Author: HIT

During August and September 2023, three books were digitized in cooperation with the National and University Library in Zagreb. Two were unavailable in Croatian libraries,  copies and consent for digitization were acquired in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Australia and the Croatian Catholic Center in Canberra (the book Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ: 50 years of life and ministry in Australia and the book 40th Anniversary of the Croatian Catholic Mission Canberra). Along with those two books, the bookmarks that are published as promotional material were digitized. The third book was almost unavailable in Croatian libraries, a copy and permission for digitization were acquired thanks to the cooperation with the Croatian Catholic Center in Wollongong and the Province of the Franciscans of the Glagolitic Third Order in Zagreb. The book is Moje životno vrludanje by Frano Stipan Šešelja.

From July 14 to 16, 2023, the  AUS-NZ Croatian Women in Leadership Summit was held in Biograd na Moru. The association was founded in Australia in 2019 and today gathers more than 600 women at online meetings and in-person events. Thanks to the cooperation of the Croatian Emigrant Press project with this association, significant connections have been created for further work in research. Thus, H. E. Betty Pavelich, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in Australia, brought two valuable books that were not available in Croatia, and will be digitized as part of the project.

Project collaborators from Australia and New Zealand stayed in Zagreb during May and June 2023. Working meetings were held with  professor Jasna Novak Milić, Head of the Center for Croatian Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney; with retired professor Luka Budak, former head of the Center and with Majom Krtalić, professor from the University of Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand. Further cooperation regarding the research of Croatian publications in those countries and the organization of workshops promoting Croatian printed and manuscript heritage was discussed.

In Lovran, from May 31 to June 3, 2023, the 18th Special and Academic Libraries Conference was held, organized by the Croatian Library Association. Ana Barbarić held the presentation entitled Presentation of digitized materials: example of serial publications by New Zealand Croats. Title of Ivana Hebrang Grgić’s presentation was The role of open access repositories in the promotion of Croatian cultural heritage: the Croatian Emigrant Press Repository. The abstracts were published in the book of abstracts.

On May 24th 2023 Ana Barbarić gave a presentation on the conference LIDA: Libraries in the Digital Age. The title of the presentation is Book publishing practices of Croats in Australia: contribution to the research of Croatian emigrant heritage. 

During research at the National Archives of Australia in Canberra, three issues of the Caritas Croata bulletin published in Sydney in 1951, 1952 and 1953 were found. The bulletin is not mentioned in other sources, and was the subject of an investigation by the Australian authorities as a foreign language publication. In addition to the surviving copies, the National Archives of Australia also held documents related to the investigation (NAA: A6122, 306).

The three colors are available in the Caritas Croata virtual collection in the Croatian Emigrant Press repository.

At the reception after the commemoration of ANZAC Day at the Australian Embassy in Zagreb, the new Australian ambassador, H. E. Mr Richard Rodgers was reported about the work on the Croatian emigrant press project.