2024

National Restoration Plan

On the basis of the financial support granted by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic from the National Plan of Restoration (Digitization of Cultural Assets and National Cultural Monuments II), two projects were carried out at the Memorial of National Literature: „ Technical equipment of the digitizing line ", registration number 0342000044, a „ New trusted digital archive “, registration number 0342000045.

2023

Czech literary exile 1948–1989

Project NAKI III programme for support of applied research and experimental development in the field of national and cultural identity of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, id. code: DH23P03OVV011
Grant holders: Memorial of National Literature and Institute for Czech Literature AV ČR, v. v. i.
Resolvers: Gabriela Romanová (ÚČL), Michaela Kuthanová (PNP)
Project duration: 2023–2027

The project focuses on the research of Czech literary exile in the second half of the 20th century. Exile communities in the times of the bipolar world order functioned as an important representative of the Czech cultural environment and actively participated, among others, in the distribution of independent Czech literature, which could not be published at home and which is one of the key titles of modern Czech literature.

The project is carried out in collaboration with the Institute for Czech Literature of the CAS as the largest research institution in the field and the Memorial of National Literature as the largest memory institution in the field. Its ambition is to comprehensively grasp the phenomenon of Czech literary exile using the latest knowledge and progressive research and documentation methods and to create new original research solutions. It is the first collective project focused specifically on the issue of Czech literary exile, which has not yet been comprehensively explored by previous research. Therefore, on one hand, the project will prepare the necessary documentation and information base for research on this phenomenon, but at the same time, through individual outputs, it will offer a synthesizing interpretation of exile literature. As a result, it will mark a major qualitative and quantitative shift for research on Czech exile literature of the second half of the 20th century, based on the original expert investigation of the research team.

The project is based on the preparation of an extensive documentation base. Throughout the project, intensive organisation of unprocessed archival collections of exiled authors (among others L. Aškenazy, I. Diviš, I. Fleischmann, I. Jelínek, A. Opasek and J. Vladislav) will take place. Other selected collections will then be digitized and made available online (J. Čep, F. Kovárna) and the material from them can be used for the planned outputs of the project already during the work. These works will result in better care of the newly organized collection material and will enable modern forms of its presentation. 

The project is primarily focused on applied research, which would be implemented through the following outputs: a specialised bibliographic database that will map the literary production of the Czech literary exile in a new and comprehensive way based on existing sources and will serve as a starting data base for future research in this area, a specialised exhibition and a follow-up critical catalogue that will present the legacy of the Czech literary exile using the unique resources of the Memorial of National Literature and other heritage institutions, an audio-visual documentary (including an expert script), which will present in an attractive way a set of unique archival video recordings from the collections of the Memorial of National Literature and will make it possible to convey the phenomenon of literary exile through other presentational or educational activities, and an interactive expert map, which will present the individual entities of exile literary life (institutions, magazines, etc. ) in a spatio-temporal context. The project will also include a monograph on Josef Škvorecký as one of the most prominent representatives of exile literature and a monograph dedicated to sources on the life and work of Jan Vladislav.

 

CHILDREN'S BOOK ILLUSTRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF PUBLISHING INTENTIONS AND CULTURAL, IDEOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-POLITICAL CHANGES (1869–1969)

Project GA ČR, reg. no.: 21-03670S
Grant holder: Památník národního písemnictví
Resolvers: Bronislava Kuzica Rokytová
Project duration: od 2021 do 2023

Do associative illustrations in children's books have deeper socio-political meanings? The project analyses archival sources from publishing and personal collections and contemporary criticism in order to interpret the general social debate, including the tendencies promoted by the state and artistic circles. The evaluation of the artworks will be based on a cultural and historical perspective. Civil and socio-political positions in illustration are identified for children through ethics, manipulation, dutifulness, commitment, but also the expression of freedom and the poetization of the stylized image. The research will define the years 1869, symbolising the transfer of responsibility for education to the state, and 1969, heralding normalisation. An important aspect will be the analysis of the interdependence and specifics of transnational relations, whether within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the perspective of the German minority or the openness of Czechoslovakia to the world, and a comparison of the situation in Slovakia. The main output will be a collective monography.

 

2022

HIKO – HISTORICAL CORRESPONDENCE NETWORKS. ALOIS MUSIL AND THE BEGINNINGS OF ORIENTAL STUDIES IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Projekt NAKI II (MK ČR), id. code: DG20P02VV006 
Grant holders: Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, v. v. i., Knihovna AV ČR, v. v. i. a Památník národního písemnictví 
Resolvers: A. Jůnová Macková (MÚA AAV), M. Vecková (KNAV), T. Pavlíček (PNP) 
Project duration: from 2020 to 2022
Web

The main goal of the project is the development of an open source HIKO software aimed at capturing historical correspondence and correspondence networks in order to process and make available unique cultural heritage from the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. The developed software will be applied to the source material and correspondence networks of Alois Musil, a leading figure of oriental studies in interwar Czechoslovakia, Arabist, orientalist and biblicist, which represent a unique historical source. The mapping of this significant body of archival material will provide a new perspective on the life of Alois Musil and the social networks he created that determined the cultural development, political and financial underpinning of the development of Oriental studies in Czechoslovakia - the establishment of Oriental studies at the Czech university and the interaction between Czech and German Orientalists, including research platforms such as the Oriental Institute. Using the new software, a public database of Alois Musil's correspondence will be made available in the form of a web application, which will present the correspondence networks of interwar oriental studies. The monograph will include critical introductory studies and Alois Musil's correspondence with the political leaders of the First Republic; the exhibition and critical catalogue will present the building of Czechoslovak Oriental studies against the background of Czechoslovakia's cultural and economic interests in the Orient. The second monographic publication will include an inventory of Musil's personal holdings from the PNP - an inventory of source material that has been accessible only to a limited extent so far, with accompanying critical studies. Digitization and publication of Alois Musil's correspondence with orientalists and politicians of the First Republic will contribute to the preservation of important sources on the history of scientific and cultural life in the first half of the 20th century. The HIKO software will be developed with respect to standards for recording historical correspondence and will be usable for other projects mapping the correspondence of historical figures. 

 

FRIENDSHIP IN THE CONTEXT OF POLITICAL AND LITERARY STRUGGLES: TOMÁŠ GARRIGUE MASARYK AND JOSEF SVATOPLUK MACHAR

Project GAČR, id. code: SGA0202000001 
Grant holder: Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, v. v. i., Památník národního písemnictví 
Resolvers: Helena Kokešová (MÚA AAV), Petr Kotyk (PNP) 

The project seeks to evaluate the long-term relationship between the politician and philosopher T. G. Masaryk and the poet J. S. Machar. Emphasis is placed on the friendship of the two men-intellectuals, observing the social and personal preconditions for the emergence of their friendship, its nature and its affirmation in public political and literary struggles, in addition to the interference between private and public space. This new perspective will contribute to an understanding of the work and activities, and indeed patterns of behaviour, of prominent figures, and to the study of the often overlooked connections between politics, thinking and literature. The starting point of the research is a corpus of more than 500 recently rediscovered letters. The project will result in three publications: an interdisciplinary monograph on Masaryk and Machar and two volumes of an extensively annotated edition of their correspondence, the first from the period 1897-1900, the second from the period 1901-1932. In addition, two analytical studies will be published. 

 

2020

FROM THE SOURCE TO THE EDITION. ACCESS TO CZECH LITERATURE COLLECTIONS AND THEIR USE IN EDITORIAL PRACTICE

Project NAKI II (MK ČR), id. code: DG16P02H033
Grant holders: Památník národního písemnictví a Ústav pro českou literaturu AV ČR, v. v. i.
Resolvers: T. Pavlíček (za PNP), J. Flaišman (za ÚČL AV ČR)
Project duration: from 2016 to 2020
Web

The aim of the project is to process and provide internet access to a representative collection of archival collections of leading personalities of Czech literature of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century and to create a workplace that will systematically publish other, from the research point of view important sets of digital copies of archival materials. The same department, conceived in close coordination with a specialized textological team, and on the basis of a newly developed communication platform and procedures tested in the framework of the project, will ensure the continuous availability of source material for the preparation of the Critical Hybrid Edition volumes. In addition to making a significant body of unique cultural values accessible to the broadest range of interested individuals (especially through the portals www.badatelna.eu and www.esbirky.cz), the project will significantly support the ongoing scientific editorial preparation of key literary texts and bodies of work. An equally important function will then be carrying this out in relation to the protection of cultural heritage. Prior to digitization, the physical condition of archival materials will be assessed and damaged items or larger units of collections will be incorporated into programs for de-acidification of endangered paper material or more demanding forms of restoration treatment. The key outputs of the project will include a certified methodology regulating the classification and description of archival units of Czech literature from the period in question with regard to their specific material. The methodology will also include essential instructions regarding the selection of documents suitable for digitisation and will outline the procedures for the preparation of documents for editorial access to high priority sections of the archival collections (especially correspondence and manuscripts). Within the framework of the project, a new software will be developed enabling mutual communication and data exchange between the archive and the textological department. Another software application will cover the process of preparation of the critical scientific electronic editions. Within the framework of the project, two book editions of this type will be prepared and four scientific articles will be published mapping the current state of the topic and regularly presenting the results of the project.

 

2019

HUNGARIKA IN THE FONDS OF THE MEMORIAL OF NATIONAL LITERATURE

Grant Maďarsko
Grant holder: Filozofická fakulta Budapešťské univerzity
Resolver: M. Sládek
Project duration: from 2013 to 2017

The aim of the project is to compile hungarika in the collections of the Literary Archive of the Memorial of National Literature (in the processed and, if possible, in the unprocessed fonds), to publish an inventory of these hungarika, and thus to facilitate the research of Czech and Hungarian scholars dealing with Czech-Hungarian relations and contacts. This will result in a printed version of the inventory in Czech and Hungarian. Special attention is paid to the personal funds of Arno Kraus, František Brábek, Karel Krejčí, the fund of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers. The inventory will include, on the basis of the Hungarian side's requests, Slovakian works created before the year 1918, so that the inventory of hungarik can become the basis for the still missing inventory of Slovakian works from the collections of the LA PNP. 

 

JOSEF PORTMAN (1893–1968). REGIONAL PERSONALITY WITH EUROPEAN OVERLAP

Project GA ČR, reg. č.: 16-05789S
Grant holder: Památník národního písemnictví
Resolver: V. Hubáčková
Project duration: from 2016 to 2019

The goal of the project is research, expert processing and digitization of the Josef Portman collection, a substantial part of which is stored in the Art Collections Department of the PNP. The project will clarify the history of the Portman Collection and its connection to the Karásk Gallery. Based on the research of the entire collection of the art collections and selected materials stored in the department of the library and literary archive of the PNP, the life and work of Josef Portman, printer, bibliophile and collector, will be comprehensively interpreted in a socio-cultural context using current art historical methods. A significant part of the research will be devoted to his collecting activities and clarification of his relations with local and foreign artists. Portman collaborated with a number of Czech artists, such as Zdenka Braunerová, Josef Váchal, Jan Konůpek, Milada Marešová, Karel Svolinský, Antonín Strnadel, Václav Mašek, Helena Šindelářová-Žváčková; among his favourite writers were Otokar Březina, Miloš Marten and Jaroslav Durych. The desire to go beyond the borders of his home environment and establish contact with world culture was reflected in the choice of literary themes and the authors of the artwork of the prints. He was one of the first publishers in the Czech Republic to release the texts of Franz Kafka, for which he found an artist of equal value - the German graphic artist Albert Schamoni. Portman also looked for other foreign artists to work with on his prints, such as Georg Rouault, Georg Grosz, etc. There is no separate specialized study on this topic. Insufficiently researched and theoretically evaluated remains Portman's collector activity. The project will focus on these topics and will rely on detailed research of primary and secondary sources, especially the Portman Fund of the PNP, materials from the Municipal Gallery in Litomysl, the Regional Museum in Litomysl, several state district archives and private collections. The main output will consist of a collective monograph Josef Portman (1893–1968). On the verge of bibliomania, that encompasses all aspects of Portman's multi-faceted personality. Highlights of the collection will be published in the Fine Art Collections Register and on other specialist web portals. 

 

THE EXPERIENCE OF EXILE. THE FATE OF EXULANTS FROM THE TERRITORY OF THE FORMER RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE INTERWAR CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Project NAKI II (MK ČR), id. code: DG16P02R057
Grant holder: Památník národního písemnictví
Resolver: M. Kuthanová
Project duration: from 2016 to 2018

The aim of the project is to deepen and expand the results of existing research on the topic through basic research in archives, museums, galleries, as well as private collections, especially in the territory of Czech lands. A comprehensive approach to the interpretation of partial outcomes and the phenomenon of emigration as a whole is based on modern research in the field of cultural history and national identity. The intended goal is to present the phenomenon of interwar emigration in a wide range of aspects and to focus on areas of research that have not yet been in the limelight and offer the possibility for new knowledge, such as the activities of emigrants of non-Russian nationalities, descriptions of the everyday life of emigrants, explorations of their activities in the field of theatre and film, the fate of emigrant visual artists, the activities of the technical intelligence, etc. Through the exhibition and accompanying programmes, the topic will be presented to the general public. In an engaging form (artwork, unique exhibits), the exhibition project will attempt to contribute to changing the general perception of migration from the countries of former Tsarist Russia and to offer a scientifically sound picture free from ideological interpretations and prejudices. The informationally diverse range of potential of the exhibition will contribute significantly to enriching the traditional image of the First Republic with the phenomenon of the Russian and Ukrainian diaspora, which forms an important part of the cultural history and identity not only of the Czech Republic, but also of other countries in Europe and America. In its scientific part, the project will offer the possibility of academic reflection of new findings both in the form of a catalogue and in the framework of an international scientific conference. Its aim will be to stimulate research interest in the Czech specifics of eastern emigration towards the West. The meeting will also enable the presentation of the rich sources and collections on this topic, which are located in our territory, and the international exchange of research results. Special attention will be paid to the mapping of various collective forms of civil society-based association, which were the organizational platform for most of the activities of emigrants both in the Czech Republic and in other countries.

 

2016

MODERNISM - MACHAR - MASARYK: THINKING, CREATION AND ACTION

Project GA ČR , reg. č.: 14-29050S
Grant holder: Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, v.v.i.
Co-holder: Památník národního písemnictví
Resolver: P. Kotyk
Project duration: from 2014 to 2016

The project is intended to contribute to the study of a key stage in the formation of early Czech modernism, during which the main principles were formulated in polemical clashes and at the end of which there was a differentiation of opinion within the young generation. The central theme of this research is the mutually inspiring relationship between T. G. Masaryk and J. S. Machar, in the intellectual, cultural, literary and political context of the time. It focuses on the conception of modernism of the two personalities as leading representatives of literary, cultural, scientific, social, etc. criticism and on the changing relationship between their thinking, work and actions. At the turn of the 19th and 20th century, Czech society was undergoing a significant transformation, when the fields of politics, science and art were becoming independent and professionalised. In politics, the structure of political parties was being shaped and a scheme of political ascent was being created, which often led through journalistic and also emerging political structures. As the mass character of politics took hold, it was possible to link the party's organizational structure to the newly forming base of new members. At the same time, a process of restructuration of the party spectrum was underway, in which both the emerging interest parties and the social democracies, which had been outside the parliament, were newly asserting themselves. In this transition, the attitude of young writers, poets and art critics, who had from the 1880s onwards been in conflict with national ideals, reassessing the relationship between art and society, advocating the independence of art from external demands, especially national educational. Although artistic modernism was critical of party politics and rejected the ideological manipulation of both liberal parties, many of its representatives were looking for ways to make a public impact while preserving the fundamental demands of criticalism and individualism already laid down by T. G. Masaryk. A notable example of an attempt at collaboration between politicians and artists is the manifesto Czech Modernism from the autumn of 1895 or the activities of J. S. Machar, Viktor Dyk, S. K. Neumann and others. The influence of these individuals grew in proportion to the spreading scepticism about the political model of the time and the loosening of the Austrian identity (not only) in Czech society. The assertion of non-political politics was also related to the discretisation of Austrian and monarchy-era politics during the gradual nationalist program during the World War. Comparable movements can be observed in the Czech, Polish, Hungarian and, with some anticipation, also in German countries.

 

2014

PROJECT COMMUNITAS PRO PRAXIS - PARTNERSHIP FOR PRACTICE

reg. no. of the project: CZ.1.07/2.4.00/17.0133
Project duration: from 1. 8. 2011 to 31. 7. 2014
Operational programme: OP Vzdělávání pro konkurenceschopnost
Resolver for PNP: N. Macurová
Output: manuals - Guidelines for processing archival material in the PNP Literary Archive and Manual for completing the Janus Archiv program in the PNP Literary Archive

 

2011

KARÁSKOVA GALERIE – II. ČÁST. ČESKÉ VÝTVARNÉ UMĚNÍ PŘELOMU 19. A 20. ST. A 1. POLOVINY 20. ST.

Project MK ČR, identif. kód.: DE06P04OMG012
Resolver: R. Dačevová a kol.
Project duration: from 2006 to 2011
Output: publications - Karásk Gallery. Czech Fine Art at the Turn of the 19th Century and the First Half of the 20th Century in the Collection of the Karásk Gallery, Depository Edition, PNP, Prague 2012

 

JIŘÍ KARÁSEK FROM LVOVICE - COLLECTOR OF EUROPEAN IMPORTANCE

Project GA ČR, reg. č.: 405/07/1589
Resolver: A. Petruželková a kol.
Project duration: from 2007 to 2011
 Output: exhibition – Anatomy of a Library, Star Summer Palace, Prague 2012 and publications - The Library of the Karásk Gallery and its Worlds, Arbor vitae and PNP, Prague 2011

 

2007

PREPARATION OF EDITION OF THE BAROQUE NOVEL THE GREAT LIFE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST BY CAPUCHIN MARTIN OF KOCHEM

Project GA ČR, reg. č.: 405/05/0095
Resolver: M. Sládek
Project duration: from 2005 to 2007
Output: publication - Miloš Sládek: The Great Life of Our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus by Capuchin Martin of Kochem, Argo, Prague 2007

 

A LIST OF GERMANIC WORKS IN THE LITERARY ARCHIVES OF THE PNP

Project GA ČR, reg. č.: 405/05/2679
Resolver: N. Macurová
Project duration: from 2005 to 2007
Output: printed inventory, ev. CD

 

2006

PROCESSING OF THE JOSEF HLÁVKY FUND

Project Nadace Nadání Jos., M. a Z. Hlávkových, Národohospodářský ústav Jos. Hlávky
Resolver: V. Dyková
Project duration: from 2003 to 2006
 Output: printed inventory

 

2005

SOUPIS FONDU A SCÉNÁŘ K EXPOZICI SPISOVATELE JAROSLAVA FOGLARA

Project MK ČR, identif. kód.: DA00P01OLK003
Resolver: D. Lábusová
Project duration: from 2000 to 2005
 Output: printed inventory

 

UNKNOWN VALUE (PROCESSING, INVENTORY, ACCESS TO THE FUND)

Project MK ČR, id. code.: DA04P01OUK011
Resolver: H. Klínková, A. Petruželková
Project duration: from 2004 to 2005
Output: printed inventory

 

2004

INVENTORY OF THE PERSONAL FUND OF JAN WERICH

Project MK ČR, id. code.: DA01P01OUK021
Resolver: R. Ferklová
Project duration: from 2001 to 2004
Output: printed inventory

 

ARCHIVE – PNP LITERARY ARCHIVE DATABASE

Project GA ČR, reg. no.: 405/02/0104
Resolver: N. Macurová a kol.
Project duration: from 2002 to 2004
 Output: realized

 

2003

INVENTORY OF POLONICS STORED IN THE LITERARY ARCHIVE OF THE MEMORIAL OF NATIONAL LITERATURE

Project MK ČR, id. code.: DA00P01OLK004
Resolver: M. Sládek
Project duration: from 2000 to 2003
 Output: printed inventory, ev. CD

 

2002

CRITICAL EDITION OF MUTUAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN FRANTIŠEK HRUBÍN AND VÁCLAV ČERNÝ FROM 1945-1953

Project MK ČR, id. code.: DA01P01OUK022
Resolver: R. Hamanová
Project duration: from 2001 to 2002
 Output: publication – František Hrubín – Václav Černý: Mutual Correspondence from 1945-1953, Torst, Praha 2004

 

CATHOLIC MODERNISM IN THE MIRROR OF CORRESPONDENCE

Project MK ČR, id. code.: DA01P01OUK027
Resolver: H. Klínková
Project duration: from 2001 to 2002
 Output: article - "Catholic Modernism in the Mirror of Correspondence - Report on Two Editions", proceedings of the Literary Archive, PNP, Prague 2004

 

2001

KARÁSK GALLERY - PART I. CZECH VISUAL ART OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Project MK ČR, id. code.: DA00P01OOU001
Resolver: R. Dačevová a kol.
Project duration: from 2000 to 2001
 Output: exhibition - Dream of the Realm of Beauty I., II., Municipal House, Prague 2001 and publication - Dream of the Realm of Beauty, Municipal House, Prague 2001

 

GUIDE TO THE FONDS OF THE LITERARY ARCHIVE OF THE MEMORIAL OF NATIONAL LITERATURE UNTIL THE YEAR 1997

Grant GA ČR, reg. no.:405/98/0053
Resolver: N. Macurová a kol.
Project duration: from 1998 to 2001
 Output: CD

 

SCIENTIFIC PROCESSING AND EVALUATION OF THE PERSONAL COLLECTION AND LIBRARY OF VLADIMIR HOLAN

Project MK ČR, id. code.: DA98P01UKK008
Resolver: T. Pavlíček, A. Petruželková
Project duration: from 1998 to 2001
 Output: printed inventory

 

1999

RUSKÁ A UKRAJINSKÁ EMIGRACE V MEZIVÁLEČNÉM ČESKOSLOVENSKU I., II. (KULTURNÍ A VĚDECKÝ PŘÍNOS)

Grants GA ČR , reg.no. : 404/93/0262, 409/97/0818
Grant holder: Slovanský ústav AV ČR
Co-holder: Památník národního písemnictví
Resolver: M. Dandová, M. Zahradníková
Project duration: from 1993 to 1999
 Output: publications - Russian and Ukrainian Emigration in the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1938, Archive of the CAS in cooperation with the PNP, Prague 1996 and article - "Russian and Ukrainian Interwar Emigration in the PNP Funds", proceedings of the Literary Archive, PNP, Prague 1999

 

Internal research projects

Studies concerning library units
Resolver: J. Kašpar
Output: under the title Significant Personalities of Czech Science and Culture from the Earliest to the Modern Era provenance of the collection of old prints (sign S and SF) will be published in 2020 in the Depository edition, series Studie.

Department: Library