Katalin Fehér: The Educational Activities of György Festetics in the Contemporary Press

György Festetics is one of the most distinguished figures of the Enlightenment period in Hungary. As a rich landowner he supported several cultural enterprises and founded and financed educational institutions. The present study introduces the activities of Festetics in education as they were reflected by the contemporary press of the period. The Viennese Magyar Hírmondó, the Magyar Kurír, the Tudományos Gyűjtemény and the Nemzeti Gazda, as well as other Hungarian and foreign journals and magazines published news of the first years, work and exams of the Gymnasium in Csurgó, built by Festetics. The Hungarian press of the Enlightenment era also published many articles about the curricula and the life of students in the Keszthely Gymnasium and in the Collegium for the nobility, located first in Keszthely and later in Sopron, and about the support Festetics provided for these institutions. Festetics's most significant creation was the agricultural college he founded in 1797, the Georgicon, the first such institution in the world. The contemporary press often informed readers about the theoretical and practical instruction in the Georgicon, the requirements for admittance and receiving scholarships, exams, celebrations, and the living conditions of students and teachers. The author argues that research into the Hungarian history of education should utilize the information concerning educational matters in the contemporary press more extensively as it offers valuable, new data.

MAGYAR PEDAGÓGIA 97. Number 1. 61-77. (1997)

Levelezési cím / Address for correspondence: Fehér Katalin, ELTE Tanárképző Főiskolai Kar Neveléstudományi Tanszék, H–1075 Budapest, Kazinczi u. 23–27.

 
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