By Paško Bilić
The Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies purchased a collection of 57 books on selected topics from Croatian history, with the financial support of the Office of the Provost. The books were purchased from the Croatian Institute for History in Zagreb, an institute that deals with topics ranging from early medieval to the latest in Croatian and regional history. The collection was selected from the in-house publishing activity of the institute Hrvatska povjesnica (Croatian Historical Background). The topics are wide-ranging and reflect the research focus of the institute: from papal legates on the eastern Adriatic coast in the late 12th century, the medieval city of Trogir in the Middle Ages, and the black plague in Dubrovnik in the mid-14th century; through the Military border with the Ottoman empire, various episodes of Croatian history in the 19th and 20th century; and finally to the Homeland war in the early 1990s. The majority of books are in the Croatian language with several editions in Latin, mostly from early modern Croatian historiography. The collection also includes a series of maps of the Croatian regiments of the Military border in the 18th and 19th century.
This purchase will provide the foundation for the Croatian studies library at the University of Alberta, along with the donation from the National University Library in Zagreb, which was ensured through the help of the members of the local Edmontonian Croatian community. It is hoped that the library collection of Croatian studies will only continue expanding in the future, thus raising the profile of Croatia, and central Europe, at the University of Alberta and in the Canadian academic community.