Erdélyi Múzeum [Transylvanian Museum] – originally, the bulletin of the presidency and first department of the Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület / Transylvanian Museum Society. Reminding in its content of Gábor Döbrentei’s first Transylvanian cultural journal in Hungarian, entitled Erdélyi Múzeum (1818), it was published in 1874 by linguist and historian Henrik Finály, and it encompassed all fields of science except “confessional religious studies and daily political news”. At this time, the journal offered a scholarly forum for the professors of the newly established University of Cluj (in 1872) to publish their research results. The last issue of the first series appeared in 1917; the new series started in 1930, in monthly issues edited by Lajos György, chief secretary of the EME, and was continued, as of 1941, under the direction of Attila Szabó T. That series of the journal stopped in 1947, with its LII. volume. It is still considered an important source material today by its positivist-type source collection, objective treatment and informative purpose. An entire community of linguists, literary historians, archaeologists, historians, legal experts, and ethnologists made their contributions on its pages for the development of scholarly research and national consciousness.
The most recent series of the Erdélyi Múzeum started simultaneously with the reorganization of the EME, in 1990. Its executive editors during the 1990s were Samu Benkő, Elek Csetri, and Árpád Antal, from 1999 till 2022 executive editor was Gyöngy Kovács Kiss.
In its concept it follows the previous series, as a forum of Transylvanian scholarship in Hungarian, and in a wider perspective as a bridge between Transylvanian and general Hungarian scholarly publication. The structural axis of the journal is a mix of European and Transylvanian tradition: self-perception, interethnic dialogue, systematic building of cultural connections in the region. In accordance with its editorial intent, the journal proposes to serve intellectual communication and European spirit, as a particularly minority journal and institution. It mainly publishes studies in the fields of history, literature, philology, linguistics, ethnology, philosophy. As of 1990, the published authors include several outstanding representatives of Hungarian scholarship in Transylvania and the Carpathian Basin. At the same time, it offers possibilities for publication for Hungarian undergraduate and graduate students of the universities of Transylvania and Cluj. Most of its editors are also members of university faculty.
Structure of the journal: Main section, workshop, Review. Articles are accompanied by English abstracts, and a Table of Contents in three languages (HU/RO/EN).
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