SVU Cultural Heritage Exhibit

One of the events at the S VU conference was a Cultural Heritage Exhibit which consisted of more than twenty framed posters reflecting on the history of Czechoslovak culture in the following states:

California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

The purpose of the exhibit was to display both historical documents dating back to the early 1900's, and to show photos and articles that reflected the continuation of Czechoslovak cultural traditions and activities throughout the 20th century and up to the present time.

An attempt was made to contact Czechoslovak groups in every state. Within the time constraints of a few months, it was amazing how much material was received which enabled this exhibit to represent a cross section of most of America.  Some of the organizations that provided documents for this exhibit included the following:

California:  American Czech Association (ACA) and Sokol of CA.

Florida: Albin Polasek Museum and Duda Farms

Illinois: CSA Fraternal Life and Czechoslovak National Council of America

Iowa: National Czech and Slovak Museum & Library, and Western Fraternal Life Association

Louisiana: Czech Heritage Assoc. and LA. Czech Museum

Maryland: Czech & Slovak Heritage Assoc. of MD., and Sokol,Baltimore

Minnesota: Immigration Research Center at University of Minnesota

Missouri: Sokol St. Louis

Nebraska: Nebraska Czechs of Wilber, University of Nebraska, and Czech and Slovak USA Queen Pageant

New York: Americke Listy Newspaper, and Jan Pokorny

Ohio: Bohemian National Hall,Cleveland Orchestra Archives, and The Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, DTJ in Taborville

Oklahoma: Oklahoma Czechs

Pennsylvania: Peter Rafaeli, Honorary Consul of Czech Republic in Philadelphia.

Texas: Czech Heritage Society of Texas,& Clarice Simpson Snokhous

Washington, DC: Sokol, Washington, DC, Dagmar Hasalova White

A special exhibit on Sokol History was prepared by the American Sokol Organization. Another exhibit on Czechoslovak history featured a photo of the 1968 Congress of Czechoslovak organizations in exile and a copy of the 1918 Washington Declaration by Masaryk, Benes, and Stefanik. Photos provided by the Embassy of the Slovak Republic included a photo of Michael Strank, one of the six Marines who raised the American flag over Iwo Jima. An exhibit on the Czechoslovak Legionnaires of America featured World War I photos from the Hromadka, Rynes and Krizek family archives, and included original recruting postcards supporting Czechs and Slovaks in America to join the Czechoslovak Army in France plus photos showing Benes and Masaryk visiting the Legionnaires in France and in Russia.

For those people unable to attend the S VU conference, it is hoped that this exhibit can be reproduced on posters that could be used at regional festivals and meetings to educate the public about their Czechoslovak heritage.

Submitted by Patricia Krizek DeVoe

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