Daniela Deteșan
O cronologie selectivă a feminismului românesc
ardelean (1850-1918)
Abstract: A chronological approach to Transylvanian Romanian feminism can be a useful tool. The article proposes a quick and general overview of the data and events that brought to the forefront the Transylvanian women’s. The documentary material illustrates the slow but steady progress of Romanian women, the real interest in the feminine condition modified at the end of the 19th century by legislation, economic, social and cultural factors (habits, traditions, lifestyle and behaviors). As landmarks we included female personalities, with their initiatives and achievements. Geographically, the chronology covers the entire Transylvanian space, and temporarily stops at the Great Union, when the specialists agreed that the „first feminist wave” is coming to an end.
Keywords: feminism, chronology, Transylvania, associationism, charity.
Reprezentări ale femeii în surse arhivistice şi în presă
Nicoleta Hegedus
Condiţia femeii reflectată în registrele parohiale de stare civilă. Studiu de caz: Registrele de decedaţi din Ocna Mureş
Abstract: This paper aims to analyse some aspects regarding the condition of women in Transylvania in the second half of the 19th century and thebeginning of the 20th century, based on a case study: the Greek-Catholic and Reformed parish registers of death from Ocna Mureş. Given the specifics of thechosen source, the issues pursued were the social status of women, age at death and causes of death, and the data processed belonged to females over 14 years ofage.
The economic progress of the mining locality Ocna-Mureş determined the gradual diversification of the trades practiced by women, but few of them held apaid job at the turn of the 20th century. The registers continue to largely designate a woman’s social status through the occupation/condition of her husband or father, suggesting the presence of a traditional society, in which the woman’s purpose was marriage and reproduction.
The effects of modernization are beginning to be felt in the length of women’s life, the average age at death (of females over 14 years) increases slightlytowards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century (from 47.56 to 50.5 years), and the diversification of the causes of death mentioned towards the end of the studied period and the increasing presence of scientific terms to designate the diseases suggest a slight improvement of the access tomedical care. Until the end of the analysed period, infectious diseases continue to cause the most deaths (especially tuberculosis and pneumonia), and deaths from childbirth complications continue to be present in a significant percentage.
Keywords: women, Transylvania, Ocna Mureş, parish registers, causes of death.
Adrian Onofreiu
Femeia în societatea năsăudeană: surse istoriografice şi resurse documentare de cercetare (1849-1919)
Abstract: Our approach is focused on the period between the Revolution of 1848-1849 and the First World War, events that profoundly marked the statusof women in Năsăud society.
From the historiographical sources point of view are imposing works/studies regarding the human losses caused by them. Among them have been recorded notable accomplishments in connection with aspects of the economic and social life, as well as monographic achievements.
The original resource is represented by the documents created by some importants institutions of the area: Năsăud District, General Court of Năsăud District, Năsăud First lnstance, „George Coşbuc” College, or local personalities: Virgil Şotropa, luliu Moisil, Virginia Grivase, lleana Anton.
All suggest that the women status in Năsăud society was far from that of other areas in Transylvania. Starting with the late interwar modernity, are identifiable directions and achievements entered in this general direction.
Keywords: Năsăud border, women status, historiographical sources, documentary resources.
Georgeta Ghionea
Percepţia asupra femeii în presa oltenească la
sfârşitul secolului al XlX-lea şi începutul secolului XX
Abstract: Throughout history it was noticed that women were consistently excluded within the sphere of politics.Their attending was restricted in the political assemblies being deprived of expressing their opinion or voting. Starting with the XlXth century the scientists have been looking for evidences whichdemonstrate that women were fated from biologic point of view to household activities rather than social whereby women were before all a wife and a mother. By hernature she needed to be the household guardian and the custodian of good customs and morals and by her purpose she was destined to soften the rigors of daily lifeand to contribute to „reconciling mortals”.
Keywords: Oltenia, women, wife, mother, perspective.
Statutul şi rolul femeii între public şi privat
Nicolae Mihai
Ce însemna „neînţelegeri în căznicii” în Oltenia
mijlocului de secol XlX ?
Abstract: The frequency of the term „misunderstandings in marriages” is visible in the inventory of the Archdiocese of Dolj for the investigated period, 1842-1850. lt obviously leads to divorce, but it highlights a broader socio-cultural landscape, which only the frequent use of such archival sources and their careful interpretation can give us back correctly. Because divorce is not just a liminal threshold, an intermediate point between marriage and death and a modern rite of passage (an ethnological look can be useful here). Searching through the archives of documents, the historian has the opportunity to discover this phenomenon placed at the intersection of several eyes, that of those directly involved, relatives summoned as mediators or witnesses, neighbours, local community, but also institutions, involved such as the Orthodox Church or courts, the civil court that starts operating in Wallachia, for which divorce is associated with the division of property, restoring the social status of those affected by it, compliance with legal rules that define rights, values, principles to which individuals adhere, as members of the social community. The present paper is based on the investigation of the files of several cases kept in the archive of the Archdiocese of Dolj [Protoieria DoljJ from the Dolj County Service of the National Archives, for a period under the sign of the Organic Regulations. „Misunderstandings in marriages” affects a wider social environment, in a wider urban and rural area, where along with boyars and merchants, we also meet bakers, rotarians, innkeepers, pig farmers, shepherds, peasants from the villages around Craiova. Each case is a story in itself, which testifies to the failure of a cohabitation, the efforts made in order to save it, sometimes with a lower or higher chance of success.
Keywords: socio-cultural history of family, divorce, Oltenia, middle of 19th century, archive.
Valeria Soroştineanu
Despre condiţia femeii în procesele de
divorţ ale Protopopiatului Sibiu (1860-1918)
Abstract: The presentation is concerned with the motivation for divorces found in the papers from the Sibiu Deanery for the period 1865-1918. lt must be stated that until the middle of the 19th century the documentary sources are scarcere garding the divorces within the Transylvanian Romanian space. Moreover, there are few ifany details on the matter. The topic is analysed concerning at least two main perspectives. The first one is represented by the manner in which the lay laws and the Orthodox Church of Transylvania before 1867 related to marriage and divorce.
The second perspective concerns the internal mechanism of the divorce procedure. The witnesses’ depositions from the involved families and from the community of ferus the chance to analyse the condition of women. The divorce trials are analysed according to 5 big motivational categories: wandering,medical causes, aversion to marriage, adultery and hatred. The conclusions after studying over 300 cases of divorce from the Sibiu Deanery delineate the condition of women in the Romanian village. The conclusions revolve around the traditional role played by women in the first half of the 19th century. lt remains to answer if these documents are enough to support a beginning of women’s emancipation process in the Transylvanian space.
Keywords: Romanian society, Transylvania, family, Romanians, orthodoxy.
Paula Virag
Condiţia femeii din lumea rurală a comitatului Satu
Mare la finalul secolului al XlX-lea şi începutul secolului XX
Abstract: At the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the women had a difficult and complicated style of life. For them, thedifficulties started at young age, when the girls had to help their mothers, working together in the household. After they got a husband and they had their own family, this became the most important thing in their life and the entire activity was carried on around the husband, the children and the maintenance of an efficient menage.
For the women, the marriage represented the fulfillment of the „femininity”, because just inside the marriage the woman could express their sexuality and their motherhood.
The rural society was still dominated by the church precepts, as well as by the talk of the village that would make the unwritten laws regarding the way of living together. Most of the times, couples would rather keep silent about their hard times together than taking the consequences of being judged by neighbors orby the members of the community. The physical efforts made in order to ensure the living, the material deficiencies, the alcohol, domestic violence (physical or verbal), fatigue, premature aging, deformation of body at women due to many births are just some reasons that wipe away the feelings between the husbands, ifthere had been any from the beginning of their marriage.
However, there were few couples who would fall into the disgrace of the village and church by requiring breaking up, especially through divorce, as it is understood in terms of civil law. The number of divorced persons is very little. lt increases gradually, as years pass, but it doesn’t take ample forms. This increasing is explained by the fact that the rural society begins to modernize slowly, the influence of emancipation from the urban society grows stronger, changing the mentality and the way of life of the villagers.
The 19th century society was focused on family, most people aiming to get married, to have children, to have a home, to establish the legal context for inheritance. The exceptions from this rule were punished by the community and church, whether Catholic or Calvinist. But, the monotony of a marriage dominated by the concern for tomorrow, the poverty and struggle for survival, fatigue, physical exhaustion, premature aging women, the countless births that change woman’s body, children crying and asking for food, arguments, physical and verbal violence, are sufficient grounds for the individual willing to escape from a miserable world without love, if there was any love ever. Men and women alike, would feel frustrated, not satisfied, unfortunate in a failed marriage and,thus, running away from family obligations used to be a way to make up for the lost time within an unsuccessful relationship.
Keywords: women, men, family, marriage, household.
Daniela Deteşan
Femei săliştene între tradiţie şi modernitate
(sfârşitul sec. al XIX-lea şi începutul sec. XX)
Abstract: This article focuses on the history of Sălişte women and their relationship with education, domestic economy and philantrophy. The data has been collected from ecclesiastical archives by using qualitative research techniques. The first half of the article takes up questions of women’s contribution in the household economy. The second half of the article investigates the associative and philanthropic actions carried out by the women of Sălişte during the First WorldWar.
Keywords: women’s associations, domestic economy, education, charity, Sălişte, Transylvania.
Daniela Stanciu-Păscăriţa
Die Radiographie der Săchsin von
Anfang des 20ten Jahrunderts: Freizeit und Offentlichkeit
Abstract: Aim of this study is to reconstruct some leisure aspects of the Transylvanian Saxon woman from the beginning of the 20th century. My approach sets at the confluence of social and visual studies with gender history, aiming to create an image of leisure and everyday life activities of the woman in the urban space. ln order to achieve this purpose, some poses of the Saxon woman have been reproduced, as for instance the woman in the ballroom – either as an organizer or as a participant – on the promenade or in the confectionery. The analysis of the German written press and of the postal cards circulated in Transylvania at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century allows the radiography of some representations of the woman in the public space, which is being characterized by a strong social etiquette. Moreover, of a high importance is also the role of the women’s associations, which formed and maintained the public and social sphere in the city of Sibiu at the beginning of the 20th century.
Keywords: women’s associations, social involvement, social etiquette, post-imperial realities, entertainment.
Educaţia tinerelor fete şi dezvoltarea învăţământului feminin
Cornel Sigmirean
Studente românce din Transilvania la universităţile europene (1895-1918)
Abstract: The nineteenth century marked the triumph of women’s right to education of all degrees, including university studies. ln 1878 in the Austro-Hungarian Empire women were granted the right to participate to university lectures, as invited auditors. Unlimited access for women to the Empire’s universities was obtained in 1895. As a result, the history of Romanian young women’s presence in European universities began at the end of the nineteenth century. From ourinvestigations, we concluded that 77 Romanian female students attended European universities between 1895 and 1918, the majority registered to universities in Budapest, Cluj and Vienna. As specialisations, 21 followed medicine and pharmacy courses, 33 letters and philosophy, 18 at the music academy at the canto and piano sections, 3 law, 1 student at the chamber of commerce (in Budapest), 1 in arts, in Vienna. Among them, some had brilliant career as artists, opera sigers,like Aca de Barbu, who held recitals in Karlstheater, Baden bei Wien, Teplitz-Schănau, Grun or Volksoper in Vienna, and after 1918 was Cluj Opera soloist andTimişoara Opera director, and Lucia Minodora Cosma, professor at the Bucharest Music Conservatory of Music. Among the medicine faculty graduates who met an exceptional career we mention Alma Popovici-Mohora, the first female stomatologist in Romania, Cornelia Moga, the first female radiologist in Romania, Elena Densuşianu, married Puşcariu, Faculty of Medicine graduate at the University of laşi, specialised in Paris, the first female university professor in themedical field in Romania, the first female professor at an ophthalmology clinic in the world and the first women who obtained a doctorate in Romania. Most medicine and pharmacy faculty graduates asserted themselves as specialists after 1918, in the interwar era, their professional maturity period. At the end of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire crumbled, but the culture, education obtained in European universities by Romanian women permeated through interwar Romania’s civilization and culture, adding experience to the ethnic and cultural plurality, specific to large urban centers, a premise for cultural interactions andcreativity.
Keywords: higher education, nineteenth century, Romanian female students, university cities, artistic and medical currents.
Maria Alexandra Pantea
Femeile din părţile Aradului implicate în susţinerea învăţământului confesional ortodox la sfârşitul secolului
al XlX-lea şi începutul secolului al XX-lea
Abstract: ln the second half of the 19th century, Romanian women began to get involved in supporting confessional education in the parts of Arad. Among the first we find Elena Ghiba Birta, who through her will donated the amount of 48,000 florins to build a foundation to support young Romanians in schools. At the end of the 19th century, more and more women made various donations, laying the foundations of funds and foundations in the rural world, which aimed to support the confessional school.
An important moment in the emancipation of women was the establishment of the Women‘s Reunion in the parts of Arad and their involvement in several charitable activities aimed at supporting the Romanian confessional education, which led to the emergence of the girls‘ school. At the beginning of the 20thcentury, around the Reunion, the wives or daughters of some important political leaders in the area were active, such as Hermina Ciorogariu, HerminaDesseanu, Aurelia Beleş, Letiţia Oncu, Marilina Bocu, Eugenia Cicio Pop or Elena Goldiş. Their initiatives were supported by the leadership of the Arad Diocese, by the „Victoria” Bank, by the „Tribuna” newspaper, but also by the great Bessarabian philanthropist Vasile Stroescu, who donated significant sums of money for the erection of the girls‘ school building, so that it corresponds standards imposed by Hungarian law.
Keywords: school, women, society, modernization, diocese.
Georgeta Fodor
„Să ferească Dumnezeu pe tot românul de femeia filozoafă”: Educaţia româncelor între tradiţie, modernitate şi idealuri naţionale
Abstract: The paper aims to address and also draw attention to the importance of using gender as a useful analytical category for understanding the nation building process. Given the complexity of the intersections between national and gender discourse, l chose to focus on one of the areas where thisintersection is most pronounced. That is the issue of Romanian women’s education as reflected in historical sources in the second half of the 19th century Transylvania. The study intends to draw attention to the fact that although there is an almost general agreement on the need to broaden access to education for Romanian women, even the most progressive and fervent supporters of the women’s issue tend to propose a „controlled and temperate emancipation”. This is explained through the quasi-universal consciousness, that women must bear the „burden of representation”. Also, based on the available historical records, we will demonstrate that the educational model envisaged for, but also accepted by the Romanian women, is subordinated to national emancipation priorities, defined by men and unconditionally assumed by women, but also to the traditional perspective on gender relations, within clearly defined limits also by men, in terms of accepting theneed for education, which is perceived as essential for the national empowerment, but without allowing women to move beyond their perceived role as spouses andmothers.
Keywords: education, emancipation, women, nationalism, gender identity.
Cecilia Cârja, Ioana-Mihaela Bonda
Alma Mater la feminin.
Doamnele Universităţii româneşti din Cluj în perioada interbelică
Abstract: ln 1919, the old dream of the Transylvanian Romanians was finally fulfilled: the Romanian University was opened in Cluj. This could not have been achieved without the full and exemplary involvement of the universities of laşi and Bucharest, particularly in terms of human resources. The Romanian University of Cluj set out with a teaching and research staff that had been carefully and rigorously selected. lts ranks included leading personalities of Romanian science at the time, either from the two universities mentioned above, or chosen from the Transylvanian scholarly environment.
ln this article, we would like to follow and illustrate the presence of women in this young academic community, in the town on the Someş. We also wish tofocus on the search for answers to the following questions: What was those ladies’ share in the teaching staff? Who were they? Which were the faculties theyworked at and what subjects did they teach? To what extent did they make a career during the interwar period?
Keywords: University of cluj, female personalities, teaching staff.
Asociaţionism feminin
Marin Pop
Mişcarea culturală feministă din Sălaj. Reuniunea Femeilor
Române Sălăjene
Abstract: A moment of reference in the history of the feminist movement in Transylvania was the establishment, in March 1859, in Braşov, of the firstassociation of Romanian women, under the name of „Reunion of Romanian women”.
The initiative had a special echo, resulting in the organization of meetings, committees or societies of women in several Transylvanian cities, including Şimleu Silvaniei, the Romanian cultural center of Sălaj, in 1881.
The constituent general assembly of the Reunion of Romanian Women from Sălăjene (R.F.R.S.) took place on November 18, 1881, in Şimleu Silvaniei, andClara Maniu, luliu Maniu‘s mother, was elected at its head.
According to the statutes, the purpose of setting up the meeting was „to advance the popular education and the home industry with a special focus onwomen in Sălaj County”. To achieve this, the annual fees of the members of the meeting, donations and funds obtained from the organization of parties andconferences were to serve as material means.
Beginning in 1882, the R.F.R.S. they were held together with those of the Sălaj Division of Astra, and from 1885 they took place in the villages with a largerRomanian population. ln this context, the annual general meetings became real Romanian cultural-national holidays.
The organization of the meetings in the rural environment aimed to intensify the process of culturalization of the Romanian peasant and to strengthen the connections between the villages of Sălaj.
ln collaboration with the Şimleu division of Astra and with the Reunion of Romanian Teachers from Sălaj, Romanian women from Sălaj organized numerous cultural events and exhibitions, including the participation in the General Exhibition of 1906, organized in Bucharest in honor of the 40th anniversary of the kingCarol l of Romania and the millennium of the „dismounting” of the emperor Traian in Dacia. They also raised funds for a Romanian theater, aid for students, etc. Themeeting took part directly in the organization and conduct of the general assemblies of the Transylvanian Astra (1878 and 1908), and the Society for theRomanian Theater Fund (1901), which took place in Şimleu Silvaniei.
One of the most important achievements of the R.F.R.S. was the establishment of the girls‘ school in Şimleu Silvaniei, in 1888, with the aim of „promoting the culture of the female sex in Sălagiu”.
Keywords: Şimleu Silvaniei, Sălaj women, cultural associations, general assemblies, girls’
school.
Constantin Băjenaru
Reuniunile române de femei din comitatul
Făgăraş. Înfiinţarea şi evoluţia lor până la 1 decembrie 1918
Abstract: The main causes which led to the foundation of the Romanian Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Women’s Meetings in Transylvania and Banat, starting with 1850, are relatively known: the foundation of girls schools, the support of their own churches, the protection of widows and orphans, the activity of maintaining the Romanian cult and popular culture, helping the confessional schools and their pupils and others. The beginning has taken place in Braşov by the first reunion, founded here in 1850.
The appearance and its activity had decisively boosted the foundation of such associations in other important cities and towns from Transylvania – among them appearing the two associations founded in Făgăraş in the second half of the 8th decade in the 19th century: The Romanian Orthodox Women’s Reunion from Făgăraş and around, and The Greek-Catholic Romanian Women’s Reunion from Făgăraş and around.
Relatively nothing consistent about their evolution in the specialized historiography is known, which determined us – based on a register of minutes of the Greek-Catholic Reunion and on the relatively numerous insertions in the newspapers of the time on their actions, sometimes on the seizures that they havebeen through, regarding the spirit of initiative and the implementation of some charitable actions and the spirit of sacrifice during the Romanian lndependence War and the First World War – to focus more intensely on all the aspects and to try and bring to light, at first, some of their major accomplishments and areas of competence assumed by statutes.
Keywords: Făgăraş County, reunions, womens, Romanians, philanthropy, community, solidarity,
nation.
Dorin Cătălin Sas
Preoteasa Lucreţia Murăşianu şi Societatea
Ortodoxă Naţională a Femeilor Române Turda
Abstract: Presbytera Lucreţia Murăşianu remanins in the collective memory as one of the exceptional female figures, with a tireless activity in the social-cultural and religious field, which can hardly be matched by anyone. Being at the helm of the National Orthodox Society of Romanian Women Turda for a long time, she dedicated herself to a true community apostolate, during adverse times. Many of her deeds remained memorable, such as attending the soldierswounded on the front and hospitalized in Turda during the First World War, but also the way she helped and supported his husband, the worthy archpriest JovianMurăşianu, in his pioneering activity, like the construction of the great Orthodox Cathedral dedicated to St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel in the center of Turda. For her missionary work in the Church and society, presbytera Lucreţia Murăşianu inscribed her name in golden letters in the gallery of famous personalities of Turda.
Keywords: Presbytera Lucreţia Murăşianu, National Orthodox Society of Romanian Women, Turda, Orthodox Cathedral of Turda, philantropic acts.
Anemari Monica Negru
Din istoria filialelor ardelene ale
Societăţii Ortodoxe Naţionale a Femeilor Române
Abstract: The present paper begins with a short presentation of the origins of the National Orthodox Society of Romanian Women (May 1910) and of its firstyears of activity (status, initiatives and achievements: kindergardens, schools, girls’ institutes, dormitories, libraries). ln June 1919, delegates from all the historical provinces attended the National Orthodox Society of Romanian Women’s assembly and congress, which took place in Bucharest. ln the context of the Great Union, between 1919 and 1925, women from Transylvania, with the support of priests, founded the first branches of this association in Sebeşul Săsesc, Cluj, Târgu Mureş, Mehadia, Arad, Sibiu, Timişoara, while in the following years they founded new branches in other cities and villages.
The women who were members of these branches contributed to the foundation of new kindergardens and schools. Besides, they organized fundraising events for building Orthodox churches, as well as for organizing Christian and national celebrations. Branch leaders attended the society’s annual assemblies and congresses, where they presented reports and work programs. Thanks to their work, achievements and dedication, many members of the Transylvanian branches of the National Orthodox Society of Romanian Women, such as Catinca Bârsan, Aurelia Pipoş, Elena Popescu-Voiteşti, Eugenia Tordăşianu, Elena Goldiş, LucreţiaMurăşianu, Cornelia Chiticeanu, are authentic models of Romanian feminism.
Keywords: branches, association, women, assemblies, Orthodox Church.
Figuri feminine emblematice
Marinela Loredana Barna
Destinele a două reprezentante ale dinastiei Mureşenilor: surorile Elena Cornelia (1854-1925) şi Sevastia
Lucreţia (1860-1928)
Abstract: The Mureşianu dynasty let its mark on the history of Transylvania, especially through its representative members – lacob Mureşianu and his sons, phd. Aurel Mureşianu and lacob Petru Mureşianu. lacob Mureşianu constantly instilled in his children a sense of duty to their peers and his wife, Sevastia, considered educating children as a serious task on which the future of the family depended, a task she successfully performed.
These lessons were harmoniously intertwined in the destinies of lacob Mureşianu’s two daughters, Elena Cornelia (1854-1925) and Sevastia Lucreţia (1860-1928), who through their actions became an example in shaping the status of Romanian women in Transylvania in the 19th century.
Through marriage, they both end up in the Kingdom of Romania where they will follow their husbands. Elena Cornelia married Moise Groza who laterbecame a general in the Romanian army and Sevastia Lucreţia married Constantin l. Davidescu, engineer.
The correspondence between the family members kept in the Mureşenilor Archive provided the information that was the basis for the reconstruction of the destinies of these two.
Keywords: Mureşianu dynasty, Elena Cornelia Mureşianu, Sevastia Lucreţia Mureşianu, Transylvania, Romania, 19th century, 20th century.
Bianca Luminiţa Micu
Elena Mureşianu (1862-1924). Omul şi artistul
Abstract: Elena Mureşianu (born Popovici, 1862-1924) was the wife of phd. Aurel Mureşianu (1847-1909), lawyer, publicist, editor and owner of „Gazeta Transilvaniei” newspaper from Braşov, owner of the „A. Mureşianu” printing house, politician. Due to her studies at The School of Arts and Crafts that belonged to The Art Museum in Vienna (1884-1888), Elena Mureşianu is considered the first professional painter in Transylvania. She had two children: Aurel Horea and Elena Aida, whose education she took great care of. She was a strong support of her husband, during the period when he was imprisoned (do to press trials) or when he was gone to collect subscriptions, taking care of the good administration of the family‘s newspaper, printing house, bookstore and theirproperties owned in Braşov. She was member of Transylvania’s various societies, supporting the national ideals of Romanian from Transylvania and educationfor women. Elena Mureşianu’s life and activity were reconstructed on the basis of documentary materials (letters, postcards, photographs) kept in the Archive of the Museum „Casa Mureşenilor” from Braşov, one of the largest family archives in Transylvania.
Keywords: Elena Mureşianu, Braşov, professional painter, studies in Vienna, wife, dr. Aurel Mureşianu, Gazeta Transilvaniei, Mureşenilor Archive.
Claudia Septimia Sabău
Portretul unei învăţătoare din societatea năsăudeană de la începutul secolului XX. Virginia Grivase (1883-1950)
Abstract: The teacher Virginia Grivase (1883-1950) is a special figure in the circles of intellectuals in Năsăud, at the beginning of the 20th century. After having completed her studies in Năsăud, and continued in Dej and Blaj, she was a teacher at the school in Tiha Bârgăului and Nepos (currently villages in Bistriţa-Năsăud County) for more than two decades. Documents from her personal collection, kept at the Bistriţa-Năsăud County National Archives Service, butalso from other funds and collections, as well as her literary activity (poems and essays published in magazines) prove that Virginia Grivase was not just a teacher. The friendly relationship with the writer Liviu Rebreanu and her personification in the novel „lon” under the pseudonym Virginia Gherman confirms the above statement.
This study has a double aim. On the one hand, by reconstructing the biography of this
„forgotten writer”, as Teodor Tanco names her, we aim to present some aspects regarding the place, role and status of the educated woman in the society of Năsăudat the beginning of the 20th century. On the other hand, we aim to find the answer to the following question: was Virginia Grivase the prototype of the Romanianwoman from Transylvania, emancipated through education, or not?
Keywords: Transylvanian women, emancipation, writers, women’s education, Năsăud area.
Sorana Maier
Contribuţia membrelor Reuniunii Femeilor Române din Sibiu la viaţa culturală şi socială a Sibiului şi a Transilvaniei până la Marea Unire
Abstract: The cultural and social life of the Romanian community in Sibiu, starting with the second half of the 19th century and until the Great Union of 1918, was enriched by the activity of female personalities who stood out as school principals, teachers, coordinators of social and philanthropic projects inside the Reunion of Romanian Women in Sibiu. This study presents the contribution of some emblematic female personalities of Sibiu – Maria Cosma, Catinca Bârseanu, Veturia Lapedatu, Eugenia Tordăşianu and Eleonora Lemeny-Rozvany, who contributed to the development of schools, to the establishment of childcare institutes and orphanages, which organized humanitarian actions, enriched the artistic and social life of Sibiu and Transylvania. The female personalitiesincluded in this study determined the emancipation of the Romanians from Transylvania, forming women’s meetings, setting up schools, carrying out humanitarian campaigns, contributing to the development of the arts. Through their actions, the establishment of girls’ schools with teaching in Romanian has contributed to the shaping the generations of educated young people, humanitarian campaigns and social projects carried out by the women’s community in Sibiu have resulted in consistent support for various social categories, injured, orphans, poor.
Keywords: feminine personalities, Transylvania, Sibiu, cultural propaganda, emancipation, education, philanthropy.
Lilia Zabolotnaia
Natalia Obrenovic – Princess and Queen of
Serbia. Between politics and family
Abstract: Studies devoted to women in power are of particular interest, since regardless of the era, this issue is of particular relevance. Most often, any female personage, even if she is a representative of a ruling dynasty, is viewed from the perspective of a mother, wife or sister. ln this article, we will try toconsider some fragments from the life of Natalia Obrenovic, nee Keshko, widely known in the history of Moldova, Serbia and Russia, and, in particular, her attitudeto politics. ln our opinion, it was her desire to delve into and interfere in the political activities of her husband Milan Obrenovic that became the main reason forher tragic fate, in which there were divorce, separation from her son, and subsequently his death, change of religion and long years of renunciation and loneliness. Our research began with the search for her famous work „Mother”, which, undoubtedly, contains the most reliable information about her life and workfirsthand. Attempts by my colleagues- historians in Serbia and France, as well as all our searches in the leading Russian archives (Moscow and St. Petersburg), have so far been unsuccessful. The main sources of this study were unique historical documents from Russian archival collections, especially of a private nature –letters from Natalia Obrenovic, newspaper publications of the era and the memoirs of contemporaries about her.
The author suggests that the marriage between a representative of the Bessarabian elite and a member of the Obrenovic dynasty had far-reaching, far-sighted plans for dynastic merging and strengthening the positions of the Moldavian-Serbian aristocracy in the Balkans. However, the matrimonial union was not strong and durable. ln the tragic breakup of the family, differences in political views between the spouses and Natalia’s desire to dominate and rule the country played a role.
Keywords: Natalia Keshko, Milan Obrenovic, Serbia, Bessarabia, politics, divorce, family.