Manuscripts

*Bela Bartok* (1881-1945)]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division .

Hungarian Americans in the Manuscript Collection of the Library of Congress

Even though materials of Hungarian interest in the Manuscript Reading Room of the Library of Congress are limited to those of American provenance such as the papers of U.S. diplomats and political figures, or Hungarians who lived in the United States, the Library has several collections related to Hungarian Americans.

The earliest manuscripts the Library of Congress possesses concerning Hungary and Hungarians, are service reports and relevant correspondence between George Washington and Colonel Michael de Kovats, Hungarian-born commandant of the Pulaski Legion, dated June 1778. The interest of the United States government in the Hungarian War of Independence (1848-49) and its aftermath is reflected in the various manuscript collections of U.S. political leaders. Many papers describe the activities of the Committees for Hungary, formed in the United States in the summer of 1849. Other materials reflect Kossuth's visit to the United States. Also in the Library's possession is a collection of seven letters written by Louis Kossuth, as well as a bond issued by the Hungarian Fund in New York (1852), and an undated banknote printed by the Kossuth government. Several famous Hungarian American artists and scientists have their manuscript collections at the Library Of Congress, for example the papers of several Hungarian psychoanalysts, the papers of physicists and mathematicians many of whom are Nobel laureates, and the biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi who also won a Nobel prize. Some collections include sound recordings of Hungarian folk music and the music of Hungarian composers.

Manuscript collections at the Library of Congress are named after the person who donated them, and thus are not necessarily named after the person whose papers they are. For example, Béla Bartók's music scores and correspondence can be fond in the Etelka Freund collection.

Below are descriptions of selected collections with content relevant to the study of Hungarians in the United States. Titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. For some of these collections researchers should contact the Manuscript Reading Room in advance of a research trip, because they may have access restrictions, while others need to be retrieved from off-site storage. Unless otherwise noted, these collections are available in the Manuscript Reading Room. The list below is organized in alphabetical order by title.

1990 Neptune Plaza Concert Series collection, 1990 / sponsored by the American Folklife Center.
Call Number: AFC 1990/012

Published/Created: 1990

Online finding aid
Summary: The collection consists of manuscript materials, sound recordings, photographs, and moving images documenting the performance of bluegrass music, klezmer music, Hungarian folk dance and music, Piedmont blues music, gospel music, and Afro-Cuban music and dance recorded live outdoors on Neptune Plaza in front of the Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress, at concerts from April through September 1990, sponsored by the American Folklife Center and the National Council for the Traditional Arts. Concerts were recorded for broadcast on WAMU-FM, hosted by Dick Spottswood. Manuscripts include some correspondence and program flyers autographed by the performers.
Collection is open for research; access restrictions for some materials may apply. Please contact the Folklife Reading Room before requesting materials.
1995 Neptune Plaza Concert Series collection, 1995
Online finding aid
Summary: Documentation of the monthly 1995 Neptune Plaza Concert Series, which consists of manuscript materials, sound recordings, photographs, and moving images of performances of zydeco music, lindy hop, bluegrass music, Hungarian folk dance and music, gospel music, and Argentine tango recorded live outdoors on Neptune Plaza in front of the Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress from April through September 1995, sponsored by the American Folklife Center and the National Council for the Traditional Arts.
Contents include: July 20: Méta and dancers from the Tisza Ensemble (Hungarian music and dance from Hungary and Washington, D.C.)
Albert Sirmay papers, circa 1936-1960
Albert Szirmai (Sirmay) was an American composer and publisher of Hungarian origin. Until 1906 he studied the piano with Árpád Szendy and composition with Hans Koessler at the Budapest Academy of Music and political science at the Budapest University. In 1907 he took over the musical direction of the Budapest theatre, Modern Színpad, for which he wrote over 300 songs and the music for 12 one-act plays. After the success of his first operetta, A sárga dominó (1907) he remained faithful to that genre. Szirmai emigrated to the United States in 1923 and soon started working as musical director for Chappell. He was music editor for Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and George Gershwin, and for a collection of Gilbert's and Sullivan's works published by Chapell. In addition, Szirmai was a copyist for Cole Porter, who was known to dictate his songs from the piano.
Form/Genre: Scores; Motion picture music; Musicals.
Excerpts; Songs; Business correspondence; Personal correspondence; Authographs (Manuscripts)
Request in the Performing Arts Reading Room (Madison LM113)
Albert Szent-Györgyi papers, 1908-1986
Biochemist, Nobel laureate. He isolated vitamin C and discovered its components and reactions (also came up with name vitamin). He was active in the Hungarian Resistance during World War II, and entered Hungarian politics after the war. Emigrated to the U.S. in 1947.
Correspondence, writings, biographical material, Hungarian legal documents, immigration papers, notebooks, musical compositions, newspaper clippings, printed matter, and photographs, relating mainly to Szent-Györgyi's research.
Balthazar Korab collection
Published/Created: 1944-2011, bulk 1970-2000.

Balthazar Korab is one of the three most significant American architectural photographers of the second half of the 20th century. His archive documents America's architectural ascendancy in the post-WWII period, including the works of famous architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and more. Korab's interests also include the Prairie and Chicago Schools of architecture, Italian architecture, American automobile culture, the Midwest, historic houses, sculptures, and natural environments.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Korab traveled in Europe and attended school in Paris in his youth. In 1955 Korab began working as an architect for Eero Saarinen at his office in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. His work at that office afforded him the opportunity to develop his craft as both an architect and as a photographer. Korab first experimented and explored photography's uses in documenting working models and finished structures with projects in the Saarinen office.
This collection has ca. 541,723 items.
Charles Feleky papers, 1833-1936
Entertainer and bibliographer. Created a Hungarian library in New York in the interwar period, the materials of which ended up in the Library of Congress' collections.
In part, handwritten and typewritten transcripts.
Collection material in Hungarian.
Companion in exile : 1950 by Molnár, Ferenc
Author, stage director, dramatist, and poet.
As an author he is best known for The Paul street boys. Many of his plays were also performed in the U.S. and some were also turned into film here.
He immigrated to the United States to escape the persecution of Hungarian Jews during World War II and later adopted American citizenship. 1 container. Open to research.
Translation into English by June Barrows Mussey of Molnár's autobiographical narrative.
Daniel Hoffman papers, 1918-2012
Online finding aid (PDF)
Daniel Hoffman was a poet and literary critic; consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress.
Summary: Correspondence, personal journals, drafts of published and unpublished poetry and prose, research files, family papers, photographs, and other papers relating chiefly to Hoffman's career as a poet, scholar, and literary critic as well as to his personal life. Documents his work as a writer of poetry and prose and as a professor of English primarily at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., as well as at Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa.; his role in the world of poetry; his association with individuals in various literary movements; and his activities as a mentor to young authors. Also includes material concerning his work as a translator of Hungarian poetry and his association with Miklós Vajda, István Vas, and Tibor Zalán; and his participation in organizations including the American Academy of Poets, the Century Association, New York, N.Y., and the Library of Congress.
Photograph album transferred to Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Collection material in English with French and Hungarian.
Material stored offsite - advance notice of one to two business days required for retrieval.
David Rapaport papers, 1911-1997
Online finding aid, downloadable PDF finding aid
David Rapaport was a psychoanalyst.
This collection includes: correspondence, memoranda, speeches, lectures, writings, reports, notes on dreams, transcripts of discussions and conference proceedings, biographical material, bibliographies, printed matter, and other papers concerning Rapaport's research and writings in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis chiefly while a research associate at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Mass. Documents his development of diagnostic psychological testing and his efforts to clarify and systematize psychoanalytic theory. Research topics also include consciousness, ego psychology, emotions and memory, metapsychology, motivation, and thought processes.
Papers of Rapaport's wife, Elvira Rapaport Strasser, consist of correspondence, her unpublished memoirs, and materials documenting programs and scholarships established in her husband's name. Subjects of Stasser's memoirs include her early life in Hungary and her experiences on a kibbutz in Palestine, 1933-1935.
Collection materials in English and in Hungarian.
Emanoil Justh papers, 1865-1946
Justh, Emanoil (Emil, Mano) 1824-1883 served as an officer in the 1848 Hungarian revolution, he later worked in San Francisco appraising gold, and later became a banker in New York.
In part, negative photocopies and typewritten transcript.
Collection material in English, with Hungarian.
Ernő Balogh collection, 1930s-1960s
Hungarian-born pianist and accompanist. He studied piano in Budapest under Béla Bartók, and in Berlin under Leonid Kreutzer before coming to America in 1924, settling in New York.
Summary: The papers and music of Balogh include letters from singer Lotte Lehmann and Louis RIttenberg, photographs, and a few published scores of contemporary composers, almost all autographed by the principals.
Request in Performing Arts Reading Room (Madison LM113)
Etelka Freund collection on Béla Bartók, 1903-1971
Béla Bartók (b. March 25, 1881, in Nagyszentmiklós (now Sinnicolau Mare, Romania) - d. Sept. 26, 1945, in New York, N.Y.) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, and pianist.
Etelka Freund (b. about 1879, in Hungary - d. May 27, 1977, in Zürich, Switzerland) was a Swiss pianist of Hungarian origin.
Summary: The collection consists chiefly of signed autograph correspondence between the composer and renowned pianist Etelka Freund (1879-1977), and printed music for his early works, some of which are annotated. Additional materials include photographs, clippings, programs, publicity materials, and journal articles that document Bartók's professional activities.
The Papers series consists of autograph correspondence between Bartók and pianist Etelka Freund, a signed first edition copy of his Hungarian Folk Music, photographs, clippings, programs, publicity materials, and journal articles.
The Printed Music series contains printed music for Béla Bartók's compositions, including four rare, annotated publisher proofs for his early works and one of Zoltán Kodály's pieces.
Notes: The Library of Congress holds several additional materials related to Béla Bartók. These include the holograph manuscript for his Concerto for Orchestra, which dates to 1943. The Moldenhauer Archives at the Library of Congress holds an annotated copy of Bartók's Violin Concerto no. 2, as well as autograph signed letters and other related materials. The Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation Collection contains a small amount of his correspondence that dates between 1934 and 1943.
Collection material in Hungarian, German, and English.
Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools in America Project collection, 1982-1986.
Online finding aid
The electronic copy of the published report is available at HathiTrust External
Online collection materials
This collection consists of field notes, interviews, curriculum materials, sound recordings, photographs, and one videorecording resulting from a survey conducted by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress in 1982 which documented 23 ethnic schools in the United States. Fieldwork was conducted at various locations including the Hungarian school in New Brunswick, New Jersey;
Ferencz Aurelius Pulszky correspondence, 1868
Hungarian public official until 1849, and again from 1867 on.
Known in the U.S. for writing White, red, black : Sketches of society in the United States during the visit of their guest [Louis Kossuth] which he wrote together with his wife, Theresa Pulszky and that was published in London in 1853. He also wrote a historical introduction to his wife's Memoirs of a Hungarian Lady published in 1850.
Electronic copy from HathiTrust External
Collection material in English.
Gustav S. Jánossy family scrapbook collection
Summary: Collection comprising high-quality photoreproduction of two scrapbooks compiled by Gustav S. Jánossy regarding his family history, his interest in the October 1956 Hungarian revolution and commemorations in 1986 of the 30-year anniversary of the Hungarian revolution; and current events for the year 1986. Includes copies of Jánossy family documents and photographs from around 1904-1986. The scrapbook contains documents related to Gustav Jánossy's parents Stephen Jánossy (1883-1964) and Helen Bartha Jánossy (1888- ), both of whom were born in Hungary and emigrated to New Jersey just after the turn of the 20th century. The lives of this couple's six children, including Gustav S. Jánossy and his brother William Jánossy (who were both members of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra) and their grandchildren are documented through clippings, photographs, genealogy, and letters.
In English; some documents in Hungarian.
To request materials, please contact theFolklife Reading Room
Imre Hermann papers, 1907-1967
Psychoanalyst.
Correspondence, book reviews and other writings, and an autographed photograph of Sándor Ferenczi. Correspondents include fellow Hungarian psychoanalysts Michael Balint, Sándor Ferenczi, Istvàn Hollòs, Sandor Rado, Géza Révész, and Géza Róheim.
Collection material in Hungarian, German, and English.
Forms part of the Sigmund Freud collection.
Interview with Ambassador Tibor Nagy Jr. by Charles Stuart Kennedy (Interviewer)
Collection: The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.
Tibor Nagy was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1949 and came to the United States as a political refugee in 1957. In this interview he talks about his life and about his service in the United States. He served as ambassador to Guinea and to Ethiopia and later as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
John Von Neumann and Klára Dán Von Neumann papers, 1912-2000
Online finding aid
John Von Neumann was a mathematician, atomic energy commissioner, and educator.
Klára Dán Von Neumann was a pioneer computer programmer.
Correspondence, memoranda, journals, speeches, article and book drafts, notes, biographical material, family papers, printed matter, newspaper clippings, charts, graphs, patent, photographs, and other papers pertaining primarily to their careers. 19,200 items.
Joseph Pulitzer papers, 1897-1958.
Online finding aid
Downloadable PDF finding aid
His name is best known for the Pulitzer prize that he stablished. Joseph Pulitzer was a newspaper publisher and editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the New York World. Born as Pulitzer József he came to the U.S. to join the Union Army during the Civil War. Although he spoke German, Hungarian, and French, he learned little English until after the war, as his regiment was composed mostly of German immigrants. Later he mastered English and became a well known journalist, editor, and owner of two papers.
This collection includes family and general correspondence, business files, and personal financial papers relating primarily to Pulitzer's editorship of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Julius Stahel papers, 1861-1914
Hungarian soldier and patriot, Union army officer in the Civil War, and later U.S. diplomat.
Papers relating to Stahel's service in the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865), as U.S. consul in Japan and China (1866-1885). Includes materials concerning his personal life (1897-1914).
Microfilm of originals in the Hungarian State Archives (Budapest).
In English and Hungarian.
Moldenhauer archives at the Library of Congress, circa 1000-circa 1990
Online finding aid, downloadable finding aid (PDF) , American memory presentation, published guide to the archive.
The Moldenhauer Archives consist of manuscript and printed music, correspondence, photographs, books, clippings, programs, and artwork dating from the twelfth to the twentieth century. The music includes holograph scores and sketches, as well as a number of copyists' and printed scores, transcriptions, and arrangements. Represented musical and literary figures include, among many others, Béla Bartók and György Ligeti.
Sándor Ferenczi correspondence and clinical diary, 1909-1932
Psychoanalyst.
Summary: Correspondence and clinical diary pertaining to psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, Ferenczi's relationship with Freud, and personal matters. Includes photocopies and transcripts of letters from C.G. Jung to Sigmund Freud. Other correspondents include Anton von Freund, Eduard Hitschmann, and Martin Pappenheim. Forms part of the Sigmund Freud collection.
Collection material in German and Hungarian.
Sándor Lorand papers, 1914-1978 by Sándor Lorand
Psychoanalyst, author, and educator. Full name: Alexander Sándor Lorand.
Summary: Correspondence, writings, lectures, interviews, biographical material, printed matter, photographs, and other papers relating to Lorand's career as a psychoanalyst. Includes material relating to the American Psychoanalytic Association, the New York Psychoanalytic Society, and the Psychoanalytic Association of New York. Correspondents include Sigmund Freud.
Collection material in English, Spanish, and Hungarian.
Sigmund Romberg performance library 1910s - 1950s
Born as Siegmund Rosenberg in Hungary, he is best known as a composer. He started playing violin at the age of six and piano at the age of eight years old. Later, after his family moved to Vienna, Romberg studied composition and orchestration with Victor Heuberger. In 1909, he arrived to New York and started working as a pianist in cafes and restaurants. Romberg also formed and conducted a small orchestra. In 1914, the Shubert brothers hired him to compose music for their Broadway revues and to rework Viennese operettas for American audiences. During 1920s he wrote three of his best-known operettas, 'The Student Prince' (1924), 'The Desert Song' (1926) and 'The New Moon' (1928). During the 1930s Romberg lived in California and worked in the motion picture industry. In 1940s he formed his own touring orchestra and returned to composing musical theater works. Romberg was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
Summary: The collection consists of the original performing material for the Romberg Orchestra. The music library includes both manuscript and printed score and parts, some of which are in Romberg's hand. Many of the works are stamped "Personal Music Library, Sigmund Romberg."
Request in the Performing Arts Reading Room (Madison LM113)

About the Manuscript Division

The Manuscript Division seeks to preserve personal papers and organizational records that document the course of America's national experience. Its more than twelve thousand collections and more than seventy million items touch upon every aspect of American history and culture. The Manuscript Division's holdings are strongest, however, in the areas of American national government, the federal judiciary, diplomacy, military history, women's history, and black history.

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Submit a question through our Ask a Librarian service, call the Research Center at 202-707-5387, or visit us in person in Room LM-101 of the James Madison building in Washington, D.C. Learn more about using the collections in this reading room.

About the American Folklife Center

The American Folklife Center was created in 1976 by the U.S. Congress to "preserve and present American folklife" through programs of research, documentation, archival preservation, reference service, live performance, exhibitions, publications, and training. Designated by the U.S. Congress as the national center for folklife documentation and research, the American Folklife Center continues to collect and document living traditional culture, while preserving for the future its unparalleled collections in the state-of-the-art preservation facilities of the Library of Congress.

American Folklife Center
Submit a question through our Ask a Librarian service, call the center at 202-707-5510, or visit us in person in Room LJ-G53 of the Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C. Learn more about conducting research in the Library's folklife collections.

Hungarian American Voices - Hangunk

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Manuscripts

Hungarian Americans in the Manuscript Collection of the Library of Congress

About the Manuscript Division

About the American Folklife Center