Repository: Dumbarton Oaks Archives, Washington, D.C.
Call Number: Byzantine Studies/Dvornik Files
Location: Archives 058, Byzantine Studies Vertical Files
Name of Creator(s): Jelisaveta (“Seka”) Stanojevich Allen; Milton Anastos; Lucy Baglia; John W. Barker; Norman H. Baynes; Hans-Georg Beck; Mojmir Bednarik; Robert Woods Bliss; Charles Blitzer; Vitus Buresh; Huntington Cairns; Paul Droulers; Francis [Frantisek] Dvornik; Marie Dvornikova; Bess Eversen; Fisher & Walcek Law Offices; Francois Halkin; Roman Jakobson; Jarmila Krivanova; Barbara Lattimer; Paul Lemerle; Maurice Leroy; Anne C. Lessels; William C. Loerke; Charlotte M. McAuliffe; Eward T. McClellan; Jaroslav Mracek; John Pope; Ludvik Nemec; Sirarpie Der Nersessian; Jack Perry; Charles Ryskamp; Godfrey Scheele; Joan Southcote-Aston; Bedrich Svestka; S. Szyszman; Byron C.P. Tsangadas; William R. Tyler; Irene Vaslef; Vladimir Vavrinek; John Walker; Walter Muir Whitehill; Bohumila Zazterova.
Title: Francis Dvornik Papers and Images
Inclusive Date: 1949 to 1976
Language(s): English
Quantity: 2 series housed in one folder
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Acquisition Information: These papers were assembled from office files at Dumbarton Oaks in 1999 by James N. Carder.
Processing Information: These papers were inventoried by James N. Carder in 1999 and processed by Mary Ferranti in 2013.
Terms of Use and Access: These papers can be used for research and publication purposes.
Physical Access: An appointment is required for access to these papers. For appointment and queries, fill out the online form.
Preferred Citation: Francis Dvornik Papers and Images, Dumbarton Oaks Archives. Courtesy of Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.
HISTORICAL NOTE
Father Francis Dvornik (František Dvorník) was born on August 14, 1893, in Chomýž, Moravia (the modern-day Czech Republic). In 1912, he graduated from the Archdiocesan School in Kremsier and continued his education at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Olomouc. He graduated in 1916 and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. He continued his studies at the Charles University in Prague, and, in 1920, received his doctorate in theology from the Theological Faculty in Olomouc. Dvornik then attended the University of Paris, simultaneously studying in several specialties. He graduated in 1926 and received a Doctor of Letters degree from the Sorbonne. As an academic, he became one of the leading twentieth-century experts on Slavic and Byzantine history and on relations between the churches of Rome and Constantinople. In 1927, he returned to Czechoslovakia, and, in 1928, he became professor of ecclesiastical history at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at Charles University in Prague, where he was one of the founders of the Institute of Slavic Studies and co-founder of the journal Byzantinoslavica. In 1939, Dvornik emigrated to Great Britain and, in 1940, to France, where he taught at the Collège de France and the Paris École des Hautes Études. On November 4, 1975, during a visit to his birthplace in Chomýž, he had a fatal heart attack.
Francis Dvornik came to Dumbarton Oaks as a Visiting Professor in the spring of 1948. He was appointed a Senior Scholar of Byzantine Studies in the fall of 1948 and Professor of Byzantine History between 1949 and his retirement in 1964, when he received the title of Professor Emeritus. Between 1948 and 1964, Dvornik participated in nine Byzantine Studies symposia at Dumbarton Oaks, directing the 1952 symposium, “Byzantium and the Slavs,” and with Roman Jakobson, the 1964 symposium, “The Byzantine Mission to the Slavs: St. Cyril and St. Methodius.”
SCOPE AND CONTENT
The Francis Dvornik Papers and Images contain correspondence, telegrams, a postcard, slides, newspaper clippings, and photocopies, dating between 1949 and 1977.
COLLECTION INVENTORY AND DESCRIPTION
Series 1: Correspondence:
Correspondents:
Jelisaveta (“Seka”) Stanojevich Allen (1975)
Milton Anastos (n.d.)
Lucy Baglia (1975)
John W. Barker (1976)
Norman H. Baynes (1950)
Hans-Georg Beck (1975)
Mojmir Bednarik (1975)
Robert Woods Bliss (1949)
Charles Blitzer (1976)
Vitus Buresh (1976)
Huntington Cairns (1976)
Sirarpie Der Nersessian (1975)
Paul Droulers (1975)
Francis Dvornik (1950–1975)
Marie Dvornikova (1975–1976)
Bess Eversen [1975]
Fisher & Walcek Law Offices (1975–1977)
Francois Halkin (1975)
Roman Jakobson (1953–1961)
Jarmila Krivanova (1976)
Barbara Lattimer (1951)
Paul Lemerle (1965)
Maurice Leroy (1975)
Anne C. Lessels (1977)
William C. Loerke (1976)
Charlotte M. McAuliffe (1975)
Eward T. McClellan (1976)
Jaroslav Mracek (1976)
John Pope (1976)
Ludvik Nemec (1975–1977)
Jack Perry (1976)
Charles Ryskamp (1976)
Godfrey Scheele (1953–1975)
Joan Southcote-Aston (1975–1977)
Bedrich Svestka (1975)
Simon Szyszman (1976)
Byron C. P. Tsangadas (1975)
William R. Tyler (1975–1977)
Irene Vaslef (1976)
Vladimir Vavrinek (1975–1977)
John Walker (1976)
Walter Muir Whitehill (1976)
Bohumila Zazterova (1975)
Series 2: Miscellaneous:
“Report on Research Work done by Professor F. Dvornik at the Harvard University Dumbarton Oaks Research Library. Washington DC, from the end of January to October 1, 1940”.
Curriculum Vitae “Academic Career of the Rev. Professor Francis Dvornik” (n.d.)
Typescript “Lebenslauf, Forschungsrichtungen und Werkverzeichnis von Tit.a.o.Prof.Dr.Franz ZAGIBA”.
Telegram to William R. Tyler from the American Embassy in Prague expressing condolences on the death of Professor Dvornik (1975).
Typescript of Obituary for Francis Dvornik (1975).
“Msg. Dvornik, Professor, Dies”, Washington Post, November 10, 1975, (newspaper clipping and photocopies of obituary).
“Father Dvornik, 83, Medievalist, is Dead”, New York Times, November 8, 1975, (photocopy of obituary).
Program for the memorial mass of Rev. Francis Dvornik, held at Roman Catholic Epiphany Church in Washington DC, November 10, 1975.
“Last Will and Testament and of Father Dvornik” (photocopy 1975).
Typescript “Extract from the Proceedings of the Meeting of the Administrative Committee, Cambridge, Mass., December 6, 1975” (resolution regarding the death of Francis Dvornik).
“Francis Dvornik – A Champion of Historical Synthesis,” Hlas Naroda (Chicago), (photocopy of newspaper clipping 1975).
“The Late Professor Francis Dvornik Honored by Harvard”, Hlas Naroda (Chicago), (photocopy of newspaper clipping 1975).
Photocopy of gift receipt from Dumbarton Oaks, “3 painted icons”, from the Will of Father Francis Dvornik (1976).
“Francis Dvornik: Scholar, Priest, Historian of the Byzantine World”, Harvard Gazette, (photocopy of newspaper clipping 1977).
Color slides, twenty-three images of Francis Dvornik (n.d.)
