Illustrated Archival History of HRL/RCMSS Recently Published
Prof. Dr. Miroljub Joković, organizer of the Fifth International Hilandar Conference in Raška, Serbia (2002), has authored An Archival History of the Hilandar Research Project at The Ohio State University, which was translated from the forthcoming Serbian edition by former RCMSS Graduate Research Associate, Nataša Kaurin-Karaća . This impressive hardbound English edition has just been published (Belgrade: Raška Škola, 2007) and is now available.
Based on archives and photographs (see selected images on page 11) of the Hilandar Research Project, the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies, and the Hilandar Research Library, the 168-page book describes and illustrates the early history of the Hilandar Research Project, and brings to light many of the people, factors, and institutions that together made this unique academic endeavor possible. Special attention is given to the crucial role of the monks of Hilandar Monastery, who initiated the project, especially to Father Mitrofan Mišulić, and to the close relationship the monks had with the V. Rev. Dr. Mateja Matejic and the “Hilandar Room” at the OSU Main Library. The care and planning at Ohio State, in particular by Professors Mateja Matejic and Leon I. Twarog, are credited with the continuing success of the initial Project.
The second half of the book discusses the history and evolution of the original Hilandar Research Project into the Hilandar Research Library and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies, as well as new initiatives (e.g., Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage, the biennial Medieval Slavic Summer Institute, and the RCMSS/HRL website) and the role that these academic institutions continue to play locally, nationally, and in the world today.
The original Serbian edition of this work will be available later in 2007. For questions or the opportunity to receive a copy, please contact us at hilandar@osu.edu or at (614) 292-0634.
The cover of An Archival History of the Hilandar Research Project
Iconographer's Extensive Library and Collection Arrive at the HRL
In early February, most of the personal library, archives and collections of the noted 20th-century Russian iconographer of Old Belief, Pimen M. Sofronov (1898-1973), arrived in the Hilandar Research Library. Sofronov worked and taught throughout much of Europe, training iconographers for the Serbian Orthodox Church (Russian émigrés and Serbs) in the 1930s, and producing many commissioned works for Varnava, Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (1920-1937), as well as the Serbian Royal Family.
The 42 boxes, primarily of books, also include sketches for icons, an icon of St. Nicholas that Sofronov painted in the 1960s, and a portrait of Sofronov by A. Tolstoy (circa 1935).
Many of the books are quite rare and represent valuable additions to the HRL and other OSU special collections. The correspondence, photographs of his work, articles on his exhibitions, and, of course, sketches of icon models and patterns, will provide valuable insights to the creativity and work of this renowned master of iconography and calligraphy, who also collected original documents and old paper, the backs of which he often used to make his sketches.
We are especially grateful to Roy Robson, professor at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, and to Jeff Holdeman, who received his doctorate from Ohio State, and is now a lecturer