A Contribution to the Study of the Scientific and Social Activities of Ferdo Šišić based on Correspondence from the HAZU Archives in Zagreb

Abstract

On the basis of extensive archival materials related to the life, scientific and political activities of one of the most respected Croatian historians, Ferdo Šišić (1869–1940), which have been archived and kept in the Archives of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU) in Zagreb, the authors analyze his relations with his contemporaries. In this work, by processing material from Series A - Letters of various correspondents to Šišić, by analyzing the content of the letters, one can identify the circle of persons who addressed their letters to Šišić and especially the reasons for writing to him, one of the most respected members of the Croatian intellectual milieu at the end of the 19^th and the first half of the 20^th century. The mentioned archival fund contains letters from the period 1895 to 1940, and reveals that Šišić maintained lively scientific and everyday connections with persons from different social strata and different professions. However, by far the highest number of letters is devoted to historiography and related sciences (auxiliary historical sciences, philology, egdotics), which he discussed with distinguished scientists from Croatia, Central Europe, Russia, and Western Europe, as well. In addition to his scientific reputation, which his contemporaries emphasize in their letters in the Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, Hungarian, German, French, English and Russian languages, many of them, especially the correspondents from Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, reveal his character virtues, specifically that he was respected as a scientific authority, as well as a moral and empathic individual, who was always willing to help younger scientists, friends, and acquaintances.