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The Internal Sources of the Jews in the Source Material of MNL (Hungarian National Archives) 1760-1848
149-160Views:33The study is focused on the collection and complex analysis of the original, yet unpublished Jewish documents in the feudal source collections of MNL, Hungarian National Archives from the second half of the 18th century until 1848. The search for original internal sources began with a review of government records during the period under review. The collections in the Chancellery Archives, Acta Generalia (A 39) and the Council of Governor-General Archives, Departamentum Judaeorum (C 55) maintain the documents of the first and second instance bodies of the public administration in their relations with the intermediate administrative authorities. The source material in the Chancellery Archives presents mostly records of general affairs, whereas the Departamentum Judaeorum collection of the Council of Governor-General contains Jewish-related issues. In support of the presumptions, the collections are rich in Jewish-related internal, historical sources. The documents allow for a complex analysis of the time, number, geographical distribution, and content of the document collections. The sources contribute to a better understanding of the history of the Jews, their settlement, their economic, cultural, religious life, and their system of relations with Christian society. The document pages present their content to researchers in the wording of the members of contemporaneous Jewish society. Based on the research experience, it can be concluded that the vast majority of the sources come from Pest County, more closely from the town of Pest. Research on these inner sources in the collections of other counties is expedient to increase awareness of Jewish history in the modern Kingdom of Hungary. Therefore, the future goal of the research may be to review the materials of the county archives. It provides an opportunity to compare how the archival material in the national archives is complemented by archival collections from the counties. The development of a database could also be a step forward and could integrate the sources in national and county archives by indicating headings, names, locations, indexes, and short regestas. The available internal source material can refine and enrich the known history of 17-19th century Jews.
