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Slovenian Collections in the Library of Congress

Materials in the General and Microform Collections

Image of 1869 volume of Letopis Matice slovenske
Letopis Matice slovenske [Yearbook of Matica slovenska]. V Ljubljani. 1869. Library of Congress General Collections.

The preponderance of Slovenian materials in the Library of Congress is held in the general collections. Consisting of thousands of books, journals, and pamphlets, the materials cover all possible subjects with the exception of clinical medicine and technical agriculture, which are collected by the National Library of Medicine and the National Agriculture Library. Materials held in the general collections are findable by searching the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

The largest subject is language and literature making up over 35% of the total book holdings. Represented are collected works and individual titles for all of the major Slovenian authors and poets from all eras, as well as many works of minor writers. There are reprints of old Slavic manuscripts and the works of scholars who led the movement to establish the literary language. The Library has most of the important dictionaries for Slovenian such as Deutsch-windisches Wörterbuch, the 5-volume Academy dictionary edited by Anton Bajec, as well as many smaller, specialized works and historical, etymological, and bilingual dictionaries. Grammars, language textbooks, and linguistic studies are collected extensively.

The history and politics of Slovenia and the nations of Central and Southeastern Europe is a particular strength at approximately 17% of the collection. Books on all aspects of Slovenian history and politics are collected, including the works of all major publishers and contemporary scholars such as Jože Pirjevec, Kornelija Ajlec, Janez Mlinar, and Darko Darovec, among many others. Holdings for the communist and post-communist eras are extensive including the collected works, speeches or scholarly publications of major political figures, for instance Edvard Kardelj, Stane Dolanc, France Bučar, and Katja Boh. Major historical journals are held such as Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino [Contributions to Contemporary History], Zgodovinski časopis [Historical Review], and Časopis za zgodovino in narodopisje [Review for History and Ethnography].

Although titles from Ljubljana make up about 73% of the collection, regional materials constitute one of the collection strengths, with titles from Maribor, Celje and Koper being the most well-represented. With regard to subjects, military history, agriculture, medicine and bibliography are weak spots for the Slovenian collection, with less than several hundred titles in each category. In terms of language over 92% of the collection from Slovenia are publications in Slovenian, but 4% are in English, 2% in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, with only small holdings in other languages.

Image of Slovenian primer
Austria. Ministerium für cultus und unterricht. Malo berilo za slovensko-nemške šole [Small reader for Slovenian-German schools]. Library of Congress General Collections.

Recognizing that historians, genealogists, and business researchers frequently need to consult directories, the Library of Congress maintains a collection of international telephone directories. Business and specialized directories from Slovenia are cataloged and may be identified using the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Uncataloged telephone directories from Slovenia may be identified using the guide Slovenia: Address and Telephone Directories. The uncataloged collection contains over 25 volumes from 1952 to 1992. For uncataloged items in the general collections, a researcher must request the items by completing a call slip in the Main Reading Room or asking in person for help in the European Reading Room. Selected directories from a microfilm collection of Yugoslav phone books also have been digitized and are available onsite only in the Library of Congress digital repository called Stacks.

The collection is rich in historical government publications, especially from the Yugoslav eras. For current government publications the Library is relying on the digital copies that are freely available on various Slovenian government websites. Held in the collection are the records of parliament Sejni zapiski [Minutes of the National Assembly], Slovenian and Yugoslav census data, and other Slovenian statistical materials, ranging from general to specialty compilations.

Microfilm Collections on Slovenia

A number of materials related to Slovenia or former Yugoslavia exist in the Library of Congress collections in microfilm and/or microfiche formats. The materials range from newspapers and serials to books and archival documents. Described below are some microfilm sets available in the Microform and Electronic Resource Center (MERC). For newspapers on microfilm see the guide Slovenian Newspapers at the Library of Congress which shows titles, holdings, format and location of the materials.

Regarding microfilm collections of State Department records on the internal affairs of Yugoslavia from the National Archives - the Library of Congress acquired only two of the six sets, 1945-1949 and 1950-1954. Please consult the National Archives to see the records from 1910-1929, 1930-1944, 1955-1959, and 1960-1963.