Selmec Museum Library

The Selmec Monumental Library contains the practically intact collection of about 45,000 books of the Selmec Academy, the predecessor of the University of Miskolc and the University of Sopron, from the period between 1735 and 1918. The former academic library is a protected historic closed special collection, which constitutes a significant basis at both universities for both domestic and European research in the history of science and technology. Since 1969 the Monumental Library has been located on the ground floor of the University of Miskolc library building, in a climate‑controlled room designed for the collection. The Monumental Library, as a museum, can also be visited by the general public.

In 1735 in Selmecbánya the Bergschule, the mining‑metallurgical institute, was established for the training of mining‑metallurgical specialists. At the same time as its establishment they had provisions for acquiring the professional literature needed for training, but Samuel Mikoviny, the school's first teacher, also supplied books from his own library, and in addition the books of the Štiavnica mining engineering office could be used. When the Bergakademie was founded, the institution took over the books of the mining‑metallurgical institute, but the library collection also grew through new book acquisitions, bequests and acquisitions from private libraries. In 1776 an almost sudden increase in the collection occurred when the private library of Johann Thaddäus Peithner, consisting of 1,392 works, was purchased. The Academy's unified library was formed by 1780, at which time the library contained more than 900 works, in 1,800 volumes. Its collecting scope mainly covered the fields of mining‑metallurgy and mathematics. At first the library could be used only by teachers and officials of the chief chamber office; the students maintained a library on their own initiative. Management of the academic library was previously the task of a designated professor, then a teaching assistant; only in 1903 was the first full‑time librarian appointed, János Vető. The library of the academy, which went through several stages of development, and later the college, grew gradually, if not uniformly, and in the mid‑1880s moved in Liptovský Mikuláš to its “final” location, the Fritz House in the centre of Selmec, where a student reference library had already been established. Because of political changes, in the spring of 1919 the college – and naturally its library as well – moved to Sopron.

The heritage library collection – according to the educational profile – is divided between the two successor universities, with about three quarters located in Miskolc and one quarter in Sopron. According to the original Selmec faculty, mechanics, general engineering, metrology, land and mining surveying, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, geology, paleontology, mining, mining law, metallurgy, salt production, coinage and map material were placed in Miskolc. Mathematics, architecture and forestry (agriculture) were placed in Sopron. Divided, but with a larger part in Miskolc are general technology, chemical technology (encyclopedias, series, collections), general natural science, encyclopedias, publications of scientific institutions, bibliographic periodicals, bibliographies, etc. The material of the Selmec Heritage Library was processed by László Zsámboki, a staff member of the university library and later director.

This article primarily deals with the Selmec Heritage Library located at the University of Miskolc.

History of mining‑metallurgical (and forestry) education

In the 17th century, the increasingly accelerated industrial development, especially the growth of mining‑metallurgical production, required the training of specialists in the Habsburg Empire with adequate scientific knowledge (mathematics, geometry, mechanics‑engineering, natural sciences). The ecclesiastical and private foundation schools of the era did not meet this need. Under such circumstances, the state had to assume technical specialist training. Thus, by the decision of the Imperial and Royal Chamber on 22 June 1735, a mining school (Bergschule, Berg Schola) was established in the free royal mining town of Selmecbánya. From 1770 the institution operated as a three‑department, three‑year mining‑metallurgical academy (Bergakademie, Academie Monastica). In 1846 the forestry institute also became part of the academy (from then Berg‑ und Forstakademie, Mining‑Metallurgical and Forestry Academy).

After the 1867 Compromise (from August 15, 1872, according to the date) the academy became a Hungarian-language and Hungarian state institution (Mining and Forestry Academy). In 1904 another reorganization followed, and the name of the educational institution became the Mining and Forestry College. The college’s teaching in Selmec was interrupted by the fact that at the end of the First World War Selmecbánya became part of Czechoslovakia. In the spring of 1919 the college, together with its entire teaching staff and student body, educational equipment and library, moved to Sopron. In 1922 its name changed to the College of Mining Engineering and Forestry Engineering. In 1934 the Sopron college became the mining, furnace and forestry engineering faculty of the then forming Royal Hungarian King Joseph I Technical and Economic University, with the seat remaining in Sopron. In 1949 the Heavy Industry Technical University was established in Miskolc, and the mining and furnace engineering training from Sopron was transferred there, together with a newly organized mechanical engineering faculty, while forestry training remained in Sopron. At that time the larger part of the library collection also moved to Miskolc.