On the Autobiographical Records of Antun Hrvatin, Ivan Aničić and Katarina Šćuka-Kukec from the Fonds of the State Archives in Pazin

Abstract

We have prepared this paper to serve as an introductory text for the three articles that follow in this issue of the Vjesnika istarskog arhiva (Istrian Archives Gazette), entitled “I was born in Kašćerga ... Autobiographical and chronicle records of Antun Hrvatin (1875 - 1913)”; “Letters of Ivan Aničić (Zlovečera) to Antun Flego (1910 – 1913); and “‘Righe’” (Lines) Entrusted to the Real Archives”. In addition to the introductory articles, these three articles include transcripts of autobiographical and chronicle records as well as copies of photographs, printed material and fragments created mostly in the first two decades of the 20th century and stored in two personal fonds (HR-DAPA-904 Antun Hrvatin: 1905/1937 [1945/1946] and HR-DAPA-925 Katarina Šćuk Kukec: 1905/1989) and the DAPA Letter Collection (HR-DAPA-899/7 Letter Collection (1824/1913). Letters of Ivan Aničić to Antun Flego (1910/1913)). These are the legacies of Antun Flege and Katarina Schuk-Kukec, who personally handed them over to the Historical Archives in Pazin, or DAPA, and the personal papers of Antun Hrvatin, handed over to Historic Archives in Pazin by his grandchildren as inheritance. After the introduction, the paper explains the common context of the material with regard to the different creators and the importance of these bequests both in archival and personal context. All three biographically contextualized handovers clearly show that, in the case of taking over such personal papers created by “small people”, DAPA not only assumed the duties of curator of their material legacy, but also gained the trust of such creators or their heirs as a reliable keeper and medium of personal life stories.