Review article
https://doi.org/10.21857/ygjwrcp8ny
Franjo Rački’s Correspondence with Individual Persons from the Western Croatia: Letters with Female Signature
Ana Batinić
orcid.org/0000-0002-0007-1015
; Division for the Croatian History of Literature of the Institute for the History of Croatian Literature, Theater and Music of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
What do Cornelia Cattalinich, Kornelija Dežman, Marija Fabković, Marija Kvaternik,
Ruža Polić, Paulina Rocco and Milka Senković Rački have in common, apart from
being women? The answer lies in the fact that all of them kept, in a certain period of
their lives, contact with Franjo Rački (Fužine, 1828 – Zagreb, 1894) – canon, historian,
politician, member of parliament, cultural worker, and the first president of the Yugoslav
(today Croatian) Academy of Sciences and Arts. A record thereof are their letters
to Rački, which were written in Croatian, German and Czech, and sent from various
places in the western part of Croatia (Rijeka, Bakar, Ogulin, Slunj, etc.) during the second
half of the 19th century. Today, these letters are in the safekeeping at the Archives
of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb, within the Franjo Rački fund.
Several among the mentioned names – for instance the teacher Marija Fabković, and
the charismatic Kornelija Dežman, wife, and at the time of keeping correspondence
with Rački already widow of Ivan Dežman, a prominent medical doctor and a versatile
cultural figure – are known not only in professional circles, but also in the general
public. About the others, such as Rački’s sister Milka Senković, there exists little or no
information whatsoever. Relying on the content of the aforementioned correspondence
contextualized by additional research based on various available sources, the objective
of the article is to shed light on the relationship of the selected female addressees with
Franjo Rački. This will further help gain better insight not only into their individual biographies,
but also into the broader picture of the social position of women at that time.
Keywords
Franjo Rački; correspondence; female addressees; social circle of the western Croatia; second half of the 19th century.
Hrčak ID:
295667
URI
Publication date:
13.3.2023.
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