March 19, 1862 – CONSTITUTIONAL MEETING OF THE CELJE NATIONAL READING ROOM

The Celje Reading Room was founded on March 19, 1862, at an assembly attended by 47 members. They elected a leadership team, represented by Dr. Štefan Kočevar as the principal, his assistant was the pastor Davorin Trstenjak, the secretary was Ivan Krušič, the treasurer was the merchant Franc Kapus, and the first librarian was Gustav Lindner, then a professor at the Celje Gymnasium.

The committee announced the news of the imminent establishment of the Celje National Reading Room in the News on January 1, 1862, inviting the…

"...all friends of our Slovene language and our nation, to sign up in large numbers for this mutually beneficial national society"

More in News on page 5 at the link:

http://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-RSQ8JTES/3b11cc94-3feb-4e59-a90c-11f74ca43dc4/PDF

The reading room was accessible to anyone who followed the reading room rules. In the first years, membership was at its highest: in the first year, the reading room had 152 members, a year later 145, and in 1864 and 1865 137. In the first years, the Germans from Celje were also members of the reading room, similar to how the Slovenes were members of the German Casino. It is clear from the preserved material that in the early 1960s there were no serious conflicts between members of the two nations in Celje, except for a few minor scrapes on both sides. The visiting reading room in other markets was also accepted tolerantly by the German-minded.

More about the history of the National Reading Room in Celje, which founding date the Municipality of Center Celje adopted for its local holiday and the tradition followed by the Central Library of Celje, on the Slovenian cultural heritage portal Kamra at the link http://www.kamra.si/Default.aspx?module=5&id=1896

Founders of the Celje National Reading Room Andrej Pirnat, Ivan Žuža, Franc Kapus (standing) and Dr. Štefan Kočevar (sitting).

 Source: http://www.kamra.si/Default.aspx?module=7&id=10420

Invitation to the people of Celje, Novice, January 1, 1862, p. 5

Source: http://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-064Y1N7B/81059813-e341-4010-aed5-472889a5dee7/PDF

Rules of the National Library in Celje

Source: http://www.kamra.si/Default.aspx?module=7&id=10429