About the SchwimmerBlog
As an English language major, I became interested in the history of national and international feminism in 2006. At the beginning I got engaged with the works of English and American female writers and poets mostly, and since 2011 I deal with the history of the Hungarian feminist movement. Together with the outlining of the activities of the National Association of Female Clerks (Nőtisztviselők Országos Egyesülete, NOE, 1896-1919, Budapest) and the Hungarian Feminists’ Association (Feministák Egyesülete, FE, 1904-1949, Budapest), my scope of interest turned to the path of life of its leaders, too. As common traits, two things can be stated: the majority of the members are unfairly neglected by the national academic world and public opinion, therefore, we scarcely have information regarding their lives or activities in the women’s movements. Sadly, our knowledge about them, except for one person, will remain to be vague since their bequest were left to us in a severely fragmented state, or nothing survived at all.
An exception is Rózsa (Bédy-)Schwimmer (1877, Budapest-1948, New York), later became widely known as Rosika Schwimmer. She took a leading part in the National Association of Female Clerks, the Hungarian Feminists’ Association and also in international women’s and peace movements. For years, I have tried to put together the mosaic pieces of her life with more or less success, based on the sources of public collections in Budapest and Vienna. However, in 2017 I got a huge opportunity: for the first time, I had the chance to conduct a two-month research on Schwimmer’s written records, which constituted of almost 50 linear meters of documents kept in the New York Public Library (NYPL). While the milieu of international and Budapest golden age feminism increasingly captivated me, I was and still am baffled by the question that how could the national academic discipline of history leave such a valuable material almost completely unprocessed? Besides the many defining female characters of history, why did not anybody feel that such a personality is worth of devoting a (longer) biography to? Regardless of the enormous work which the examination of her papers takes, I aim to be as knowledgeable about them as possible in order to form a more detailed picture about the following issues: How could a female clerk coming from a southern land Jewish family become the press secretary of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA)? What were the obstacles and challenges that a young provincial girl had to face so that she could make a living as a journalist? How Schwimmer and Vilma Glücklich, the first woman to apply to the University of Budapest, were brought together by accident, and under what circumstances did they establish the Hungarian Feminists’ Association? Furthermore, how could Schwimmer become the first female envoy, who was delegated to Switzerland by the Károlyi government at the end of 1918? And finally, how did Rosika and her sister Franciska spend the everyday lives of emigrants beset with difficulties in Austria, the former imperial city in 1920 and from 1921, in the USA?
On the Blog, I share sources concerning Schwimmer’s personal life and work in the associations, and in the peace movement. The majority of the materials are from the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the NYPL, and a minor part is from the archives of the Hungarian Feminists’ Association, located in the National Archives of Hungary, Budapest. The letters written to and by Schwimmer, her diary notes, articles and the documentation of the association were written in German, English, occasionally in French and Italian, besides Hungarian, of course. I decided not to translate the foreign language sources to Hungarian, consequently they will be published in their original form. I do this in the hope that this way they could provide relevant contribution to the work of foreign researchers of the development of transnational women’s movements.
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And finally, a few practical thoughts on the means of issuing the documents. The texts of the sources are adjusted to our present-day spelling rules, which in practice results in transforming the short vowels into long ones. In the letters of the certain individuals the specific old-fashioned writing-style is kept in every case. After the grammatical mistakes which would trouble the understanding, a [sic!] note is inserted, and the same routine is followed with mistakes in grammar and usage in the foreign language letters of the participants of women’s movements. Inset remarks and additional notes are placed between a [ ] mark. Shortcomings in punctuation are supplemented according to present-day rules. The underlined and cursive sections in the original text are kept.
The recommended form of reference: The title of the source or entry [online doc.]. Place and time of publication: Schwimmerblog, YYYY. MM. DD. Date of downloading: YYYY. MM. DD. Access: URL link.
Some of my previously published work in this topic:
- Kultúrmisszió vagy propaganda? Feminista lapok és olvasóik Bécsben és Budapesten [Cultural Mission or Propagand? Feminist Journals and their Leaders in Vienna and Budapest]. Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont, Budapest, 2021.
- Pillanatképek a magyarországi feminista mozgalom 1918 utáni történetéből [Snapshots from the history of the feminist movement in Hungary after 1918]. In: A Hajnal István Kör – Társadalomtörténeti Egyesület 2020. évi, pécsi konferenciájának kötete. HIK, Budapest, 2022. 85–98.
- Adalékok a Feministák Egyesülete nemzetközi beágyazottságához. Schwimmer Rózsa hagyatékából [To the international embeddedness of the Feminists’ Association. From the bequest of Rosika Schwimmer]. Lymbus. Magyarságtudományi Forrásközlemények. 2020, 621–670.
- Túlélési stratégiák, alkalmazkodás, nemzetközi beágyazottság. A Feministák Egyesületéhez kapcsolódó kutatási lehetőségek a két világháború között [Survival strategies, adaptation, international embeddedness. Research opportunities related to the Feminists’ Association between the two world wars]. Per Aspera ad Astra, (2020): 2. 40–54.
- Schwimmer Rózsa lapszerkesztői tevékenysége 1907–1913 között [The editorial activity of Rosika Schwimmer between 1907-1913]. In: Török, Zsuzsa (szerk.) Nők, időszaki kiadványok és nyomtatott nyilvánosság, 1820–1920. Budapest, Reciti Kiadó 2020. 335–357.
- A magyarországi feminista mozgalom első hivatalos lapja. A Nő és a Társadalom (1907-1913) [The first official organ of Hungarian feminists movement. The Woman and the Society (1907-1913)]. ArchívNet. XX. századi történeti források. (https://www.archivnet.hu/a-magyarorszagi-feminista-mozgalom-elso-hivatalos-lapja-a-no-es-a-tarsadalom-1907-1913.
- A New York-i Bédy-Schwimmer Rózsa-hagyaték jelentősége [Significance of the Rosika Schwimmer Papers in New York]. Levéltári Közlemények, (2018): 1. 157-169.
©Dóra Czeferner
New York, September 30, 2022
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About Me
My name is Dóra Czeferner (1988). I majored in history, with a bachelor degree in English language. For more than a decade now, I have been dealing with bourgeois feminist movements in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and during the interwar period. I had conducted research in connection with certain aspects of the topic for a longer period in Vienna, Leipzig and New York. Following the collection of sources from the Schwimmer papers in the United States, an idea was born namely, that it would be worthy to make the processed material available for a wider audience (concerning professionals and those, who are interested in women’s history). After a year-long brainstorming phase finally acts came after and in the recent weeks of February, 2019, the Blog was launched. Ultimately, the online interface enables me to publish essential documents, letters, diary notes, newspaper articles and speeches in their full lengths regarding the everyday life of Schwimmer. Since, as a Hungarian researcher, I could be to start the systematic processing of the estate, I wish to share sources which could provide important new information concerning the history of the Hungarian feminist movement, which, prior to 1918 – and in many respects of the following decades as well – bound together with Schwimmer’s name.
Curriculum Vitae
Workplaces
2021- Universität Wien Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Projektmitarbeiterin im FWF-Projekt „Frauen schreiben an Frauenbewegungsaktivistinnen, ~1870–1930” Projekt-Nummer V-807 (ab 2/2021)
2019- Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of History, Horthy Era Research Team, junior research fellow
2019-2020 University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities, Institute of Education, Department of History of Education and Culture, assistant lecturer
Postgraduate studies
2013-2018 University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities, Interdisciplinary Doctoral School (Modern History Program)
2014-2015 Universität Leipzig
Graduate studies
2010-2013 University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities, History major
2006-2010 University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities, English bachelor
Language certifications
French – Type C beginner language exam (2013)
English – Type C advanced language exam (2006)
German – Type C advanced language exam (2005)
Scholarships, foreign research experiences
Research Grant of the Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies, 2022-2023, 12 months)
Vienna, Austria (e.g. OeAD and Collegium Hungaricum scholarships, altogether 23 months)
New York, USA (e.g. Kuno von Klebelsberg scholarship, Hungarian Eötvös Scholarship, 6 months)
Manchester, United Kingdom (Campus Mundi, 1 month)
Leipzig (DAAD, 11 months)
Fields of interest: travelling, sports, concerts, gastronomy
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Chronology – Major dates from the life of Schwimmer
September 11, 1877: She was born in Budapest
End of December, 1896: The establishment of the National Association of Female Clerks (Nőtisztviselők Országos Egyesülete, NOE)
1897: Joined the NOE
April, 1899-May, 1901: Became the vice-president of the NOE
May, 1901-April, 1908: Became the president of the NOE
1903: Contribution in the establishment of the Hungarian National Association of Women Workers
June, 1904: Participation in the Berlin congress of the International Council of Women (ICW); the establishment of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA)
Beginning of December, 1904: The creation of the Hungarian Feminists’ Association (Feministák Egyesülete, FE)
1905: Became the president of the FE’s Political Committee (the status and its scope of duties first appeared in the association’s records in 1906)
January-December, 1906: The publication of the Feminist Gazette
Summer of 1906: Hungary became a full member of the IWSA; the congress of the IWSA in Copenhagen
January, 1907-December, 1913: The publication of the The Woman and the Society
1911-1913: Marriage with journalist, Béla Bédy
June 15-22. 1913: The 7th congress of the IWSA in Budapest
January, 1914-1928: The publication of the feminist journal, The Woman
1913: Appointed to be the press secretary of the IWSA
February, 1914: Moving to London
August, 1914: Renounced the title of press secretary of the IWSA
September, 1914: First meeting and interview with Woodrow Wilson
Autumn, 1914-Spring, 1915: Lecture tour in the USA
April 28. 1915-May 1st: The International Peace Congress of Women in Hague; the creation of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
November, 1915: Second meeting and discussion with President Wilson
November, 1915: Negotiations with Henry Ford concerning the possible launching of the Ford Peace Ship
December 4. 1915.: The Ford Peace Ship (Oscar II) left the New York port with Schwimmer on deck
March, 1916: The peace ship and peace movement failed to succeed
Autumn, 1916: Return to Hungary
1917/1918: Peace talks in Austria, Germany and Switzerland by the assignment of Mihály Károlyi
October, 1918: Was elected to be the member of the National Council
November, 1918: As a representative of the National Council, Károlyi appointed her to be an envoy in Switzerland
January, 1919: Renounced the envoy’s commission
March, 1919: Arrived back to Budapest days before the declaration of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
January, 1920: Escaped to Vienna
August, 1921: Emigrated to the USA (from the Netherlands) with her sister, Franziska
May, 1924: Schwimmer applied for American citizenship
1928: The publication of the volume, Tisza Tales – Hungarian Folk Tales in the USA (with the illustrations of Willy Pogány)
May, 1929: Decision was made in the USA vs. Schwimmer case: according to the verdict, her application was rejected, the citizenship was not granted to her
1929: The Schwimmer sisters resided without a citizenship (stateless) in the USA
1935: An initiation was made together with Mary Ritter Beard, American feminist to establish the World Center for Women’s Archives (WCWA)
1937: She was awarded with World Peace Prize
Beginning of the 1940’s: The WCWA fell through
1944: The Schwimmer family entrusted the New York Public Library to take care of their complete estate
1948: Nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize
August 3. 1948: Schwimmer’s death in the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
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Contact
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me via my email address (czeferner.dora@abtk.hu) or through social media.
SchwimmerBlog 