The Collaboration between Dominik Mandić and Jere Jareb in Light of the Correspondence Preserved in Mandić’s Legacy

Abstract

The written legacy of Fra Dominik Mandić kept in the Archives of the Franciscan Herzegovina Province includes, among many other materials, the correspondence between this distinguished Herzegovian Franciscan and the famous Croatian historian Jere Jareb. According to the available letters, their first contacts were achieved in 1953, which is related to their arrival in the USA, when both of them became active among émigré circles in promoting the Croatian name and history in this, for the Croats difficult, period of communist Yugoslavia. Based on the contents of 39 letters dated from 1953 to 1972, this paper thematically analyses and follows the collaboration between these two Croatian intellectuals. Apart from exchanging discussions and scientific-critical reflections on historical topics that they were well-acquainted with (such as during the preparation of Jareb’s book Half a Century of Croatian Politics 1895–1945 or Mandić’s works The Croatianness of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croats and Serbs, Two Old and Different Nations), the letters also reveal a mutual sensibility for publishing among numerous Croatian emigrants that would, in their minds, allow a more open scientific approach to researching and perceiving Croatian culture and history. Jareb achieved his goals through his work at the Croatian Academy of America, which published the Journal of Croatian Studies, while Mandić founded the “Croatia” Cultural Publishing Center, which took upon itself the publishing of the Croatian Calendar; after the closing of the Center, publishing was continued by the newly-established Croatian Historical Institute. As can be inferred from their correspondence, work on editing and publishing the Croatian Calendar and Journal of Croatian Studies led to the forming of a more intensive collaboration between Fra Dominik Mandić and Jere Jareb. The final part of this paper is devoted to a number of letters that testify to their mutual support in their research processes, including the sharing of data and assistance in finding literature for various historical topics that were the subjects of their interest.