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TITLE: Public Account for the Fund of the Reunion of Romanian Women to Aid in Raising Orphan Girls, etc., and its Acts: Part II, Year III. DESCRIPTION: This document is the second part of a two-part account included in this digital archive. For Part I, see Maria Nicolau, Computu public alu fondului Reuniunei Femeilor Române spre ajutoriulu crescerei fetitieloru orfane scl si actele acesteia: Partea I. pentru anulu I si II [Public Account for the Fund of the Reunion of Romanian Women to Aid in Raising Orphan Girls, etc., and its Acts: Part I, Year I and II] (Brasov: Römer & Kamner, 1853). Reports, accounts and transcribed documents by and for the Reuniunea Femeilor Române/Reunion of Romanian Women in Brasov covering the first four years of its existence (1850-1854). The Reuniunea Femeilor Române/Reunion of Romanian Women in Brasov/Brasso/Kronstadt was founded in 1850. Its initial goal was to support and educate orphaned girls. From 1880, it focused more on providing a Romanian-language education for middle-class girls. In its first decade of functioning, the Reunion opened a primary school for girls in Brasov and a handiwork school in the neighboring, smaller town of Blaj. Later, it organized a boarding school. A later account of the political and social context in which the Reunion was founded and functioned in its first two decades, was published by its then President in 1870. The Reunion mobilized an impressive support network in aristocratic and merchant families in the Empire and counted, on average, 100 local members throughout its existence This document provides details on the circumstances in which the Brasov Reunion was founded, its initial goals and the reasons provided for women’s growing social involvement. It shows that in a period considered repressive towards civil society organizing in the whole of the Habsburg Empire, because of the aftermath of the 1848-1849 Revolution, Romanian speaking upper-middle class women in the city considered themselves “secure [enough] under the Austrian scepter” to create an association. The transcribed speeches, meeting protocols, and accounting books for the years 1850-1854 show that the Reunion admitted members regardless of confession, organized collections throughout the region and deposited its capital in different investments, using the interest obtained to support up to a dozen girls. This Yearbook for the period 1850-1854 reveals that founders aimed to work “to the benefit of offering a more solid upbringing to our sex, and especially to the orphans of martyrs of the faith from the past revolution.” They obtained the support of the Austrian governor of Transylvania Ludwig von Wohlgemuth and a donation from his spouse, Sofia Wohlgemuth; they also named several noble women from Austria and neighboring territories inhabited by Romanians as patrons. Interestingly, the Yearbook highlights a number of discourses motivating Transylvanian Romanian women’s involvement in the relatively novel domain of civic associations. In letters, speeches and reports republished in the book, they argued that: they were “following the example of other European ladies,” that women should prove that they understand and support their husbands’ struggle for nationality rights, that girls’ upbringing needed to be better suited to the “new life of the present century,” and that the context calls on women to add social concerns to their domestic duties. The document offers an insight into the beginnings of Romanian women’s associations in Transylvania, the mobilization techniques they used, their relatively comfortable relationship with Habsburg authorities during the neo-absolutism of the 1850s and the intellectual genealogy of ideas about women’s social contributions through education. ¶ The ulterior evolution of the Reunion (up until its disbandment in 1939) is mirrored in several other items included in this digital archive: see, Reuniunea Femeilor Romane Brasov, “Propecta [Proposal for Modified Statutes of the Reuniunea Femeilor Romane Brașov]” (Statutes, Brașov, 1861), 5150/1861, Fond 1299, Societatea Reuniunea Femeilor Romane din Brasov, ff. 1-3, Romania. Arhivele Nationale. Serviciul Judetean al Arhivelor Nationale Brasov; Reuniunea Femeilor Romane Brașov, “Regulament. Pentru internatul de fetite ax reuniunii femeilor române din Brasov [Regulations: For the Girls’ Boarding School of the Reunion of the Romanian Women in Brașov]” (Policy, Brașov, României, January 1, 1888), 5747/1888, Fond 1299, Societatea Reuniunea Femeilor Romane din Brasov, ff.1-2, Romania. Arhivele Nationale. Serviciul Judetean al Arhivelor Nationale Brasov; Reuniunea Femeilor Române Brașov, “Simțindu-se încă de mult lipsa unei scóle practice, 6 iunie 1893 [Given the Lack of a Practical School: Statutes, 6 June 1893, with Penciled Comments by the Representative of the Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, November 1894]” (Statutes, Brașov, November 1894), 5904/1893 and 5960/1783, Fond 1299, Societatea Reuniunea Femeilor Romane din Brasov, ff. 4-10, Romania. Arhivele Nationale. Serviciul Judetean al Arhivelor Nationale Brasov; and Reuniunea Femeilor Romane Brasov, “Raportul [Report of the Committee of the Reunion of Romanian Women to the General Assembly held on 11/23 October 1892]” (Report, Brașov, October 11, 1892), 5864/1892, Fond 1299, Societatea Reuniunea Femeilor Romane din Brasov, ff.1-2, Romania. Arhivele Nationale. Serviciul Judetean al Arhivelor Nationale Brasov. Keywords: Women and Practices/ Cultures of Empire; Imperial Identity; Women and Nation within Empire; Women and Nation-Building; Women and Relationship Between Nations in the Empire; Women and Struggle Between Nations in the Empire; Women Challenging Empire; Social Reform and Political Activism; Women and Education; Access to Primary Education/Literacy; Gendered Education; Habsburg Empire; Reunion of Romanian Women/Reuniunea Femeilor Române; Funds and Donations; Political mobilization; Neo-absolutism; Habsburg Empire; Transylvania

Field of Interest

Women and Social Movements

Author

Maria Nicolau, fl. 1854

Collection

Women and Social Movements, Modern Empires Since 1820

Content Type

Book

Duration

0 sec

Format

Text

Page Count

48

Publication Year

1854

Publisher

Römer and Kamner (Publisher)

Place Published / Released

Brașov, Brașov County

Subject

Women and Social Movements, History, Transnational Women’s Movement, Women and Rights, Women and Politics, Movimiento de Mujeres Transnacional, Movimento Feminista Transnacional, Mujer y Derechos, Direitos da Mulher, Mujer y Política, Mulher e Política, Rumania, Romênia, Reunion of Romanian Women in Brasov, Romania, Political and Human Rights, Women, Colonization, Empire, and Post Coloniality, Social Reform and Political Activism, Women and Education, Indigenous Women, Equal Rights for Women, Empire and Feminism, National Identity, Multi-Ethnic Participation in Social Movements, Gendered Education, Access to Primary Education/Literacy, Opposition to Imperialism, Social and Political Leadership, Social and Cultural Rights, Romanians

Topic

Equal Rights for Women, Empire and Feminism, National Identity, Multi-Ethnic Participation in Social Movements, Gendered Education, Access to Primary Education/Literacy, Opposition to Imperialism, Social and Political Leadership, Social and Cultural Rights

Keywords and Translated Subjects

Movimiento de Mujeres Transnacional, Movimento Feminista Transnacional, Mujer y Derechos, Direitos da Mulher, Mujer y Política, Mulher e Política, Rumania, Romênia