C.A.A. CELEBRATES ITS 60TH ANNIVERSARY

CROATIAN ACADEMY OF AMERICA CELEBRATES ITS 60^TH ANNIVERSARY AND PUBLICATION OF THREE ISSUES OF THE JOURNAL OF CROATIAN STUDIES

In 1953, a group of persons dedicated to promoting Croatian history, art and culture agreed that a formal organization needed to be established to introduce to an American and Canadian scholarly audience the importance of Croatia to civilization.  The Croatian Academy of America resulted from the work of these dedicated persons.  The Academy’s Journal of Croatian Studies made its first appearance seven years later, in 1960, and has been publishing ever since, showcasing the articles of hundreds of prominent scholars from North America and Croatia.

Over the past year and half, the Academy published four issues of the Journal of Croatian Studies.  Volume 44 includes articles by Zagreb mathematician Darko Žubrinć (“William Feller (1906-1970): An Outstanding Croatian American Mathematician”), Toronto’s Vinko Grubišić (“Three Alphabets Used in the Printing of Croatian Reformation Books in Germany)” and an article by Jure Krišto (“Brother’s Keeper: The Surveillance of American Croats by the Federal Bureau of Investigation During World War II”).  Other articles include “Migration History of the Italo-Croatians of Molise to Western Australia,” by John Felix Clissa, and “Canadian Ethnic Studies (1969-2003) and Polyphony (1977-2000) as Sources for the Croatian Ethnocultural Community in Canada: An Annotated Index,” by Stan Granic.  The volume also contains an English translation (made by Vladislav Beronja) of famed Croatian author Miroslav Krleža’s “Forward to Krsto Hegedušić’s The Drava Valley Motifs.”

Volumes 45-46 and Volume 47 are the first two parts of a trilogy of issues related to the translations of Croatian Renaissance poetry, plays and prose, edited by guest editors Vladimir Bubrin and Vinko Grubišić.  The Volumes contain texts in their original Croatian with a translation into English and a modern Croatian language version.  The works translated include selections written by Marko Marulić, Mavro Vetranović, Džore Držić, Hanibal Lucić, Nikola Nalješković, Marin Držić, Martin Benetović, Šiško Vlahović Menčetić, Petar Hektorović, Antun Sasin, Nikola Dimitrović, Dinko Ranjina, Dominko Zlatarić, Barne Karnarutić and Juraj Baraković.

The publication of works by such seminal Croatian authors in English as well as scholarly articles on Croatian themes represents an important achievement in promoting Croatian culture in the United States and Canada as well as in other English speaking countries.

This is a record few organizations can boast.  The Academy will celebrate its achievements and the 60^th anniversary of its founding on Saturday, April 20, 2013 with all events to take place at Arno Ristorante, located at 141 West 38^th Street, New York, New York.

The Academy’s Annual General Assembly will open at 5:00 p.m. during which officers of the Academy will present reports of their activities over the past year, new Executive Committee members and officers will be elected and members of the Academy will have an opportunity to express their views about the Academy and its future work.

Following the Annual General Assembly, a cocktail hour will take place beginning at 6:30 p.m. with a dinner starting at 7:30 p.m.  During dinner, Dr. Vinko Grubišić, one of the current guest editors of the Journal of Croatian Studies, will present a speech entitled “Six Decades of The Croatian Academy of America: Its Rich History in Promoting Croatian Culture, History and Literature.”

Dinner costs $75 a person ($50 for students).  If you are interested in attending, please contact one of the following: John Kraljic at 718-309-4289 or jkraljic@garfunkelwild.com; Michael Young (201) 816-1560 or michaely@svnp.com; or Vedran Joseph Nazor (212) 957-5808 or (917) 449-4001.

Those who cannot attend are urged to join the Academy.  Membership is only $50 a year – all Members receive a copy of the Journal of Croatian Studies.  If you are interested in joining, please contact John Kraljic, the President of the Croatian Academy of America at 718-309-4289 or at jkraljic@garfunkelwild.com.