Edition “Publications in the Development of Society and State I: From a Newspaper Report to Objective History. Karanovac/Kraljevo in Serbian Newspaper 1835-1918” was presented in the Gallery of the National Museum Kraljevo, on Thursday, August 17th, 2023, starting at 8:00 p.m., on the second day of the Žica Spiritual Assembly “Transfiguration 2023”. The edition includes four books by Slavoljub Maržik, MSc, with the theme “Karanovac/Kraljevo in the Serbian Press”, in which the period from 1835-1918 is viewed through four chronological frames (1835-1867; 1968-1903; 1904-1908; 1908-1918). This collected material was also the immediate reason for the organization of the first scientific meeting, whose Proceedings “Publications in the Development of Society and State I: From a Newspaper Report to Objective History. Karanovac/Kraljevo in Serbian Newspaper 1835-1918” is the fifth part of the edition, which completes this topic. At the beginning of the promotion, Darko Gučanin, director of the National Museum Kraljevo, greeted the audience, introduced the participants, and thanked the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade and the Institute for Political Studies in Belgrade, who are co-publishers of the Collection of Papers, as well as the city of Kraljevo, which supported the project.
After that, Dragan Drašković, retired museum advisor and longtime director of the National Museum Kraljevo, addressed the audience, who decided to read one of his texts entitled “Trace” prepared for this occasion. He said about Slavko Maržik: “Slavoljub Maržik-Madžo left Kraljevo a gift for admiration and memory, and for researchers and lovers of the past, made writing easier and faster. The durability of his work is confirmed by this collection of papers from the first scientific conference that we are presenting tonight, but all future works, books and collections will refresh and preserve Slavko’s trace and presence in Kraljevo, as well as the trace of the entire Maržik family.”
He also referred to the beginning of cooperation with Slavko, when there was an argument between the two of them regarding the relation of the Obrenović dynasty to Kraljevo. Slavko came to the Museum “…with a photocopy and typed text of General Jovan Mišković from 1869 “The Significance of Čačak, Gornji Milanovac and Karanovac” from the Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Art and with an analysis, or rather a criticism of that source on one page entitled “Appendix to the History of Kraljevo.” What they agreed on then was that the press is an important source for history, from which Maržik’s unusual venture began. After his presentation, Dragan Drašković presented Darko Gučanin and the National Museum Kraljevo with the aforementioned Maržik’s documents, while he presented Marina Maržik, Slavko’s daughter, with a set of editions and invited her to address the audience.
In her speech, Marina Maržik read her father’s last short note from February 2022, written just before his death, entitled “At the end of the story…”. In it, Slavko Maržik says: “Finishing my writing about life in the town on the Ibar, I tried to find in this story, among other things, the reasons for a kind of almost obsessive relationship of the Maržik family towards Karanovac, now Kraljevo.” Thinking about that, now family obsession, only at the moment of one of my almost unconscious and uncontrolled charges, I realized that the only acceptable explanation for such a thing is that it is a strong and lasting feeling of love and belonging to the hometown”.
Radomir Popović, PhD, scientific advisor of the Institute of History in Belgrade, presented the Collection of Papers “Publications in the Development of Society and State I: From a Newspaper Report to Objective History. Karanovac/Kraljevo in Serbian Newspaper 1835-1918” of the first scientific conference within the three-year project, which was realized during the Žica Spiritual Assembly “Transfiguration 2021”. After a brief review of the history of thematic anthologies, which appeared in our science only in the middle of the 20th century, Popović pointed out that the Anthology is divided into two parts. The first refers to the evaluation of the press as a historical source, while the second refers to the social and political history of Kraljevo during the 19th and 20th centuries. After that, he presented the papers, of which there are 21.
At the end of the promotion, Ljubodrag P. Ristić addressed the audience. Ristić, editor of the Collection of Papers, who pointed out that few towns, and perhaps not even one, in Serbia have such a review of the press related to their place, as Kraljevo has thanks to the work of Slavko Maržik. He underlined again that Slavko copied the material with his own hand, then retyped it on a typewriter and handed over such material to the National Museum Kraljevo, which then prepared it for printing. In a way, he threw a pebble into the water, which created concentric circles that expand and in which we find ourselves encouraged to further work by his example and persistence.
After the promotion, a short discussion with the audience took place. The editors of the collection are Ljubodrag P. Ristić and Darko Gučanin, and the publishers are the National Museum Kraljevo, the Institute for Political Studies in Belgrade and the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade.