State of the SVU in the Year 2005

Report of SVU President Dr. Miloslav Rechcigl Presented to SVU General Assembly Meeting, North Miami , Florida, March 18, 2005

Our Bylaws require that SVU President presents annually a report on the status of the Society to the membership, usually at the General Assembly meeting held in conjunction with our traditional Conferences or World Congresses. This year's report will necessarily be shorter than others because we have hardly completed the third quarter of our two-year administrative period. I am sure this will be welcome news to most of you who are eager to to get ready for our special social occasion this evening.

I would like to start by giving thanks to Robert Petrik and Cecilia Rokusek and the American Czech-Slovak Cultural Club for hosting this Conference. They have worked very hard and you can see the fruits of their labor all around you. Everything is proceeding without a hitch. Let=s give them a well-deserved hand of applause..

As has been our practice, the first thing the newly elected Executive Board did, was to acquaint the new Board members with our modus operandi and collectively decided about the division of labor of individual Board members. We went over the Society's Mission Statement, reexamined the SVU priorities, worked out strategy and outlined individual tasks. Most of our priority areas remain the same as before, including the AAccent on Youth@, fostering cooperation with cultural institutions in the Czech and Slovak Republics, helping to rebuild the Civil Society in the Czech and Slovak Republics and making concerted efforts toward the preservation of our heritage abroad. In addition, we are in the process of developing our program with the goal of publishing more English titles in Czech and Slovak history, literature, the arts and culture. Obviously most of these projects are still in statu nascendi.

The two most important immediate tasks were to find a suitable location for our 2005 Conference and 2006 World Congress. The first task was actually much more difficult than the second one because no one had any ideas where to start and none of our Local Chapters volunteered to host the Conference. It was by happenstance and through my acquaintance and friendship with Robert Petrik, whom I frequently saw at various functions at the Czech or Slovak Embassies, that we struck on the idea of combining forces and holding our Conference jointly with the American Czech-Slovak Cultural Club, of which he was an officer. This was a brilliant idea as the present versatile and stimulating academic program and highly enjoyable socio-cultural events clearly demonstrate. Frankly, we were amazed at the interest the Conference generated, here as well as abroad, and are thrilled by the caliber of people attending.

As for the location for the SVU 2006 World Congress we had an excellent candidate from the start. The University of South Bohemia which is represented here by their Vice Rector Prof. Vladimir Papousek and Dr. Michael Bauer, actually came to us with the proposition of holding the Congress on their campus. Based on their plan, the SVU Executive Board accepted their proposal to hold the next SVU World Congress in Ceske Budejovice 25 June - 1 July 2006.

SVU has always considered publishing as its highest imperative, which is reflected in its very active publication program. In 2004 alone, the Society published, through the courtesy of the University of West Bohemia in Plzen, the Palacky University in Olomouc and the Prague Editions Ltd., six new monographs, i.e., two collections of Czech papers and one collection of English papers from the SVU World Congress in Plzen; a monograph on Czech-American Historic Sites, Monuments, and Memorials and a two-volume set on Czechoslovak American Archivalia; and the Proceedings of the Working Conference on Czech and Slovak American Archival Materials and their Preservation, respectively. The long awaited SVU Biographical Directory, comprised of some 3,000 biographical entries of members, listing addresses, telephone numbers and e-mails is now available in the US for purchase.

As was announced in our newsletter, Selected Papers from the 2003 SVU Iowa Conference have been posted on our SVU Website. This is our first attempt at electronic publishing, which saves the Society high publication costs and the inherent problems with distribution and storage.

I am pleased to report, that we have also recently completed editing the Proceedings of the SVU 2004 World Congress, in Olomouc, which will soon be published, through the courtesy of the Philosophical Faculty of the Palacky University. Two additional monographs, one on Czech and Slovak Theatre Abroad and the second on Czech Opera Abroad, edited by Vera Borkovec and Dagmar White, respectively, are in preparation. SVU also cosponsored Jan Vicar's monograph Imprints: Musicological Studies and Lectures from the 1990s and co-produced Video Cassette and DVD, highlighting proceedings and depicting memorable events of the 22nd SVU World Congress. which are available at this Conference..

The Society has also systematically pursued its efforts toward the preservation of Czech and Slovak Heritage abroad, of which the present Florida Conference is a formidable example. Prior to this Conference, we convened, jointly with the Czech and Slovak Embassies in Washington, a special Working Archival Conference, which was prompted by our genuine concern for the deplorable state and the uncertain fate of Czech and Slovak archival materials in America, many of which are in danger of being destroyed or lost. As a result of that Conference, the SVU, jointly with other organizations, launched a concerted effort aiming at the preservation of the Czech and Slovak documentary and other archival materials in America for the future. Toward this end, we have established a Consortium, comprised of the major archival institutions and other interested organizations, to provide platform and forum for communication and discussion of issues among the Consortium members and to establish working linkages and encourage cooperation among the archives. To keep the public informed and to provide an effective means for contact and communication, the SVU created a special Web page for the use by the Consortium members, as a part of the SVU Website.

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