Revista Analele Banatului S.N. Arheologie-Istorie

Elena Miklósik

Două albume aniversare cu portrete, considerate pierdute și regăsite de curând / Two anniversary albums with portraits, considered lost and recently found

1 Ianuarie 2022

Abstract

Given the growing public preference for the new art products, the photographs, the official circles also found out the advantages of their usage in the contexts of official events. The outcome was represented by those official anniversary albums with photos which, offered to the distinguished leaders at the top of the administration or various institutions, expressed their admiration and loyalty by means of their (photographic) ”presence” organised around the celebrant. Such albums, with masterfully crafted covers and beautifully executed book bindings, were presented to those honoured on special occasions. The description of such precious gifts – at first only albums containing the signatures of subordinates or admirers, later some albums comprising a significant number of photos – can be traced in the press and diaries of the time, or in other biographical notes. In a mention specified in his book, ”Memories. My Collections, III,” Ormós Zsigmond, the county head, mentions that he has received two photo albums, donated to him by the civil servants he had worked with, on February 20, 1883, to celebrate 50 years of administrative activity and the 70th anniversary of his life. The albums, including 319 images, represented the members of the County Council, those who wished to pay homage to their esteemed leader. Currently, these items constitute a valuable document, representing the ”mirror” of the elite society in Timiș County, at that time, called to decide the fate of their homeland within the comitatensis councils. For a long time, the two albums were considered lost. However, they appeared in the possession of the Hungarian National Museum as part of the digitization activity of its photography collection, begun by the specialists in the field. The large number of images and the relatively reduced sources of information will prolong the research related to the photographed people, who represented the different social classes and ethnicities in Timiș County Council.