 1980’s. It consists of 195 books, most of them from the field of literature. The legacy was formed between the end of the 19th century (when Danica’s father Ante was active) until 1980’s. Before 1900, 33 books were printed. The oldest one is in German and was printed in 1864. The oldest of the Croatian books is Smrt Smail-age Čengijića (Death of Smail-Aga Čengijić) by Ivan Mažuranić and it was printed in 1883. The collection contains only one book that was printed andp ublished in Osijek (print by Eugen Sekler), the anthology of world literature Sa stranih njiva: rukovet cvijeća, trnja i zrnja (From foreign fields: a bouquet of flower, thorns and grains) in the selection of Hugo Krieshaber from 1929, digitalised in 2017. The exceptional value of the Pinterović family’s legacy, like of other legacies of prominent Osijek citizens in the library, lies in its provenance. The traces of the readers are visible in property tags, dedications, and personal notes, which can be found in 43 books of the Pinterović legacy. Most of the books are often marked with a blue printed ex libris of the legacy owner, family members, their signatures, but also the signatures of former book owners, giving us information about the whole history of the books, their provenance