Special library of the National Museum of Zrenjanin
The special library of the National Museum of Zrenjanin manages reference materials in accordance with the Museum’s objectives, as the parent institution to which it belongs. It has been operating as a separate organizational unit since 1989. The library has a fund of over 10,000 publications of various materials and types in the field of archeology, history, ethnology, art, and museology. Represented in greatest number are monographic and serial publications, noteworthy among them: the Collection of Exhibition Catalogs, the Collection of Old and Rare Books, and the Collection of Film Posters. The library has recently become the owner and caretaker of the library of the Županski family, which is part of the Museum’s annex in the Slavko Županski Memorial House. The fund of the Special Library is open to all potential users who are engaged in scientific work or who are otherwise legitimately interested in the material in its possession. For more information on the fund, and on using and/or borrowing publications, you may contact the director of the library – Bojana Petraš (contact phone: 023 / 561–841; e-mail address: vidovicbojana.nmz@gmail.com).
Fund of the Special Library
The references for free access are divided, according to material, into several primary categories – monographs, serial publications, and exhibition catalogs.
Monographs: over 7000 publications, covering topics from archeology, ethnology, history, art history, and museology.
Serial publications: mainly professional journals, mostly anthologies, as well as newsletters and journals published by other museums in the country.
Exhibition catalogs: a collection that follows the work of the museum, which preserves catalogs of almost all exhibitions held in the museum (from the 1950s until today), as well as exhibition catalogs of other cultural institutions in the country and region, primarily amassed by mutual exchange.
The old and rare collection of books contains about 250 publications in different languages (Serbian, German, Hungarian, Latin, etc.), and covers the period from the 16th to the 20th century. The topics of the books pertain to all spheres of cultural and social life – religion, science, art, etc. Also represented are works of fiction, textbooks, almanacs, treatises, encyclopedias, lexicons, bibles, scientific works from philosophy, medicine, law, technology, music, etc. The most widely represented publications are those of religious content, most often bibles, prayer books and canons. The oldest preserved book from the collection is a handwritten Roman Catholic prayer book from 1552.
Collection of film posters: The National Museum of Zrenjanin was gifted a rich collection of posters related to Yugoslav cinematography in the period from 1948 until the beginning of the 1990s. These posters formerly belonged to the former Banat Film Company. The collection includes over 450 titles of Yugoslav cinematography. Posters from this gift collection were created to announce the most important and popular films of their times, such as: Slavica, Valter Defends Sarajevo, Užice Republic, Pop Ćira and Pop Spira, Feather Gatherers, Do You Remember Dolly Bell?, Work for a While, National Class, Marathoners Running the Lap of Honor, and many others.
Slavko Županski Memorial House – Family Library:The Slavko Županski Memorial House, the former home of this fighter for the national rights of Serbs and the founder of the First Serbian People’s Committee, preserves a family library with about 322 publications of exceptional value and various contents. Family libraries are extremely important, because they present, preserve, supplement, and complete the picture of one family and their common story. In this rich literary collection, one can find publications that cover a wide range of topics – from dictionaries, bibles, and fiction, to books to music, painting, and architecture, to classic works by Serbian writers and other international authors, such as Adrić, Nušić, Crnjanski, Njegos, Cosić, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Dickens, Kafka, and others.
