Location

• Zagreb Opatička ulica 10, Croatia 10000
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Languages

• Croatian
• English
• German
• Italian
• Slovene

Name of collection

• Jere Jareb Collection

Provenance and cultural activities

• The Jere Jareb Collection, which is kept in the Croatian Institute of History Library, is a part of the legacy of Croatian and American historian Jere Jareb (Ph.D.). Since 1952, and during his life and career as a historian in the United States, he collected books, brochures, newspapers, magazines and various documents of historical importance. He collected books and other publications mainly by purchasing them himself and getting them from his friends in Croatia. On the other side, he received various documents and personal papers from Croatian political emigrants and intellectuals with whom he corresponded, like Branimir Jelić or Rudolf Erić, a long-time president of the Croatian American Citizens Club. From Erić, Jareb received the most significant donation (several boxes of materials). A particularly intriguing part of the collection is the numerous editions of books, magazines and brochures published by Croatian emigrants in the USA who were critical of the communist regime in Croatia and Yugoslavia. . These emigrants were advocates of an independent Croatian state and opposed to the restoration of Yugoslavia, and their writings were forbidden in Yugoslavia. Some of these editions are not available anywhere else in Croatia.

  The primary purpose of Jareb’s collecting was his scholarly work, primarily so he could write the history of the Croatian people in the 20^th century. His studies resulted in several books, of which probably the best known is Pola stoljeća hrvatske politike (A Half-century of Croatian politics) published in Buenos Aires in 1960. Since 1966, he lived permanently in Loretto (Pennsylvania), and he gathered and stored the collection in his private home.

  After the fall of the communist regime in Croatia, Jere Jareb attempted to move the collection to his homeland, fearing that his family would not keep it after his death, since it was not uncommon that heirs failed to recognise the importance of such legacies (Interview with Jareb, Mario). At the beginning of the 1990s, he established contact with the Croatian Institute of History, which expressed an interest in reprinting his book Pola stoljeća hrvatske politike (reprinted and published in 1995). These links were the point of departure for the idea to donate his library to the Croatian Institute of History. In 1995, Jere Jareb returned to Croatia for the first time, where he spent several months preparing the transfer of his library to Zagreb. The Institute hired its employee, historian Mario Jareb, a distant relative of Jere, who travelled to the United States in late 1996 and spent six months preparing and packing the books and documentation for relocation. In the spring of 1997, the collection was delivered to the Institute in containers, where it was housed as a separate collection in the Institute’s library. Jere Jareb financed the transfer.

  Newspapers and journals from Jareb's legacy were separated and stored in the National and University Library in Zagreb, while documents (grey literature) were transferred to the Croatian State Archives in 2002. In 2003, the collection was supplemented with some of the books Jere Jareb retained for his academic work. In 2006, most of the books were inventoried, although there is still a smaller amount of books in foreign languages that have not been catalogued. The two employees of the Institute’s library are still working on the inventory.

  The collection has never been exhibited, nor has it been the subject of any publications. The wider public was mostly unfamiliar with the collection until Martina Jurčić, a librarian at the Institute’s library, spoke about it at the academic workshop of the COURAGE project in May 2017. Jurčić emphasised the value of the collection, but also the severe lack of space and resources for its proper storage. Scholars in the Croatian Institute of History make the most use of the collection, although it is open to the public with prior appointment with the Institute's staff.

Description of content

• The collection consists of over 4,270 books, of which the majority are in Croatian (3,486) and English (614), 4,487 volumes of periodicals (130 titles) and 170 different brochures (in English). The publications are printed in Croatian, English, German, Slovenian and Italian. Particularly interesting are the numerous emigrant editions of books, magazines and brochures published in the US, some of which are not available elsewhere in Croatia. Many books have additional value because they contain other content in them, such as the dedications of the authors, additional documentation, notes by Dr Jareb, press clippings (related to the book or on the same subject as the book) etc. About one-quarter of the collection (including all of the books in English) have been introduced into the Aleph integrated library system of the National and University Library in Zagreb, as well as the higher education and research libraries of the Republic of Croatia. An online catalogue can be used to search the collection. Furthermore, the collection is also included in the INDIGO online database (platform) of the Croatian Institute of History, in which around 500 books are described with metadata.

  Numerous books that Jareb collected deal with topics from Croatian history, and most of their authors were Croatian political émigrés who were critical of the communist regime in Croatia and Yugoslavia, and critical of the very existence of Yugoslavia as a state. As such, these books were forbidden in Yugoslavia. The collection also includes publications related to the human rights movement such as Amnesty International.

Content

• grey literature (regular archival documents such as brochures, bulletins, leaflets, reports, intelligence files, records, working papers, meeting minutes): 100-499
• publications (books, newspapers, articles, press clippings): 1000-

Operator(s)

• Croatian Institute of History

Owner(s)

• Croatian Institute of History
• Jareb, Jere

Stakeholder(s) of the collection

• Jurčić, Martina

Geographical scope of recent operation

• diaspora

Topics

• emigration/exile
• human rights movements
• national movements (patriotic opposition)

Founder(s)

• Jareb, Jere

Date of founding

• 1952

Place of founding

• New York
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Creator(s) of content

• Jareb, Jere
• Pintar, John Ivan
• Ćorić, Šimun Šito

Collector(s)

• Jareb, Jere

Supporters

• Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia

Important events in the history of the collection

• Donation of the Jere Jareb Collection to the Croatian Institute of History, 1997
• Event (general): Academic workshop „From Obscurity to Visibility“, 2017

Featured items

• John Pintar. Four years in Tito’s hell, 1954. Book
• Ćorić, Šimun Šito [Boris Katich]. So speak Croatian dissidents, 1983. Book

Access type

• visits by appointments

Author(s) of this page

• Mihaljević, Josip

References

Blažeković, Milan. 1996. Bio-bibliografski leksikon suradnika Hrvatske revije (Bio-bibliographical lexicon of the Hrvatska revija magazine contributors). Zagreb: Školske novine-Pergamena.

Ćorić, Šimun Šito [Boris Katich]. 1983. So speak Croatian dissidents: Marko Veselica, Vlado Gotovac, Franjo Tudjman, Petar Šegedin, Ivan Z. Čičak, Ivan Supek, Zlatko Tomičić. Norval (Toronto): ZIRAL.

Jareb,  Jere. 1960. Pola stoljeća hrvatske politike: povodom Mačekove autobiografije (One-Half Century of Croatian Politics. On the Occasion of Maček's Autobiography). Buenos Aires: Knjižnica Hrvatske revije.

Jareb,  Jere. 1982. Političke uspomene i rad dra Branimira Jelića (Political Memories and Work of Dr. Branimir Jelić). Cleveland: M. Šamija (Chicago: Hrvatska franjevačka tiskara).

Jareb,  Jere. 1997. Zlato i novac Nezavisne Države Hrvatske izneseni u inozemstvo 1944. i 1945.: dokumentarni prikaz (Gold and money of the Independent State of Croatia taken abroad in 1944 and 1945: Documents). Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest; Dom i svijet.

Jareb,  Jere. 2001. Državno gospodarstveno povjerenstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske od kolovoza 1941. do travnja 1945.: dokumentarni prikaz (State Economic Commission of the Independent State of Croatia from August 1941 to April 1945: Documents). Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest; Hrvatski državni arhiv.

Jareb, Jere, and Mario Jareb. 2008. „Bibliografija knjiga i radova dr. Jere Jareba, 1952.-2005.“ (“Bibliography of dr Jere Jareb, 1952 – 2005“). Časopis za suvremenu povijest 40, no. 3: 729-734.

Jareb, Jere. 2005. „Prilog povijesti hrvatskog iseljeništva u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama 1941.-1947.“ (“Contribution for the History of Croatian Immigrants in the U.S.A., 1941-1947.“). Časopis za suvremenu povijest 37, no. 1: 37-70.

Jareb, Mario. 1997. „Dr. Jere Jareb, Zlato i novac NDH izneseni u inozemstvo 1944. i 1945.“ (“Dr. Jere Jareb, Gold and money of the Independent State of Croatia taken abroad in 1944 and 1945“). Fontes: izvori za hrvatsku povijest 3: 347-350.

Kolar Dimitrijević, Mira. 2011. „Franjo Tuđman i organizacija rada u Institutu za historiju radničkog pokreta Hrvatske od 1961. do 1967.“ („Franjo Tuđman and the organisation of work at the Institute for History of the Workers Movement of Croatia, 1961-1967“). In Vijoleta Herman Kaurić (ed.), Dr. Franjo Tuđman u okviru hrvatske historiografije (Dr Franjo Tuđman in Croatian historiography), pp. 9-40. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest.

Matković, Hrvoje. 2008. „Razgovor s dr. Jerom Jarebom u povodu 80. godišnjice njegova života“ (“Interview with dr Jere Jareb on the occasion of his 80th birthday“). Časopis za suvremenu povijest 40, no. 3: 709-728.

Pintar, John I. 1954. Four years in Tito’s hell. Buenos Aires: H.P.K.

Pintar, John I. 1995. Četiri godine u Titovu paklu (Four years in Tito’s hell). Zagreb: Hrvatsko književno društvo sv. Ćirila i Metoda.

Radelić, Zdenko. 2011. „Institut za historiju radničkog pokreta Hrvatske 1961.–1990.“ („Institute of History of the Labor Movement of Croatia 1961-1990“). In Zdenko Radelić, Jasna Turkalj (eds.), Pola stoljeća prošlosti - Hrvatski institut za povijest: (1961.-2011.) (Half a Century of the Past – The Croatian Institute of History 1961-2011), pp. 13-63. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest.

Turkalj, Jasna. 2011. „Predgovor“ („Foreword“). In Zdenko Radelić, Jasna Turkalj (eds.), Pola stoljeća prošlosti - Hrvatski institut za povijest: (1961.-2011.) (Half a Century of the Past – The Croatian Institute of History 1961-2011), pp. 9-10. Zagreb: Hrvatski institut za povijest.

Jareb, Mario, interview by Mihaljević, Josip, December 08, 2017. COURAGE Registry Oral History Collection

Jurčić, Martina, interview by Mihaljević, Josip, December 08, 2017. COURAGE Registry Oral History Collection